A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it and
filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".
This is obviously temporary.
After 24 hours the Macadam has not gone hard as I would have expected it to.
Anybody know why it is still soft?

Mr Pounder wrote:
A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it
and filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".
This is obviously temporary.
After 24 hours the Macadam has not gone hard as I would have expected
it to. Anybody know why it is still soft?

It takes a week or two, I've used it dozens of times and just last week did
a patch on the other side of my fence which had been plagued with weeds,
it's still not set properly, but where I used it on a driveway a few weeks
ago, it's as hard as the surrounding tarmac.
There's a solvent in it that evaporates to allow setting but obviously it's
very slow to evaporate

"Phil L" wrote in message
...
Mr Pounder wrote:
A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it
and filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".
This is obviously temporary.
After 24 hours the Macadam has not gone hard as I would have expected
it to. Anybody know why it is still soft?

It takes a week or two, I've used it dozens of times and just last week
did a patch on the other side of my fence which had been plagued with
weeds, it's still not set properly, but where I used it on a driveway a
few weeks ago, it's as hard as the surrounding tarmac.
There's a solvent in it that evaporates to allow setting but obviously
it's very slow to evaporate

Taa.
The stuff they use on roads must be very different. This stuff came in a
plastic bag.

Mr Pounder wrote:
Taa.
The stuff they use on roads must be very different. This stuff came
in a plastic bag.

Yeah, they sell it at B&Q, it's about £7 a bag.
I had half a bag in my shed from about 6 weeks ago and used that for my
front fence...only it wasn't enough, so I've still got half a bag in my
shed.

The stuff used for roads etc is hot, and sets as it cools, the bagged stuff
is cold all the time (obviously) and is easier to lay in warm weather than
cold as it 'runs' better, in cold weather it's still usable but comes out of
the bag in big lumps which need breaking up before spreading.
I just get it something like level and then go over it with a wooden block
and a lump hammer.
Brushing dust over it creates the 'old' look and also prevents it sticking
to people's feet

On 10/08/2013 17:31, Mr Pounder wrote:
"Phil L" wrote in message
...
Mr Pounder wrote:
A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it
and filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".
This is obviously temporary.
After 24 hours the Macadam has not gone hard as I would have expected
it to. Anybody know why it is still soft?

It takes a week or two, I've used it dozens of times and just last week
did a patch on the other side of my fence which had been plagued with
weeds, it's still not set properly, but where I used it on a driveway a
few weeks ago, it's as hard as the surrounding tarmac.
There's a solvent in it that evaporates to allow setting but obviously
it's very slow to evaporate

Taa.
The stuff they use on roads must be very different. This stuff came in a
plastic bag.




The stuff they use on roads and the stuff in plastic bags is nearly the
same but in bags it has had emulsified bitumen added. This has to dry
out to set whereas road bitumen simply has to cool down.

I have seen someone very effectively put bagged stuff on a large steel
sheet and heat the under-surface using a gas burner. Most of the water
evaporated leaving fairly hot, fairly dry stuff which set relatively
speedily.

--
Rod

"Phil L" wrote in message
news
Mr Pounder wrote:
Taa.
The stuff they use on roads must be very different. This stuff came
in a plastic bag.

Yeah, they sell it at B&Q, it's about £7 a bag.
I had half a bag in my shed from about 6 weeks ago and used that for my
front fence...only it wasn't enough, so I've still got half a bag in my
shed.

The stuff used for roads etc is hot, and sets as it cools, the bagged
stuff is cold all the time (obviously) and is easier to lay in warm
weather than cold as it 'runs' better, in cold weather it's still usable
but comes out of the bag in big lumps which need breaking up before
spreading.
I just get it something like level and then go over it with a wooden block
and a lump hammer.
Brushing dust over it creates the 'old' look and also prevents it sticking
to people's feet

Interesting.
Thanks.

