A deck is a beautiful outdoor asset to your home, and the right deck can make your living space seem larger. Hi, my name is Jackie, and I am a lover of all things related to the home. I enjoy decorating, repairing, restoring, and reading about ideas and even cleaning. Thanks to the success of our family business, I am able to work from home, and as I spend so much time here, I want it to look beautiful. If you want to have a beautiful home, I want to help you as well. In this blog, I am going to focus on decks in particular. I want to talk about repairing them, restoring them and reusing their old wood in new projects. If you want ideas or inspiration, I invite you to stay, take a look and enjoy these posts.
Repairing, Restoring and Repurposing Old Decking: Tips. Ideas and Facts
A Few Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Making Repairs to a Bitumen Driveway
Esperanza Arias
Having a bitumen driveway can mean a softer surface that is less brittle and therefore less likely to crack in extremely cold temperatures. It may also shift more readily with the ground underneath it and, in turn, suffer fewer cracks and chips on soft soil. However, this doesn't mean that bitumen is somehow indestructible and that it will never need repairs. If you plan on tackling needed repairs on your own, you need to ensure that you take time to plan the job properly and avoid as many mistakes as possible. Note a few tips you might consider.
1. Check the weather forecast
You might know that concrete repair should be avoided during rainy weather as you don't want concrete mix to get too runny and thin, but the weather can also affect your bitumen repairs. Your repair mix can be too brittle to spread properly in very cold weather and sealer may take longer to dry in colder temperatures. You also want to avoid rainy weather for repairs as the mixture must dry properly to adhere to your current bitumen layer.
2. Be sure to dry the surface
Even if it's not raining or snowing outside, you want to clean and then thoroughly dry the surface of the bitumen before you begin repairs. Too much moisture can weaken the base of the bitumen so that your repairs are short-term and don't last. Your sealant won't dry and the mixture you use for filling in potholes and other such cracks and crevices may pull away from bitumen that is overly damp or covered in oil or other car fluids, so be sure you clean and dry the surface thoroughly before starting your work.
3. Don't underestimate the damage
Poor drainage under the bitumen can lead to more potholes, cracking, or heaving of your driveway's surface. If you try to repair bitumen when it has poor drainage or severe cracks and potholes, the sealant and repair mix will probably not adhere properly or last as long as it should. Shifting and buckling can also cause the sealant or patch mixture to pull away from the base of the driveway.
Remember that putting bitumen patching mix onto your driveway is like putting on a bandage; it won't actually fix severe problems with your driveway that are just going to crop up again and again. If your driveway has very deep potholes or other signs of severe damage, call an expert like B & P Bitumen Repairs to repair it or replace it altogether.
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