Asphalt Pavement Damage
What is causing your Asphalt to need repair?
It doesn’t matter if you live in areas where there is a lot of snow and salt or down south where heat and sun pound your asphalt pavement. Asphalt deterioration is very common. Proper maintenance is important and can help keep your asphalt driveway or parking lot in better shape for a longer period of time.
Over time, asphalt will break down do to unavoidable elements like sun, salt, and chemicals like oil from vehicles and water from rain. Proper construction will of course aid in how your pavement holds up over time, but always remember to maintain your asphalt for best results and longer life. Seal Coating and crack repair early and often will help, especially in the areas like Milwaukee where we encounter freezing temperatures that can expand cracks and make small problems bigger ones.
We frequently do asphalt repairs for customers whose original asphalt paving contractor cut corners on quality in order to be lower priced.
Many years ago, MUNSON made a fundamental decision – to explain our price one time rather than have to apologize for poor quality forever. You’ll be glad we did.
Common Asphalt Defects: Pot Holes and More
Pot Holes: Small, bowl-shaped depression in the asphalt that penetrates deep down into the base. They are the result of moisture infiltration.
Possible Causes
- Continued deterioration of another type of distress, such as thawing of a frozen subgrade, cracking, raveling, or a failed patch after pieces of the original pavement surface have been dislodged
- Poor surface mixtures
- Weak spots in the base or subgrade
- Severity of the surrounding distress and traffic action accelerate potholes
Depressions: Depressions are indentations in the asphalt and are most noticeable after it rains.
Possible Causes
- Settlement or failure in the lower pavement layers
- Improper construction techniques
Rutting: Channelized depressions in the wheel tracks caused by insufficient pavement thickness; lack of compaction of the asphalt, stone base or soil; weak asphalt mixes; or moisture infiltration.
Possible Causes
- Consolidation or lateral movement of any of the pavement layers or the subgrade under traffic
- Insufficient design thickness
- Lack of compaction
- Weaknesses in the pavement layers due to moisture infiltration
- Weak asphalt mixtures
Common Asphalt Defects: Cracking
Longitudinal Cracking: Running parallel to the pavement’s centerline, longitudinal cracks are the result of pavement fatigue, reflective cracking, and/or poor joint construction.
Transverse Cracking: Running perpendicular to the pavement’s centerline, transverse cracks are the result of reflective cracks from an underlying layer, daily temperature cycles, or poor construction.
Possible Causes
- Poorly constructed paving joint crack
- Shrinkage of the asphalt layer
- Daily temperature cycling
- Cracks in an underlying layer that reflect up through the pavement
- Longitudinal segregation caused by the improper operation of the paver
Edge Cracking: Running along the inside of the pavement surface, within one or two feet, edge crack are the most common type of asphalt defects. Edge cracks result from an underlying base material that has settled and weakened.
Possible Causes
- Lack of lateral support
- Settlement of underlying material
- Shrinkage of drying out soil
- Weak base or subgrade layer
- Poor drainage
- Frost heave
- Heavy traffic or vegetation along edge
Joint Reflection Cracking: When a flexible pavement overlay is placed over a rigid pavement, like asphalt over concrete, cracks can appear. These are known as joint reflection cracks and they occur directly over the underlying rigid pavement joints.
Possible Causes
- Differential movement between the asphalt and concrete layers
- Can deteriorate further under heavy traffic
Paying attention to details… That’s how MUNSON-ARMSTRONG PAVING DIV. has built its name and reputation since 1963.
Details like considering variable ground and soil conditions, refusing to take short-cuts in the necessary prep work – and then demanding nothing less than the finest quality finish work. Our goal is simple – to provide asphalt and concrete construction that lasts! Of course, we do offer maintenance services and repair work for asphalt paving in Milwaukee. We frequently do repairs for customers whose original asphalt paving contractor cut corners on quality in order to be lower priced. Many years ago, MUNSON made a fundamental decision – to explain our price one time rather than have to apologize for poor quality forever. You’ll be glad we did.
MUNSON, INC.
6747 N. Sidney Place Glendale, WI 53209
Phone: (414) 351-0800 or (800) 236-0340
Fax: (414) 351-0879
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