Driveways
Talk about the most functional components of building constructions and the driveway is sure to create a long thread. It bears tons of loads day and night. These loads include your cars, your garage equipment/machines, and even more heavy bodies. To make sure it serves you better and longer, our experts share these 7 essential tips to maintaining your driveway below.
No Food Wastes Lying Around
Sounds weird. Right? Well, food, most importantly sugary food, invites ants, spiders, and other food-hunting insects. When these insects notice a frequent supply of food wastes around your driveway, they are encouraged to live there. They build microholes into the foundation which expands with the help of heightening atmospheric temperature. At the early stage, these microholes are not easy to spot and will, later on, become expensive cracks. In most cases, these cracks start from within and a lot of damages would have been done before they reach the surface. Therefore, prevention is more ideal.
Filling cracks
Cracks in both concrete and asphalt cannot be completely avoided. Therefore, your driveway maintenance toolkit is incomplete without the necessary crack treatment materials. Chisels as one come in handy in removing pieces of materials and other trapped elements from the cracks. This way, you expose the areas to be treated better for an effective fix. Afterward, a good crack filler should be applied carefully to not create further stress and damages. And this should be completed by applying a sealant for driveways maintenance. Overall, mild cracks should be treated right in time. Otherwise, for the escalated ones, employing the service of an expert is the best step.
Driveways for home
Support The Edges
In all constructions, the outer parts are more exposed to damages. It’s just like the human body where the skin gets hurt first in all accidents. To protect your investment, covering the edges with concrete or asphalt support goes a long way. While water-resisting pieces of wood may be an effective material, road kerbs withstand more knocks and are far water-resiting when compared to other materials.
No Clippings
Grass clippings will grow anywhere considerable for vegetation. They may not pose any significant harm. But the roots of these weeds get tougher as they travel underground over time, passing through whatever gets in the way. To avoid having grass clippings burring lines and holes through and underneath your driveway, uproot the existing ones. Go further by applying weed killers containing fewer petrochemicals, especially for interlocked driveways. Why? See below.
No Petrochemicals
Engine oil, gasoline, and other petroleum ingredients are detrimental to the strength and toughness of concrete’s number one ingredient (cement). Same way, these chemicals react with the bitumen in asphalt-built constructions to shrink it faster and unnoticed. To curb this, do not drive your car over the driveway before all leaking parts are fixed. Also, avoid maintaining or repairing your vehicle on the driveway as any of these activities may cause a petroleum spill.
Wash And Sweep Regularly
Almost everybody does this but while washing and sweeping keep harmful elements away and brighten your driveway, doing it wrong will otherwise ruin things. Heavy-duty sweepers should be avoided, and power washers should be replaced with other means of introducing water gently unto the concrete surface for washing.
Dealing With Snow
Use light-weight snow removal to avoid depressing the building material. Even then, the sharp blades of your tractor should be controlled carefully not to scrape your driveway and make it vulnerable to further destruction.
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