How to melt asphalt crumb. Tips from experienced builders on how to make quality asphalt with your own hands

Asphalt is often used for refining adjoining territory... To make asphalt mass, use the tips and instructions of the specialists, which are given in this article. They will help you perform all operations efficiently and get a reliable construction material for laying the roadway.

Asphalt constituents and tools for their preparation

Depending on the technology that will be used to produce the asphalt mix, you will need the following set of starting materials and tools:

• natural mountain asphalt;
• sand;
• bitumen;
• crushed stone;
• water;
• Bulgarian;
• drill;
• metallic profile;
• mixing container.

Hot asphalt production

To organize the production of hot asphalt for the needs of a private household a thorough preparation and study of the technology of the process will help. The composition of the asphalt mass includes bitumen tar, fine gravel, sand and artificial polymers. For their mixing and subsequent heat treatment, a refractory container is used. Procure fuel to maintain the required temperature based on 8 hours of combustion. 100 liters of water will be needed to cool the mixture.

Hot asphalt manufacturing method:

1. Choosing a working capacity.
2. We mix dry sand and fine gravel.
3. We heat bitumen resin and polymers to the state of a fluid mass.
4. We bring plasticizers into a heated container with sand and gravel.
5. Stir until a homogeneous suspension is formed.
6. We use asphalting for its intended purpose.

Benefits of cold asphalt

Cold asphalt is a modern building material used for quick repair and road construction. The high functionality of the suspension is determined by SG bitumen. The plasticizer of this brand has a high viscosity and retains its plasticity when low temperatures.

The production of cold asphalt is a complex high-tech process, which cannot be recreated in the conditions of a subsidiary farm. But thanks to widespread material on construction market, summer residents can purchase it at finished form... A mass of cold asphalt is laid on the site and compacted using available tools.

Asphalt from the old roadway

Pieces of destroyed road surface can be used as raw materials for the production of asphalt mass. Thanks to this technique, you can easily improve the site without the need for large capital investments.

Technology reuse road surface:

1. We grind pieces of canvas to a fraction of 0.4 cm.
2. We add sand, water and bring the mixture to a temperature of 100 ° C.
3. For 100 kg of processed mass, prepare 10 kg of bitumen and resin, bring to a boil.
4. We mix all the leaving ones.

Asphalt from previously used components is a cheap building material for the arrangement and repair of pedestrian and highways... At careful preparation raw materials and correct styling, the wear resistance of such a coating does not differ from cold or hot asphalt.

16 /04/2016

To make asphalt on your own, you need to know a few details that will help to avoid injury during work. The main materials for asphalt are crushed stone, resin and sand. In addition, we need polymer materials, with the help of which the surface is laid. At first glance, making asphalt on your own is not at all difficult, but before you start, you need to prepare for this process. First you need to find a container in which all the ingredients will be mixed. You also need a small fire, which must burn for at least 8 hours. In order to cool the suspension, you need to prepare about 100 liters of water. In order for all materials to stick together, you need to use a paste in the form of resin or bitumen.

Cold asphalt
Today there is another type of asphalt - cold, that is, polymer. The main advantage is that it can be installed at any temperature. Through testing, it was found that the viscosity of this asphalt is maintained even at -15. It is this fact that gives huge advantages to this type of asphalt, since it allows you to repair roads at any time and weather. For such laying, special equipment is used, including a service such as renting a single drum roller.

Hot asphalt
1. Preparation of the container.
First of all, you need to make a certain object that would perform the work of a concrete mixer. To do this, you can apply iron barrel... On top of it you need to cover it with a lid, and at the bottom in the very center you need to drill a hole with a drill. Then you need to thread a thin pipe or rod and weld it with welding so that the barrel does not leak. To one of the edges of the pipe, you need to weld an L-shaped rod and you get a spit.
2. Pour crushed stone and sand into a homemade concrete mixer according to the 2: 1 principle and mix everything well. Do not use wet mixtures, as they dry out very quickly and are difficult to pick out.
3. Bitumen must be heated in another container. For this better fit bucket. Heating to boiling, add polymers. To make the bitumen elastic, you need to add a little shampoo. Due to boiling, it will burn out, and it will become much easier to stir the mixture.
4. Hot bitumen you need to add to the barrel, where the sand and crushed stone have already warmed up. In no case should bitumen be poured into cold barrel, as it will quickly solidify.
5. Before pouring asphalt, the pits must be well cleaned. In addition, all unnecessary debris can be blown out with the help of a compressor. Having poured the hot mixture into the pits, you need to tamp the material with the help of a roller. In order for the tool not to stick to the bitumen, it must be moistened with water.

