pot holes

Couple of things.. 1. lotmarker, try to avoid gravel as a base for asphalt, you should use a road base material that can be compacted. Most concrete type gravel can't be compacted. The base to asphalt is the most important part, the actual asphalt is more or less just a wear surface, so its important to use a good material and achieve proper compaction. Of course this is less of a deal with potholes, but just something to keep in mind. 2. Dwan, contact OPR or UPM and see about purchasing their product in bags by the pallet, I just cant imagine it would come out to $1,400 a ton, but I know you are far away so maybe the shipping will kill that idea. As far as I know, we have never had any HAZ restrictions placed on cold mix shipments when purchased in bags. QPR is also distributed to Lowes, I don't know if you have one there but, maybe your could either buy from them or piggy back a load. Also have your hotmix plant contact those Mfg's and inquire about becoming a dealer, I have been told by a rep at UPM that it is very easy and cost effective for existing batch plants to become bulk distributors, as there is apparently not much additional equipment needed to batch the stuff. Last if you are looking to re-heat rap asphalt or millings, you should look to those portable machines, I think ones name is the Astencook machine, and the other may be Bagela...sp? anyway, those will work far far better for reheating waste compared to an infared...IMHO 3. Striping Fool, patching prices vary by market. Always have a minimum to cover your costs. Most guys I know charge by the sq foot. We include 1ton in our minimum price, then charge a flat fee for each additional ton to 3 tons, for larger jobs estimated over 3 tons it becomes a sq ft price.

1. lotmarker, try to avoid gravel as a base for asphalt, you should use a road base material that can be compacted. Most concrete type gravel can't be compacted. The base to asphalt is the most important part, the actual asphalt is more or less just a wear surface, so its important to use a good material and achieve proper compaction. Of course this is less of a deal with potholes, but just something to keep in mind. Can you elaborate a little on just what the "road base material" you refered to is? Thanks for the input!

it is called Roadbase, and usually can be bought at most asphalt plants or pits. Nothing fancy, just a blend of aggregate (rock) and a compactable dirt. See, you cant compact sand or loose gravel, so that's why those should not be used with asphalt operations. I see many people who get confused about gravel though, as loose gravel can be a great base for concrete, just not asphalt, and people assume the two are similar. if you are doing a small patch, you should be fine if you can take a plate compactor over the area and get good compaction, but if it wont compact or moves around, it should be removed and replaced with roadbase.