This week’s Toolbox Tip will look at surface prep for pavement repair. No matter what kind of repair your team needs to make, you want to ensure the pavement surface is receptive to the materials you’ll use. In other words, you want to make sure there aren’t any weeds growing out of cracks before you fill the cracks. You want to be sure the surface isn’t coated in the dust of a gravel pit before you attempt to sealcoat or micro surface the roadway. Here are two checklists to share with your team during the next tailgate talk.
Tools of the preparation trade include but aren’t limited to the following. Make sure these are available to the pavement repair crew.
- A blower
- Mechanical brooms & sweepers
- Brooms (whisk, wire and other handhelds)
- Shovels
- A pressure washer
- Cleaning agents
- Putty knife (or several!)
- Pavement saw
- Melters
Steps for surface prep:
- Fix pavement failure areas
- Kill and remove vegetation
- Fill cracks
- Clean up oil/grease spots on parking lots
- Clean the surface
- Dry the surface
- Tack the sides of potholes/cutouts
This is obviously not an exhaustive list of steps. Depending on what kind of pavement repair you’re going to perform, you’ll have other tasks to see to. What can you think of that’s vital to repair work your team has had to do? Share your top tips on our Facebook page to get a conversation going.
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