We will also consider techniques, proportions and technologies. self-made asphalt from bitumen, sand, gravel and old asphalt. We will learn how to properly lay homemade asphalt on personal plot

First of all, let's consider what is the classic industrial asphalt made of?
Asphalt concrete is produced from crushed stone, sand (for better filling of small holes that crushed stone cannot fill), mineral filler (for better enveloping, sandstone, limestone and others are used) and bitumen (a kind of binding material, "glue"). Also, gravel may be included in the recipe. Each component in the production of asphalt concrete is needed to better compact the asphalt pavement.

Asphalt types

Asphalt concrete, depending on its components, is sandy (sand + bitumen), crushed stone (crushed stone + sand + bitumen + mineral powder) and gravel (gravel + crushed stone + bitumen + mineral powder). Only the right proportion of these components can result in quality asphalt.

Also, asphalt paving is hot and warm. But the difference in degrees is not that big. At hot styling the temperature of the asphalt mixture ranges from 130 to 170 ° C, and when it is cold, it should not be lower than 80 ° C. Cold paving of asphalt concrete is used for local (patching) repair

Factory production of asphalt

Asphalt concrete production takes place in several stages. First, the quality control of the starting material (crushed stone, bitumen and mineral additives) is carried out. After that, the process of processing of inert materials begins. As already mentioned, the production of a standard asphalt mixture is carried out from crushed stone, sand, mineral material and bitumen.

To begin with, the sand is sifted, and the crushed stone is divided into various sizes of fractions (from 5 to 20 mm) with the help of a screen. Further, in accordance with the recipe, they enter a special drum for drying. A high temperature is maintained inside the drum in order to completely remove water from the mixture during the manufacturing process, since it deteriorates the strength of the future asphalt concrete.In addition to the fact that in the bunker sand and crushed stone (it is possible to add screenings) are dried at a temperature of about one hundred and sixty degrees, they are mixed with each other. Simultaneously with the drying of solid materials, the bitumen in the tanks is heated up to the same one hundred and sixty degrees. During the heating process, it is very important to maintain the desired temperature; it is impossible for the binder material to be too liquid or too hard.

At the next stage of production after heating, all components of asphalt concrete (crushed stone, sand, mineral additives and bitumen) are mixed. The material is mixed with special paddles in a separate hopper. Mixing is necessary for better enveloping, adhesion of bitumen to grains of crushed stone and sand, mineral additives also improve the quality of asphalt concrete (filling unnecessary voids into which water can get and destroy the road). In some plants, the asphalt mixture is passed through a series of sieves during mixing, thus separating the asphalt into the right amount portions with uniform distribution components of asphalt concrete.

For asphalt, it is very important to observe the proportion during manufacture, since the quality of the future road depends on this. Indeed, in summer, asphalt can melt, and in winter it can crack because of the wrong selection of components and the temperature of laying.

After thorough mixing, the hot asphalt enters the storage bin (which also maintains a high temperature).

Recipe for making asphalt at home:

Take the old compacted asphalt, crush it into pieces 5x5x5cm in size. Add bitumen crushed in the same 5x5x5cm pieces. Proportions 3: 1.
Put a barrel or a deep trough on the fire, pour bitumen into it first, then asphalt and cook so that there is more fire from the fire, not coal. You can also add waste oil there, or old roofing material.

And cook, stir periodically with a wooden stick until the whole mass becomes liquid. Moreover, it is better not to take out the stick, you must constantly keep one end in the barrel. The finished asphalt becomes liquid and separates into a more liquid fraction, which floats upward, and all the pebbles fall downward.

