Prevention – Timely Maintenance Saves Money
The first line of defense against water intrusion is crack sealing.
Proper crack sealing along with other maintenance techniques (ie: installing control joints on new asphalt) can prevent costly water damage and greatly increase the life of your asphalt pavements.
Fahrner Asphalt Sealers is an industry leader in crack sealing highways, roads, city streets, parking lots and airports. We use top of the line products assuring the best possible results on each and every job. Our crews work in a professional and safe manner. Through efficient operations we can minimize disruption to traffic flow.
What Causes Asphalt Pavement to Crack?
Four seasons a year is great for Midwesterners but it’s brutal on pavement. Add daily traffic use, water seeping in from rain, and the winter freeze-thaw cycles. This environment will prematurely crack and age asphalt. Leaving this deterioration untreated leads to costly repairs.
Parking Lots
Roadways
Water Penetration
Water penetrates through the cracks in the pavement and into the sub base. The base is then softened which leads to cracks working their way up to the surface, then to "alligatored" areas and eventually potholes.
Sunlight
The second cause of pavement cracking is due to oxidation. Since asphalt pavement is approximately 94% aggregate and only 6% asphalt oil, it is very susceptible to the elements. Sun, rain, heat and cold trigger the asphalt to oxidize, causing it to harden and shrink.
Lack of Control Joints
Most asphalt surfaces, unlike concrete, do not have control joints and thus cracks appear where the most stress is placed. (See our Saw & Seal page.)
