Made hole in drive....
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

[Closed] Made hole in drive. Help!

36 Posts
30 Users
0 Reactions
233 Views
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Been doing some work on a neighbours house. Big ladder up all day. Just packed up and noticed the ladder has sunk into the tarmac as it’s been so hot.

We’re talking about 1”x3” hole about 1” deep.

Any ideas?


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:19 pm
Posts: 12329
Full Member
 

Any ideas?

Edit: Pond


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:25 pm
Posts: 8527
Free Member
 

Any ideas? aye, they'll be cool with it,unless you've been charging them for the work.


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:28 pm
Posts: 4439
Full Member
 

walk away!


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:28 pm
Posts: 10333
Full Member
 

Stick a plant pot over it.


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:28 pm
 nuke
Posts: 5763
Full Member
 

Its not a big area so whilst still warm, id just decompact the area with old screw driver and then hammer back to a smoother finish

Skip lorry put some right indents in our tarmac driverway with its stabilising support things....dug out to decompact and then topped up with a bag of macadam from wickes


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:30 pm
Posts: 16346
Free Member
 

A bit of tarmac from the edge pushed into the hole? Theoretically you can re-melt it with a blow torch, and I have read that adding a bit of diesel or old engine oil helps, but I've never tried it. It's on my list of jobs to fix our path but it'll be another year at least!


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:31 pm
Posts: 12329
Full Member
 

Does tarmac really get soft at these temperatures?


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:32 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

If there's one thing I've learnt from years of road use it's this:

There is no way to actually fix a hole in tarmac.

Your options are
1) hide it with a repair that barely stays in place as long as the temporary lights erected to allow said camouflaging.
2) ignore it and hope it'll fix its self.
3)a combination of the above conducted at random intervals and absolutely not the same intervals as those being applied to any hole less than 2m away.


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:34 pm
Posts: 8318
Full Member
 

Call a pikey in


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:34 pm
Posts: 20561
Free Member
 

Hammer a frozen sausage in?


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 4:47 pm
Posts: 1582
Full Member
Posts: 41642
Free Member
 

If you get the repair stuff you'll need something to tamp it down with. And probably want to cut out a nice square hole to fill, it won't stick in just a small dent.

Does tarmac really get soft at these temperatures?

It's the solid-ish gunk that comes out of the bottom of the vacuum distillation column, mixed with stone chippings. It never really sets, which is why it's so good for road surfacing as it won't crack when the ground under the road settles/moves/slips etc.

Not so interesting fact: Asphalt is the same as tarmac, and sometimes isn't.

Tarmac is tar + aggregate
Bitmac is bitumen + aggregate (bitumen being tar from crude oil rather than pitch from the ground). All tarmac is now bitmac because it's cheaper and resits oil/diesel spills better.
Asphalt is the american word for Tarmac. Except some people use it to mean bitmac. And some people use it to mean tarmac/bitmac mixed with more fine material which gives a harder surface. All of which are wrong, Asphalt is actually just another word for naturally occurring tar/bitumen.


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 5:27 pm
 Olly
Posts: 5169
Free Member
 

Tarmac normally falls under hazardous waste too, so needs to be disposed of separately.

Although as you say, in reality what this means is you test it to see if it is Coal Tar, rather than Bitumen, and it never is, (unless the surface is pre 1980 ish)

Macadam, is the closest you will get to being "correct", as you cant really tell the difference between any of them by looking at them.


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 5:42 pm
Posts: 923
Full Member
 

Rice Krispies and black gloss paint


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 8:26 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

We’re talking about 1”x3” hole about 1” deep.

Where'd you get a one-footed ladder? Do you rate it?


 
Posted : 27/05/2020 8:28 pm
Posts: 12507
Free Member
 

Macadam, is the closest you will get to being “correct”, as you cant really tell the difference between any of them by looking at them.

McAdam is a road building technique of layering crushed gravel with the final layer bound in stone dust.

Tarmac is an aggregate company thats a bit like saying if you don't know what kind of vacume cleaner you have call it a hoover.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 7:18 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

You need to spray a yellow circle around it mate


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 7:44 am
Posts: 1766
Free Member
Posts: 10474
Free Member
 

Just spray a cock and balls on it so it becomes someone else’s problem.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 8:49 am
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

Does tarmac really get soft at these temperatures?

It can do - I once delivered a victorian etching press to a posh private school on a lovely hot day. While we we were unloading the van sank up to its rims in the playground tarmac.

It depends on how well compressed the tarmac was to begin with and how well the drive is supported underneath - and how much is 'tar' and how much is 'mac

The macadam on its own wouldn't compress at a ll but if ifs bound with a  lot of tar then everything can wriggle about when the tar is soft.