It is necessary to pour asphalt from the barrel into the bucket as follows: tilt it, the upper edge rests on the substituted bucket, and begin to scoop out the contents, raking shovel heavy fractions from the bottom.
To pour asphalt into the next bucket, you must first mix the entire mass in the barrel, otherwise all the light fraction will pour out first. And it just contains a lot of bitumen, but there are few mineral additives in it.
Take this into account when filling, otherwise you will not achieve the desired effect.

While you are pouring, keep the barrel of asphalt over the fire all the time, it is better to put it on the bottom of the coals so that the mass is very hot all the time. As the asphalt was poured into the bucket, be sure to read the molten asphalt from the walls of the barrel, then it will not cool down and accumulate on the wall.

Please note that the old asphalt will be reduced by more than 2 times. And if you have a standard 200 liter barrel, then you need to fill it halfway, and then stirring and tilting it will not be so difficult. Even such a barrel will take 4-6 hours to cook. It will need 15 buckets: 12 - asphalt, 3 - bitumen.

When pouring asphalt, level it wooden board and immediately throw fine gravel on top, before everything has yet had time to thicken. If there is some asphalt left in the bucket, you can put it on the fire next to the barrel and melt it next time.
And after cooking, be sure to clean the bottom of the barrel from slag, which burns to the walls and to the bottom.

First, pour bitumen into the barrel, then asphalt. Cook so that there is more fire from the fire, and not coals, you can use waste oil, old roofing material from the roof, especially if rotten wood is used as firewood.
When it becomes more or less liquid, periodically stir with a wooden stick for uniform heating, keep the stick with its end in the barrel where the asphalt is cooked without removing it.
It is convenient to cook on a slope, placing bricks under the barrel, one brick from the side of the hill, and two supports, two bricks on top of each other, from the side of the slope.
When cooked, the molten asphalt becomes liquid, easily interferes with a wooden stick or a shovel, separates into a more liquid fraction at the top and with pebbles at the bottom.
To pour asphalt into the bucket, a pair of bricks are removed from the side of the slope and placed in two rows on the sides of the intended slope of the barrel so that the barrel does not roll to the sides.
Then the barrel is tilted and placed along the slope, resting the upper edge on the bucket that has been substituted, and the contents are poured into the bucket, helping with a shovel, scooping up the heavier fractions from the bottom with it.

Before pouring, the asphalt in the barrel is stirred every time. Anyway, the lighter fraction is poured first, containing more bitumen and less mineral additives, which must be taken into account when pouring.
After filling the bucket, hold it so that it does not tip over the slope, and return the barrel to an upright position so that it lies down on the coals from the fire and the contents continue to heat up while the pouring process takes place. After the return of the barrel
in an upright position, you need to clean the molten asphalt from the wall to the bottom with a wooden plank so that it does not cool down on the wall.
You can dig a hole for the bucket and fill it with bricks, in this case, at the beginning of pouring, the bucket is placed on the bricks at the same level with the ground, and with subsequent fillings, the bricks are gradually removed from the hole so that the bucket sinks deeper
and the barrel, leaning on the edge of the bucket, leaned lower and lower each time until the bucket was deepened to its full height and the barrel lay on the ground completely.
If from the beginning of cooking you put a bucket on the fire filled with asphalt and bitumen next to the barrel, then you can additionally weld two more buckets of asphalt asphalt while the asphalt is being cooked in the barrel.

The old asphalt is more than halved. Fill a 200-liter barrel no more than halfway (15 six-liter buckets - 12 asphalt and 3 bitumen), otherwise it is difficult to mix and turn a full barrel. Such a barrel is cooked for 4 to 6 hours.
When pouring, the asphalt is leveled with a wooden stick or board, and fine gravel is immediately poured onto the filled area, while the asphalt is still liquid. The asphalt, which has thickened in the bucket and remained in it, is left for the next cooking, in order to put in the same bucket next to the barrel on the fire and melt.
Cast asphalt melts much more easily than compressed asphalt. Each time after cooking, the barrel and bucket must be cleaned by beating off the slag that burns to the walls and bottom, otherwise the cooking time the next time increases very significantly.Speaking about asphalt, I immediately want to say that this building material has more disadvantages than advantages in relation to suburban area... Asphalt pavement has only a few main advantages - low cost, high strength, simple technology creation and versatility. Asphalt is often chosen only because it has the most low price, compared to such materials for paving garden paths as paving slabs, paving stones, decking, natural stone etc.

