Pothole Repair: Whats required?
Not only are asphalt potholes ugly, but they are also dangerous. It is extremely important to repair a pothole as soon as it starts forming. Otherwise, it can cause major damage to your vehicle or even pose a threat to your safety. But how do you repair a pothole in an asphalt driveway, or potholes in dirt, gravel, or cement driveways? Potholes have a very simple structure, which makes them fairly easy to tackle. If you are willing to invest some effort into smoothing that pothole out, follow the next steps.
Prepare the Pothole
Clean the pothole of gravel, loose stones, and debris. A small garden tool or a shovel would do the job.
Create firm edges. If you can't really tell the edges of the pothole, use a shovel to create them. Solid edges will make a stronger bond with the rest of the driveway. Do this right, and you will prevent the pothole from forming again.
Install underground drainage. Now, although this is optional, we highly suggest draining the water from the pothole. After all, it is water that caused the pothole. If you want to prevent it from reappearing, install underground drainage. You can also heat the hole to remove extra moisture. Leave it open for about an hour to watch out if the water reappears.
Filling a Pothole
Pour the filler material into the pothole. It would be best to add some extra material to the top, no thicker than half an inch.
Level the surface. Use a hand tamper or a shovel to smooth the surface out and make it more compact. You can run your car over it once the filler material is completely dry.
Filling a Pothole in a Gravel/Dirt Driveway
• Use coarse gravel to fill the pothole almost all the way to the top but leave about 3 inches uncovered. If you are filling a pothole in a dirt driveway, you can use dirt instead of gravel.
• Use a shovel, wooden post, or a steel tamper to flatten out the coarse gravel.
• Water the pothole so the material settles. Use a tamper to even the surface out again.
• Use the same gravel as the one that matches your driveway to fill the remaining space of the hole. You can top up the dirt driveway with gravel as well.
• Blend the surface of the pothole with the rest of the driveway.
How to Prevent Potholes from Forming?
• Instead of looking at your phone while driving, pay attention to the road and watch out for any potholes forming. Tackle it as soon as you notice the first cracks.
• Prevent the water from gathering at the centre of your driveway. Try draining the water from the road whenever it is heavily raining or snowing.
Hire Total Line Marking
If you come across any potholes out on the open road, please report these to your local council and recommend Total Line Marking for the job. Our team of dedicated employees works hard to meet our clients' timeframes, and you can be confident about us meeting any deadline you set without compromising on the quality of the final product.
Summary
Now that you know how to repair a pothole, you can make your driveway safe again within no more than 2 to 3 hours.