In message , Phil L
writes
The stuff used for roads etc is hot, and sets as it cools, the bagged
stuff is cold all the time (obviously) and is easier to lay in warm
weather than cold as it 'runs' better, in cold weather it's still
usable but comes out of the bag in big lumps which need breaking up
before spreading. I just get it something like level and then go over
it with a wooden block and a lump hammer. Brushing dust over it creates
the 'old' look and also prevents it sticking to people's feet

In winter, I put the bag in the front footwell of the car and turned the
heater on full while I "prepared the hole".

It seems to have worked well.
--
Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , Phil L
writes
The stuff used for roads etc is hot, and sets as it cools, the bagged
stuff is cold all the time (obviously) and is easier to lay in warm
weather than cold as it 'runs' better, in cold weather it's still usable
but comes out of the bag in big lumps which need breaking up before
spreading. I just get it something like level and then go over it with a
wooden block and a lump hammer. Brushing dust over it creates the 'old'
look and also prevents it sticking to people's feet

In winter, I put the bag in the front footwell of the car and turned the
heater on full while I "prepared the hole".

It seems to have worked well.


The contractors have carelessly left a bag of this stuff outside. Ahem ....
"Please note that the product will take longer to set in hot weather" is on
the bag.
I thought it would be the other way round.

On 10/08/2013 17:16, Mr Pounder wrote:
A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it and
filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".

Yes, they are *******s for that trick.

We had a leak under the public footpath, level with the boundary between
ourselves and the attached semi. United utilities arrived while I was at
work, dug it up, repaired the leak and took the opportunity to fit new
stop taps for both houses. This meant that the old flags wouldn't fit
and they had to take them away to cut accesses for the lids. They
temporarily filled the hole with that junk.

Now, I knew nothing of this when I got home in semi darkness. I reversed
into the drive, got out at least 8 feet into my drive and nearly 30
across from where they'd done the work. The phone was ringing, so I
rushed in and answered it. I was on the phone for around three quarters
of an hour and pacing around the hall. At the end of the call, I turned
on the hall light and found bitumen marks all over the carpet.

Further investigation revealed that (presumably) people walking up and
down the pavement had spread the stuff at least 30 feet in each
direction and there was somehow even a considerable amount in my drive!
I'd of course got a piece stuck to my shoe.

Horrible stuff.

SteveW

"SteveW" wrote in message
...
On 10/08/2013 17:16, Mr Pounder wrote:
A new gas supply is being laid in the street.
The contractors have dug a hole outside my house, put a board over it and
filled the gaps with "Easy to use cold lay Bitumen Macadam".

Yes, they are *******s for that trick.

We had a leak under the public footpath, level with the boundary between
ourselves and the attached semi. United utilities arrived while I was at
work, dug it up, repaired the leak and took the opportunity to fit new
stop taps for both houses. This meant that the old flags wouldn't fit and
they had to take them away to cut accesses for the lids. They temporarily
filled the hole with that junk.

Now, I knew nothing of this when I got home in semi darkness. I reversed
into the drive, got out at least 8 feet into my drive and nearly 30 across
from where they'd done the work. The phone was ringing, so I rushed in and
answered it. I was on the phone for around three quarters of an hour and
pacing around the hall. At the end of the call, I turned on the hall light
and found bitumen marks all over the carpet.

Further investigation revealed that (presumably) people walking up and
down the pavement had spread the stuff at least 30 feet in each direction
and there was somehow even a considerable amount in my drive! I'd of
course got a piece stuck to my shoe.

Horrible stuff.

Yeah, its all over the bloody footpath here. Not the stuff they used to fill
the gap, the stuff they could have swept up but didn't.

On 11/08/2013 13:29, SteveW wrote:
I turned on the hall light and found bitumen marks all over the carpet.

Some years ago I was on a call at XXXXXX Bank in Bristol. Their
regional HQ had solid marble floors in reception, and brand new tarmac
outside.

It also had a cleaner on her knees with a rag and solvent. At least it
comes off easily, but I think she was going to be there for a while.

Andy