Get a bag of cold lay tarmac and tamp it in the hole,

I've used that - its such a tiny dent the OP has made that you'd only use about 2% of the bag though. it takes a long time to set too - as it sets by evaporation rather than cooling - a small repair would easily just crumble and disperse before it has much chance to harden. B&Q sell bags of the Cold lay stuff and a can of a spray that helps prime the surface you're patching. I've bought 10kg bags from there they may do smaller repair packs.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 9:42 am
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

Macadam, is the closest you will get to being “correct”,

McAdam is a road building technique of layering crushed gravel with the final layer bound in stone dust.

Tarmac is an aggregate company

To muddy the waters John Loudoun MacAdam's nickname was 'Tar' MacAdam. He had a Tar factory just up the road from my house. A MacAdam road has no tar (or bitumen or anything else) in it. although he invented the MacAdam road making technique and also manufactured Tar he never mixed the two together (he used it for waterproofing ropes instead). Tar bound MacAdam was a later invention. We should really call it Hoolimac.

Have we deviated far enough from the OP yet?


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 9:52 am
Posts: 4170
Free Member
 

All tarmac is now bitmac because it’s cheaper and resits oil/diesel spills better.

I think it's just cheaper. Bitmac is less resistant to diesel than tarmac. They use diesel to wash down the bitmac machines. Tarmac is used for runways as it resists fuel better.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 11:00 am
Posts: 3652
Full Member
 

Not so interesting fact: Asphalt is the same as tarmac, and sometimes isn’t

But is it pronounced "ass-falt" or "ash-felt"?


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 11:13 am
Posts: 9201
Full Member
 

Gaffer tape it. You can fix anything with gaffer tape, that is a scientific fact.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 11:25 am
Posts: 12507
Free Member
 

Tar bound MacAdam was a later invention

I thought had actually used a macadam bound with tar and dust?


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 11:50 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Gaffer tape it. You can fix anything with gaffer tape, that is a scientific fact

If that were true there'd be no such thing as bailing twine.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 11:55 am
Posts: 1133
Full Member
 

Do you like your asphalt? 😉


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 12:05 pm
Posts: 17273
Free Member
 

I'm surprised they don't use Caramac more.

It's only 5p.


 
Posted : 28/05/2020 12:15 pm
Posts: 147
Full Member
 

In the hope of clarifying stuff, but probably not, the Brits refer to bitumen as the 'binder' and the surfacing material containing bitumen, aggregate and sand, as asphalt. Whereas the Yanks referee to the binder as asphalt, as in Trinidad Lake Asphalt.

Bitumen and asphalt is a very extensive and interesting subject. Or not ;).

T


 
Posted : 30/05/2020 11:56 am
Posts: 24498
Free Member
 

I think Rachel McAdams is my favourite of the Macadams.


 
Posted : 30/05/2020 1:02 pm
Posts: 682
Free Member
 

Gaffer tape it. You can fix anything with gaffer tape, that is a scientific fact.

Hold on! Have we just stumbled upon a solution to Covid 19 if Boris were to follow this science?


 
Posted : 30/05/2020 7:31 pm
Posts: 682
Free Member
 

I’m surprised they don’t use Caramac more.

It’s only 5p.

LOL, showing your age! In my mind it’s 5p too, from the top end of the penny tray, put there to seduce you.


 
Posted : 30/05/2020 7:34 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

OP here,

Well, thanks. in the end I just poked at it with a screwdriver, stirred it up a bit then squashed it down with a big stone...

Work there is ongoing so I'll carry on messing with it. I think it's a defect of the drive personally. The hole is in the middle of a bit of a bulge, and there wasn't much weight on the ladder, it was an access point on to a roof. I was actually working off another ladder and that didn't sink. And post-lockdown I now weigh 8000kg

Householder is lovely so shouldn't be an issue.


 
Posted : 30/05/2020 8:00 pm
Posts: 33325
Full Member
 

Tarmac normally falls under hazardous waste too, so needs to be disposed of separately.

Often by using it to resurface byways wrecked by 4x4’s in wet weather. It sometimes contains complete cats eyes as well; I’ve got a load out back for weighting down things when it’s windy that I dug out of a resurfaced byway. 🙀


 
Posted : 31/05/2020 12:45 pm
Posts: 0
Full Member
 

Given how difficult it is to fix such holes, i'd suggest making them into some sort of feature? Perhaps create a small diorama, using lego people, put some water in the hole so it looks like a lake, set up some nice deckchairs, make it a "day out in the country" type scene? Or hows about putting lego "workmen" working at fixing the hole, complete with "men at work" and "men fighting with umbrella" signs?


 
Posted : 31/05/2020 1:26 pm
Posts: 22922
Full Member

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!