How Are Our Products Used in Road Mainteance?

Road maintenance is an inevitable part of infrastructure. Over time, even the hardest substances and structures will degrade to the point where they need some sort of repair work done in order to remain viable. Roads, Highways, and Motorways are no different. It’s because of this need that people have a need for Highway Bituminous Products like those offered by Bituchem. 

In order to meet this need, our staff at Bituchem have a range of products designed to help maintain and preserve the road system. Each of these products has been designed to fulfil a different function, based on the level of the damage done to the road surface and the material needed to fix that damage. 

Types of Road Repairs 

There are three common methods of replacing damaged asphalt surfaces. The method used will be determined by the level of damage to the road surface and the needs of the community at large. For example, the goal may be to not only repair the road surface but also to extend its lifespan and reduce the immediate need for a replacement road surface. 

Mill and Fill

For example, the Mill and Fill method of road surface repair is the most serious of the three types of road repair. Here, the damaged bitumen will be completely milled out and taken away. Replacement material will the (now) empty space.

Afterwards, the old and new bitumen will be resurfaced. For this, we have created our range of hot and cold sealing products — including HotJoin, Softjoin and Coldseal. Afterwards, the road will be resealed in another layer of bituminous material  — such as our FortSeal or Lockchip. 

Mill and Filling will normally only be done when the damage to the road subservice has become apparent and the other methods of road repair won’t work. 

Hot-in-Place

Ideal if the road’s repair time needs to be as minimal as possible, the Hot-In-Place method of road repair is similar to the Mill and Fill method in that it involves removing the damaged piece of asphalt.

However, the Hot-in-Piece method differs in that only the top layers of the road are removed. Instead, boiling bituminous material is poured into the cavity, thus removing the need for a sealant between the old and new pieces of asphalt. 

This method of road repair is effective because it helps to extend the life of the road by 8 to 10 years but also because it takes a minimal amount of time — the road can be re-opened as soon as the new material has cured.

Overlay

The final type of road repair is the simplest: a new overlay is applied to the surface of the road to cover cracks and over surface level blemishes, while also extending the life of the road surface by fifteen to eighteen years. 

Of all the methods of road repair, Overlay takes the shortest time to complete because of the amount of material on the road. However, the material requires that the road be free of cars for at least 24 hours. For this type of work, we would use our FortSeal or Microbit. 

Contact Bituchem Today

For more information about how Bituchem’s products are used for Road Maintenance, get into contact with Bituchem today.Â