Preparing the area for asphalting with your own hands

First of all, we mark the boundaries of the future asphalt track. At this place, it is necessary to remove a layer of soil (at least 30 cm, it all depends on the purpose of the path) and make sure that tree roots do not pass near the future path, otherwise they will soon begin to destroy the asphalt. If there are roots, then we cut them out with an ax. After that, along the entire perimeter of the path, we install curbs, which will be the borders.

The role of curbs is not only to prevent the spread of asphalt, but also as a decorative function. To install the curbs, we dig a small even trench and plant them on cement mortar into this trench. To create an even curb, we pull the rope from the beginning to the end of the sides of the path and orient ourselves along this rope. As a curb, you can use bricks that are laid not only on the side edges, but also bricks.

Next, we start creating a cushion for the asphalt. We carefully tamp the bottom of the trench for the track, fill it with the first layer - crushed stone (10-15 cm thick, large fraction) and tamp it again. On this layer we fill up another layer of crushed stone, but only of a finer fraction, the layer thickness is no more than 10 cm. Well, last layer- sandy, about 5-10 cm. As soon as the pillow is created, fill it with water and, using a roller, carefully roll it.

To prevent water from collecting on the asphalt path, make a small drain in advance: construct the path at an inclination of 1-2 degrees and circle it with a drain that directs the water flow into the soil.

Self-laying new asphalt

As we said earlier, it is more expedient to order asphalt from the factory. After the asphalt is delivered to your site, you must immediately proceed to laying it, because the solution quickly hardens.

First of all, we spread the asphalt with a shovel over the entire area of ​​the track, making an even filling. Further, using a mop-engine, we level the asphalt along the entire path, while throwing asphalt into the pits, and leveling the bumps. Please note that minimum thickness asphalt pavement should be at least 5 cm to ensure strength garden path therefore it is necessary to comply with this requirement.

As mentioned earlier, the asphalt quickly hardens, so it is better to invite several assistants to create the track, so that the process is carried out faster.

As soon as part of the path is planned out, we take a hand roller and begin to roll this section, while the others plan the path further.

Mandatory requirement: before rolling the track, lubricate the roller with diesel fuel so that the asphalt does not stick to it and the track is perfectly flat. You can also lubricate shovels with diesel fuel to make it easier to throw asphalt onto the track.

When working with the roller, it is necessary to move slowly at the same time, making only rectilinear movements (reverse movements are prohibited). During rolling, seams will form at the joints between the lines, in order to remove them, it is necessary to roll them across the seams.

Never leave the roller on the track after work.

For high-quality rolling, the roller should protrude at least 10 cm beyond the edge of the track.

If the weight of the roller is not enough for a good rolling of the track, then you can ask one of the assistants to stand on the frame of the roller, then the weight will increase.

Laying asphalt on an old pavement on a personal plot

If you decide to lay asphalt not on the ground, but on the old asphalt surface or concrete screeds, then the process of preparing the area will change. Instead of a cushion of rubble and sand, you just need to repair the old coating. To do this, you need to rid the surface of dirt and various debris, if there are small cracks, they must be expanded manually, so that in the future they would be tightly clogged with asphalt.

After that, along the entire perimeter of the future garden path, it is necessary to pour molten bitumen and, using a mop-engine, spread the bitumen into strips of 50 cm (not less). Along the entire length of the track, it is necessary to make transverse bituminous strips with a step of half a meter and then create an asphalt track with our own hands using the technology indicated above.

How to repair an asphalt path yourself?

Even if you have laid the asphalt with high quality with your own hands, the track will sooner or later start to collapse. The most common destructive factors are:

Asphalt started to melt in hot weather

Water got into the cracks in winter and when it thawed - destroyed the coating

Heavy equipment has entered the asphalt path, for which this path is not designed

To repair the asphalt pavement with your own hands, it is recommended to use cold asphalt, which is allowed to be laid even at low temperatures (minus).
How to cover broken asphalt?

