How tarmac fails
Almost never all at once. It starts somewhere small: a crack, a broken edge where a wheel has run off the side, or a soft spot over an old trench. Water gets in through that one weak point, sits there, freezes, and lifts the surface from underneath. A winter later there is a hole.
That is why catching it early is so much cheaper. A patch put in properly in autumn is a small job. The same patch left until it has taken half the drive with it is a resurfacing job.
Patching, done properly
A pothole filled by tipping material into the hole and driving over it will be back within a year, which is why so many repairs look like failures. Done properly the failed area is cut out square, past the edge of the damage into sound material, the bottom is cleaned out, the edges are tacked, and the new tarmac goes in and is compacted in layers.
It takes longer. It is also the difference between a repair and a delay.
Patch or resurface
If the damage is in a few places and the rest is sound, patch it. If the surface has failed generally, if it is rutted along the wheel tracks, or if you are patching the same drive every year, patching is throwing good money after bad and it wants resurfacing or, where the base is still good, surface dressing.
We will give you an honest view on which of those it is. It is usually obvious once we have looked at it.
Small jobs and several sites
We do small repairs. A single hole at the end of a drive is worth doing, and we would rather come and look at it than turn it away. It sometimes helps to fit it in alongside another job in the same area, so we may suggest a week rather than a day.
If you look after several sites, it is usually more sensible to have us go round them all at once and price the lot together than to call us out for each one.
