FEATURE ing . Mastic repairs generally provide years of maintenance-free protection , depending on the specific application , pavement condition and other factors . When should you use mastic instead of crack sealant ? Mastic is typically used for cracks wider than 1.5 ” and for distresses that are too large for crack sealing but too small for repaving . One of the main uses for mastic is repairing deteriorated longitudinal joints , where it creates a smooth transition between courses and halts degradation .
Wide cracks are just the beginning . Over the years , innovative practitioners have developed ways to use mastic for a variety of problems , like sealing alligator cracking , filling wheel ruts , leveling around manholes , smoothing bridge deck approaches , sealing fiber optic trenches and more . Mastic has been adopted by state Departments of Transportation , local streets agencies , utilities and contractors of all sizes . In recent years , the use of mastic in public projects has been standardized by ASTM D 8260 , providing testing methods and usage guidelines that ensure reliability . Compared with a typical “ mill and fill ” repair , mastic requires a smaller crew , less preparation and less time to apply thanks to its simplicity . Mastic can be used on a wider variety of distresses than HMA , and it ’ s ready for traffic as soon as it cools – usually within an hour . While mastic application shares some similarities with crack sealing , there is one major difference concerning equipment . The inclusion of aggregate would damage the pump in a crack sealing melter , so mastic melters don ’ t have pumps . Instead , the material is gravity-fed with assistance from the agitator paddles . Besides melters , the use of mastic has spawned a class of specialized tools that make the job quick and intuitive . Rectangular metal frames called drag boxes are towed behind the melter and fed continuously from a material chute , applying mastic smoothly over a long run . There are a variety of drag boxes available , from 4 ” wide all the way up to 48 ”. The hand-operated version of a drag box is called a shoe box , which allows for greater maneuverability on meandering cracks
Meltable packaging speeds up mastic jobs by eliminating the labor associated with boxed material .
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[ 19 ] September 2024