If the asphalt path has completely collapsed and is not suitable for repair, then this situation must be corrected. There are two ways to fix a broken asphalt track:

1. Remove asphalt and re-lay

2. Lay on top of the asphalt paving slabs or pour concrete screed

As for the first method, all construction companies involved in road repairs must remove the broken asphalt, re-create a cushion of rubble and sand, and roll a new asphalt surface. For an inconspicuous garden path this process will be difficult and economically unprofitable.

It would be more expedient to fill a layer of sand (at least 5 cm) on top of the asphalt, fill it with water and start paving the paving slabs.

In order to save money, today they often resort to the restoration of used asphalt. Let's take a closer look at how to use old asphalt and what is needed for this.

Recycling of asphalt is possible only after reclaiming it at the plant. But this process is simple and quite allows you to carry out all the work yourself.

Having carefully tamped the soil in the place of future asphalt laying work, we equip a cushion of sand and crushed stone, water it and again compaction of the layer. This completes the preparation of the basis - now you need to acquire source material, which remains with you after dismantling the old pavement, or just buy old asphalt. You will also need several kilograms of bitumen and physical strength.

Here, in fact, is all you need to know about how to use old asphalt at home.

Recycling of asphalt at the plant, as mentioned above, is carried out by the reclamation method. In this case, while mixing the molten composition of the old asphalt, sometimes new mineral fillers and plasticizers are added to it, in addition to standard bitumen.

Recycling of asphalt to improve the efficiency of recovery plants is best done after crushing. Also, this method significantly increases the degree of accuracy of the batch recipe. But, in this case, it is necessary to additionally deal with the adhesion of asphalt material to the working elements of the crushers. The solution to this problem was thermal crushing in steam plants. In such units, during crushing, the material is heated up to 80 ° C. But this is abroad, and in domestic production for the regeneration of old asphalt, in the standard version, they use conventional installations for mixing such compositions. Also applies additional equipment installations with equipment for storage, transportation and dosage of asphalt concrete mixture

Garden paths should not only have a beautiful appearance, but also have high strength, so that a cart with building materials, etc. can be moved along them. Today there is a wide range of paving materials, but most of them are expensive. That is why it is often best to asphalt a garden path, because asphalt is one of the cheapest building materials. Read on to learn how to pave the path correctly!

• Article
• Video

The advantage of paved paths

Speaking about asphalt, I immediately want to say that this building material has more disadvantages than advantages in relation to the summer cottage.

Asphalt pavement has only a few main advantages - low cost, high strength, simple technology of creation and versatility. Asphalt is often chosen only because it has the lowest price in comparison with such materials for paving garden paths as paving slabs, paving stones, decking, etc.

The disadvantages of asphalt are very significant factors that affect not only the landscape design of the garden. Among the most significant disadvantages are:

1. In hot weather, asphalt evaporates and exposes the human body to the influence of harmful substances. In addition, the unpleasant smell itself will not allow you to deeply relax in the garden, which is what we need.
2. Asphalt pavement practically does not have a decorative ability, therefore, for decorating a site, it is not only not suitable, but also vice versa, will worsen the situation. Paved paths hardly fit into garden styles, which is also very bad. The only exception is colored asphalt, to which various pigments are added, due to which the coating can be not only the usual gray color, but also green, pink, blue, etc.
3. With poor-quality paving, asphalt quickly collapses in winter: water gets into cracks, freezes, and when it freezes, it destroys the surface.
4. During the heat, the asphalt melts.

As you can see, the disadvantages of asphalt pavement are more significant than the advantages, but, despite this, it is recommended to build asphalt paths on the functional nodes of the garden: for example, between and. It is strictly forbidden to build asphalt paths nearby, because of the harmfulness of asphalt.

How to lay asphalt with your own hands?

In order to lay asphalt in the country with your own hands, you need to carefully prepare the area, know the technology of asphalt laying and have at least a homemade manual roller for asphalt paving.

