Jim Yanik wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote in
:


Hi all,

what could possibly have gone wrong? this past weekend I patched a
couple spots in my driveway with Sakrete brand cold patch, exactly per
directions - one "hole" was actually just an asphalt skin that had
peeled up, a couple other spots I needed to dig away all the old rotten
asphalt all the way to the base, in those cases I dug all the base up,
screened the gravel out, made a new gravel base, and finished with about
1.5" to 2" of cold patch (deeper than the asphalt that was there
before!) I used it exactly per directions, squared the edges of all
holes, never put it down less than 1" or more than 4" thick, tamped it
by hand with a 8" square steel tamper until it wouldn't compress down
any more. After a day or so it was mostly hard so I figured all was
good. Today I came home from work and it is SOFT! Not sure why, except
it was up to about 80 degrees, but it is cool and rainy now. It still
won't tamp down any more, but if I just touch it with my hand and push
laterally, it moves like there's next to no adhesion at all. What the
heck do I do now? I was hoping that I could seal the driveway later
this summer, but if these patches don't work, what's the point?

nate



You might try putting a steel plate or thick plywood sheet over the patch
and driving your car or truck(heavier the better) over it to compress the
patch.You'll get more pressure that way.

It's probably soft because the volatiles in the material BELOW the surface
have not dissipated yet,and the 80 degF heat causes more volatiles to
evaporate and soften the surface material.


Well, it's still soft... it's definitely the sun doing it. It's *way*
soft today, with the sun shining on the stuff, while yesterday it was
only "kinda" soft... Sakrete has not responded to my inquiry. Any
ideas what to do now? This is the only brand of cold patch I've been
able to find locally. It's been a full week since applying the patch.

thanks,

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel