Commercial Paving for the greater Chicagoland and Midwest Area!
Commercial Paving for the greater Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Area!
Asphalt has been used for constructing roads for at least 2,600 years, but the paving material used by the Babylonians in those ancient times would bear little resemblance to modern asphalt paving. Over the centuries, asphalt technology evolved, and many innovations did not become common until the 1900s. New technologies and methods are constantly being introduced and employed by the asphalt paving industry to produce pavements that have better
durability and lower lifetime costs. However, many people have never heard of some of the significant products that have been introduced since the 1960s. Asphalt fabric, also known as paving fabric or geotextile fabric, is one of the products with which you may be unfamiliar. Asphalt fabric is a petroleum-based, non-woven material that is often applied to an existing pavement before an asphalt overlay is installed.
Asphalt fabric helps minimize water penetration, adds structural support to help prolong the life of the overlay, and can reduce the need for asphalt maintenance. It can also seal any blemishes that are present in the existing pavement. However, asphalt fabric excels at inhibiting reflective cracking.
One way to explain reflective cracking is to consider what happens if you frost a cake that contains cracks in its surface. Initially, the cracks in the cake are concealed by the frosting. However, if you move the cake, warm the room in which the cake is resting, or simply leave the cake alone for a day or two, the cracks in the cake can begin to be reflected in the
frosting. A similar process can happen when an asphalt overlay is placed over the expansion joints in a concrete pavement, improperly sealed seams in an asphalt pavement, or cracks in either type of pavement. Reflective cracking is often triggered by the expansion and contraction of the underlying pavement, unstable soils, or shear stresses.
One significant risk is that reflection cracks can allow moisture to infiltrate beneath the overlay, which can inflict severe damage on the underlying pavement as well as the supporting foundation. Reflection cracks make the pavement rougher, and they can pose tripping hazards. Furthermore, weeds can take root in the cracks, expanding the damage. Although reflection cracking is not typically caused by traffic, once the cracks appear, traffic can exacerbate the cracking and hasten the deterioration of the pavement.
Asphalt fabric is always an excellent idea if the overlay is going to be installed over an existing concrete pavement. Concrete pavements contain joints where the different slabs were poured, and most concrete pavements also have metal expansion joints to help the concrete adjust to temperature fluctuations. If the existing pavement is asphalt, the issue of whether to
use paving fabric becomes a little more complex. The experts at Black Hawk Paving evaluate each pavement carefully before deciding whether an asphalt fabric would be beneficial.
Since 1975, the mission of Black Hawk Paving has been to provide our customers with the proper solutions to their pavement-related problems. Our services include asphalt paving, asphalt milling & grinding, asphalt repairs, parking lot striping, concrete flatwork, asphalt sealcoating, concrete curbing, pavement markings, excavation & grading, traffic signs, sewer repairs, car stops, and asphalt crack repairs. We offer our services to clients in the facility management, retail, hotel, educational, and property management industries, and we also serve religious institutions, homeowner associations, and condominiums. We have a long history of providing clients with superior results and extraordinary service. If you would be interested in receiving a free job quote, fill out the online form. You can also reach us by phone at 708-479-0400 or 773-378-2390.
Our team has provided commercial and industrial paving installation and maintenance services to our clients in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs for more than 46 Years in Business- 1975.
