Hello! Is your garden looking a little run down? My name is Jackie and on this new blog, I will be passing on everything I know about how different paving solutions can make your garden look great. Although I am not a professional, my interest in paving began two years ago when I decided to help a friend who was carrying out renovation work on her home. As part of the work, I organised for paving contractors to come in and lay a new garden path. I was so impressed, I hired the same people to work on my home and I decided to learn all I could about the topic.
While driveways were considered an afterthought back in the day, they have become a critical part of the outdoor home design today. As such, driveways for the contemporary home have to be both functional and aesthetically appealing. Unfortunately, there are few cost-effective ways of improving the durability of everyday driveway paving materials such as timber, brick or gravel. Foam bitumen is arguably one of the best driveway stabilisation materials that guarantee long-lasting driveway paving for clients. This article highlights the key benefits of foamed bitumen as a paving material.
High Affinity for Gravel
Gravel and crushed rock are arguably the most common materials that homeowners use for their driveways. Gravel is not expensive, and installation takes only a couple of hours once the base and sub-base is ready. Furthermore, gravel and crushed rock offer excellent grip on tires, thereby making it easy to drive on a driveway. However, when it comes to stabilisation, the jagged edges of gravel make it difficult to lock together. Foamed bitumen is an excellent stabilisation material for any gravel driveway since it has a high affinity for gravel and crushed stone. All that a contractor has to do is pour bitumen and press it with a vibratory roller.
Versatile Engineering Properties
The durability of a driveway hinges on the stability of the base and sub-base. Longevity can be achieved by selecting the right aggregates that will keep a driveway intact for a long time. It is critical to use an aggregate that is specified by an engineer because the wrong choice will lead to premature sub-base deterioration. While it is essential to follow design specifications to the letter, doing so can be time consuming and expensive. It is especially the case if you have to source specific aggregates from far. Fortunately, you do not have to worry about this with foam bitumen stabilisation since it allows contractors to achieve the desired properties with any aggregate. Consequently, it reduces the cost of constructing a driveway significantly.
Reduces Excavation Volumes
A driveway with a shallow sub-base does not last long because it does not allow adequate aggregate compaction to achieve the desired stability. As such, paving contractors have to dig deeper to accommodate enough crushed rock for compaction. This is only possible with heavy excavation machinery, but this makes construction more expensive. Foam bitumen stabilisation allows for a shallow sub-base, which eliminates the need for deep excavations. This reduces the volume of dirt that contractors have to remove from a driveway site, thereby keeping costs manageable for a client.
For more information, contact a foam bitumen supplier.
Share15 July 2020