You should immediately draw your attention to the fact that it is very difficult to make asphalt on your own, because it is necessary to warm up the bitumen, mix it with crushed stone and additives and know the correct proportions. Since asphalt is not expensive, it is best to order a ready-mix from a road repair company. In this case, you will not lose a lot of money, for that the asphalt will be brought to you directly to the place of laying in a hot state, all that remains is to quickly level it, tamp and roll it.

So let's get down to business!

First of all, we mark the boundaries of the future asphalt track. At this place, it is necessary to remove a layer of soil (at least 30 cm, it all depends on the purpose of the path) and make sure that tree roots do not pass near the future path, otherwise they will soon begin to destroy the asphalt. If there are roots, we cut them out with an ax. After that, along the entire perimeter of the path, we install curbs, which will be the borders. The role of curbs is not only to prevent the spread of asphalt, but also as a decorative function. To install the curbs, we dig a small even trench and put them on a cement mortar in this trench. To create an even curb, we pull the rope from the beginning to the end of the sides of the path and orient ourselves along this rope. As a curb, you can use bricks that are laid not only on the side edges, but also bricks.

Next, we start creating a cushion for the asphalt. We carefully tamp the bottom of the trench for the track, fill it with the first layer - crushed stone (10-15 cm thick, large fraction) and tamp it again. On this layer we fill up another layer of crushed stone, but only of a finer fraction, the layer thickness is no more than 10 cm.Well, the last layer is sandy, about 5-10 cm.As soon as the pillow is created, fill it with water and, using a roller, carefully we are rolling away.

To prevent water from collecting on the asphalt path, make a small drain in advance: build the path at an inclination of 1-2 degrees and equip it with small drainages that direct the water flow into the soil.

As we said earlier, it is more expedient to order asphalt from the factory. After the asphalt is delivered to your site, you must immediately proceed to laying it, because the solution quickly hardens.

First of all, we spread the asphalt with a shovel over the entire area of ​​the track, making an even filling. Further, using a mop-engine, we level the asphalt along the entire path, while throwing asphalt into the pits, and leveling the bumps. Please note that the minimum thickness of the asphalt pavement must be at least 5 cm to ensure durability, therefore this requirement must be observed.

As mentioned earlier, the asphalt quickly hardens, so it is better to invite several assistants to create the track, so that the process is carried out faster.

As soon as part of the path is planned out, we take a hand roller and begin to roll this section, while the others plan the path further.

Mandatory requirement: before rolling the track, lubricate the roller with diesel fuel so that the asphalt does not stick to it and the track is perfectly flat. You can also lubricate shovels with diesel fuel to make it easier to throw asphalt onto the track.

Another option is to pour a concrete screed over the asphalt pavement. This option is simpler, but at the same time concrete walkway will be far from an ideal addition to the garden decor, in contrast to the sidewalk paths.

This is all that I wanted to tell you about how to properly lay asphalt with your own hands, as well as how to repair or replace it. We hope that our article will help you in creating an asphalt path with your own hands!

Today we will talk about how to make or make high-quality asphalt at home with our own hands.

We will also consider the methods, proportions and technologies for the independent production of asphalt from bitumen, sand, crushed stone and old asphalt. We will learn how to properly lay homemade asphalt on a personal plot

First of all, let's consider what is the classic industrial asphalt made of?
Asphalt concrete is produced from crushed stone, sand (for better filling of small holes that crushed stone cannot fill), mineral filler (for better enveloping, sandstone, limestone and others are used) and bitumen (a kind of binding material, "glue"). Also, gravel may be included in the recipe. Each component in the production of asphalt concrete is needed to better compact the asphalt pavement.

Asphalt types

Asphalt concrete, depending on its components, is sandy (sand + bitumen), crushed stone (crushed stone + sand + bitumen + mineral powder) and gravel (gravel + crushed stone + bitumen + mineral powder). Only the right proportion of these components can result in quality asphalt.

