Pothole repair

Pothole repair

The constant exposure to the elements of ice, rain and direct sunlight all effect the materials that make up our roads, paths and carparks, but above all, water is the biggest menace for road surfaces. As rainwater runs off, it can take the top layer of road surface with it but, on a poorly maintained or poorly drained roads, tracks, car parks, when water sits on the road’s surface and permeate, it accumulates under the road itself and settles into the sub-base. In Winter, when this water expands and contracts due to temperature change, damage is caused from under the road itself, pushing on the surface and causing deterioration, which left unchecked, results in a large hole in the road. When water that penetrates the road surface then freezes, it expands and then thaws, creating cracks. When this freeze-thaw is repeated, it leaves a cavity beneath the surface of the tarmac that then collapses, creating a pothole.

An effective pothole repair solution

While materials and techniques improve, roads are not permanent structures and will deteriorate over time from the constant use. Potholes only increase from the sheer weight and increased volumes most roads carry. As well as repeated light traffic, heavy vehicles such as lorries, tractors, forklifts etc. all have the capability to cause indents, which will eventually become potholes.

A more sustainable approach to pothole repair

A traditional road repair team repairing 29 square metres a day at 40mm deep will rip up and carry away 3 tons of asphalt, replacing it with 3 tons of fresh asphalt collected from the nearest asphalt plant. The energy required to carry out this process burns through 891 KGs of fossil fuels every day – in Carbon terms, that’s the equivalent to incinerating 1.4 tyres for every square metre repaired.

In response to this, OUTCO uses a new, sustainable road repair system and material that reduces material movement and waste by 95%, delivers up to 1,000 tons of carbon savings per annum per team, halves the cost of patching, and increases productivity by 3x. Rather than ripping defects out of the ground, generating waste and then replacing that waste with precious primary resources that are in limited supply, OUTCO uses flowable materials that not only fill the defects, but also welds to and flexes with the existing road.

Our mastic rubber RMR is specifically designed for such repairs, has 9 end of life tyres recycled into every ton, is adhesive, durable and flexible, certified to EN-13108, and has PTSPAS approval. This material can also be used for joints, kerb channels, cracks, shallow surface defects around iron works, and footpath repairs. Best of all, this reduces the usage of Fossil fuels from 31 Kgs, down to 4Kg of CO2e per sqm of repairs. The carbon savings from one repair team are equivalent to avoiding incinerating a stack of waste tyres the height of the Eiffel Tower every 12 days!

Cost savings with OUTCO Small Works RMR

• Avoiding waste, wherever possible is always preferable to generating waste and then recycling it
• Highly targeted Pre Surface-Dressing Patch Repairs are a great example of this, where Councils are now able to use RMR to avoid unnecessary waste, drive down carbon emissions, increase efficiency and save money in the process
• On a square metre basis RMR Repairs use 80-90% less material than remove and replace repairs,

The ability to further shrink certain repairs to fit the shape or size of a particular defect prior to surface dressing can further compound both the environmental and the cost savings by as much as 50%

• The material is also mixed on site, generates zero waste and avoids wasting valuable time collecting from an asphalt plant