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I Was Done, It Was Time to Fill the Pothole!

Jaycee

It Would be a Hole No More

You read the title right; I did have a pothole that needed to be filled. To be more precise, it was several potholes throughout our new neighborhood. We had been traversing one such pothole for the last few months, and I was done! Somehow, someway I was going to fill these holes and get on with life. No longer would I forget about the holes and accidentally plow through them at 5 AM on my way to work.

Nasty Potholes


I live in a part of Michigan that suffers from a tremendous amount of potholes. As explained to me, if we situated 3 hours more North or 3 hours more South, the pothole issue would be less existent. We experience such a range of temperatures in Metro Detroit, the constant contraction and expansion wreak havoc on the roads around us. The barrage of salt trucks through the winter and the heavy snowplows certainly play their part.

My next step was to seek out a professional. I work with several customers and suppliers in the packaging industry. My friend Carl, and current customer, is in the roofing industry. He also has expertise in pothole repair. I won’t bore you with the details, but he supplied me with three bags of asphalt patch repair and a bonding prep & seal paint. As explained to me, it was going to be a messy process.

Carl stated the Bonding Prep was black and needed to be applied in a thick coating to the substrate. This would act as a primer and allow the patch material to adhere to the substrate. Then, I would need to coat the hole and the surrounding area and let it dry for a couple of hours. It was imperative to apply the product to a dry surface. The pothole patch could then be filled into the hole until level with the surrounding unaffected area. He recommended having my vehicle nearby as it would be needed to roll over the patch a few times to level it. I was then to apply more of the patch material as required. The patch would need to settle for a few hours, and more of the bonding paint would have to be applied over the patch to seal it.

Here I was, ready to go and anxious to try my new solution. I envisioned happy neighbors and high-fives from my family. Then came the rain, and day after day, I waited for a break. I needed dry pavement, and Mother Nature had other ideas. Just when it looked like there would be a break in the weather, it would rain again. My wife was starting to get antsy as I had these large bags and 5-gallon pail in our garage. It did not help the bags of pothole patch wreaked of petroleum.

Finished Patches


Finally, I finished work this week, and the weather looked like it was going to cooperate. I was ready to run home, change into my “play clothes,” and complete my task. Imagine my surprise when I roll into the subdivision and find the holes have all filled and coated. To say I was caught a little off guard would be an understatement. As I just heard from a neighbor, the Association had been promising to repave the entire neighborhood for years. He was upset they only patched the damaged areas.

There is a part of me a little upset I could not utilize the materials given to me, but I am confident the professional patch is the way to go. The roads look good. Now I have to find a home for these supplies because they take up too much room in our garage, not to mention the smell.

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