Asphalt is a produce that has been used for centuries. It is black mixture of bituminou (bitumen, also called soft coal) sand or gravel used for making driveways, roadways, highways and parking lots all over the United States and many other countries. It has been extremely successful over the years because of it reliability, durability and its ability to be used not only on straight roadways but curved roadways of all angles as well. Although this produce is extremely reliable, over the years it does require routine maintenance in order to help protect the material from damage.
These cracks comes the development of cracks in asphalt. The damage to asphalt is caused by inclement weather in Florida in conjunction with the strength of the Florida sun, salt water, oil’s, gasoline, antifreeze, and other harsh chemicals that come from vehicles and attached to the asphalt, comes the development of cracks in asphalt. These cracks start to appear and if not repaired properly in a short period of time will progressively become worse. These cracks can cause damage to vehicles and even injuries to people if not repaired quickly and properly. Although asphalt is a very reliable product, almost all asphalt even with routine maintenance will still have some damage occur over the year from normal wear and tear and U.V. damage.

Asphalt Curing Stage

The curing involves the asphalt oil. New asphalt needs time to cool before you allow traffic on it, which is known as “asphalt curing time.” When hot asphalt is first applied, it is black in color. During the curing stage, the new asphalt begins to age and slowly turns from a black color to more of a gray color. The reason for this transformation is due to a process called “oxidation.” Oxidation is when your new asphalt slowly loses its oils due to the sun. This is a normal process. However, during this oxidation stage, damage to the asphalt can occur due to the softness of the asphalt. One of the main causes for damage to new asphalt is normally caused by a driver stopping his/her vehicle on new asphalt and then turns their power steering while at a dead stop and cause what is known as a “power steering tear,” actually scraping up portions of your new asphalt surface. This damage usually occurs on residential driveways as cars maneuver to go into garages.