July 17, 2007

Artesia News

Understanding Cape Sealing

Cape sealing was first developed in South Africa, near the city of Cape Town (wehre the process received its name).

The cape sealing process begins with laying oil over the street, covering it with rock chips, crushing the rocks, and then sweeping away the excess material.

Some cracks may appear shortly after the initial cape sealing, but a few days later a slurry will be added and the street will look like a new street.

First, a large truck pours down a layer of specially made oil that fills cracks in the existing asphalt and acts as a bonding material for the next step of the process.

After the oil truck, another large vehicle follows behind laying down a special 'aggregate rock' that adheres to the oil.  The aggregrate rock will be about 1/4 inch to 5/16 inches thick after the excess rock is swept away.

In the past, slurry was a common way to deal with cracked and worn streets.  However, slurry isn't much more than paint and sand, and so a layer of slurry can be expected to stay for about a year.

Residents are asked to take certain precautions when their street is being cape-sealed.

For instance, make sure that vehicles are not parked in the area when cape sealing begins, and when pulling out from a street that has been freshly cape-sealed, do not use power-steering to pull out, as that will tear up the street.

Copp Contracting, Inc., the company that lays the cape seal in Artesia, encourages residents to take some before and after pictures of their streets.

For more information, call Andrew Perry at (562) 865-6262.

 

 

 

 

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