If you’ve ever driven along a paved roadway, parked on a driveway, or strolled across a parking lot, you’ve probably seen “asphalt”. It covers both narrow hike and bike trails and multi-lane interstate exchanges. This ubiquitous, dark surfacing material provides firm support for vehicles and pedestrians. Yet most people probably don’t know how paving companies produce this widely used infrastructure product. This brief article seeks to answer the question: “What is hot mix asphalt?”
Creating a Paved Service From Aggregates
To make this material, paving companies combine generous quantities of loose aggregates (like gravel and sand) with a petroleum product called liquid asphalt cement in a heated environment. At temperatures of around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, this mixture becomes a slushy tar-like compound subject to pouring and shaping. Heavy machinery typically helps pummel it into desired forms after contractors apply it over a hard surface. Controlling the level of different ingredients carefully allows paving companies to manipulate the texture. As the mixture quickly cools, it hardens into its final shape.
A Multitude of Uses
Builders have discovered a range of practical uses for this construction material. It often forms the hard surface of paved roadways; yet while still hot, it may fill in cracks and potholes, too. Homeowners frequently prefer it to concrete as a driveway or sidewalk surface. A skilled paving contractor offers valuable assistance in controlling the aggregate mixture, allowing the creation of specific textural qualities in the final hot mix product. Just a few of its possible uses include:
- Resurfacing Roadways;
- Driveways;
- Paths;
- Playground surfaces;
- Pothole and crack patching materials;
- Parking lots;
- Airport runways, and more!
Some Reasons to Prefer This Paving Material
Price-Per-Square-Foot
Just like concrete, as a paving material, hot mix offers versatility and flexibility. Yet it also furnishes important cost savings: blacktop actually costs less per square foot than other paved surfaces. It cools comparatively rapidly, allowing its cost-effective application across literally miles of roadway.
Snow Removal
In regions where maintenance crews must maintain snow-free surfaces, this paving material proves excellent. It tolerates the application of de-icing chemicals well. Consequently, it represents an especially popular choice for residential and landscaping improvements in New York and Connecticut.
Driveway And Patio Repair Services
Additionally, hot mix makes an ideal patching material. Contractors use it if utility installations or other essential repair services have required the temporary removal of portions of driveways, patios, or other permanent concrete structures. It fills in holes and deep cracks, while also furnishing an attractive resurfacing agent.
Contact Us
To obtain further information about this fascinating construction material, simply visit https://www.rocciesasphalt.com/your-answers/. As a leading paving contractor in Westchester County, New York and Fairfield County, Connecticut, we furnish a variety of roadway, driveway and parking lot paving services. Call us at 1-888-887-6224 to request skilled paving or patching assistance! Or request an estimate here.