Also, asphalt paving is hot and warm. But the difference in degrees is not that big. With hot paving, the temperature of the asphalt mixture ranges from 130 to 170 ° C, with cold paving, it should not be lower than 80 ° C. Cold paving of asphalt concrete is used for local (patching) repair

Factory production of asphalt

Asphalt concrete production takes place in several stages. First, the quality control of the starting material (crushed stone, bitumen and mineral additives) is carried out. After that, the process of processing of inert materials begins. As already mentioned, the production of a standard asphalt mixture is carried out from crushed stone, sand, mineral material and bitumen.

To begin with, the sand is sifted, and the crushed stone is divided into various sizes of fractions (from 5 to 20 mm) with the help of a screen. Further, in accordance with the recipe, they enter a special drum for drying. A high temperature is maintained inside the drum in order to completely remove water from the mixture during the manufacturing process, since it deteriorates the strength of the future asphalt concrete. In addition to the fact that in the bunker sand and crushed stone (it is possible to add screenings) are dried at a temperature of about one hundred and sixty degrees, they are mixed with each other. Simultaneously with the drying of solid materials, the bitumen in the tanks is heated up to the same one hundred and sixty degrees. During the heating process, it is very important to maintain the desired temperature; it is impossible for the binder material to be too liquid or too hard.

At the next stage of production after heating, all components of asphalt concrete (crushed stone, sand, mineral additives and bitumen) are mixed. The material is mixed with special paddles in a separate hopper.

Mixing is necessary for better enveloping, adhesion of bitumen to grains of crushed stone and sand, mineral additives also improve the quality of asphalt concrete (filling unnecessary voids into which water can get and destroy the road). In some factories, the asphalt mixture is passed through a series of sieves during mixing, thus, the asphalt is divided into the required number of portions with an even distribution of the asphalt concrete components.

For asphalt, it is very important to observe the proportion during manufacture, since the quality of the future road depends on this. Indeed, in summer, asphalt can melt, and in winter it can crack because of the wrong selection of components and the temperature of laying.

After thorough mixing, the hot asphalt enters the storage bin (which also maintains a high temperature).

Recipe for making asphalt at home:

Take the old compacted asphalt, crush it into pieces 5x5x5cm in size. Add bitumen crushed in the same 5x5x5cm pieces. Proportions 3: 1.

Put a barrel or a deep trough on the fire, pour bitumen into it first, then asphalt and cook so that there is more fire from the fire, not coal. You can also add waste oil there, or old roofing material.

And cook, stir periodically with a wooden stick until the whole mass becomes liquid. Moreover, it is better not to take out the stick, you must constantly keep one end in the barrel. The finished asphalt becomes liquid and separates into a more liquid fraction, which floats upward, and all the pebbles fall downward.

It is necessary to pour asphalt from the barrel into the bucket as follows: tilt it, the upper edge rests on the substituted bucket, and begin to scoop out the contents, raking the heavy fractions from the bottom with a shovel.
To pour asphalt into the next bucket, you must first mix the entire mass in the barrel, otherwise all the light fraction will pour out first. And it just contains a lot of bitumen, but there are few mineral additives in it.
Take this into account when filling, otherwise you will not achieve the desired effect.

While you are pouring, keep the barrel of asphalt over the fire all the time, it is better to put it on the bottom of the coals so that the mass is very hot all the time. As the asphalt was poured into the bucket, be sure to read the molten asphalt from the walls of the barrel, then it will not cool down and accumulate on the wall.

Please note that the old asphalt will be reduced by more than 2 times. And if you have a standard 200 liter barrel, then you need to fill it halfway, and then stirring and tilting it will not be so difficult. Even such a barrel will take 4-6 hours to cook. It will need 15 buckets: 12 - asphalt, 3 - bitumen.

When you pour asphalt, level it with a wooden board and immediately throw fine gravel on top before everything has thickened. If there is some asphalt left in the bucket, you can put it on the fire next to the barrel and melt it next time.
And after cooking, be sure to clean the bottom of the barrel from slag, which burns to the walls and to the bottom.

Another way to make asphalt yourself with your own hands:

For 12 buckets of old compacted asphalt, crumbled in pieces ranging in size from 5x5x5cm to 10x10x5cm, add 3 buckets of bitumen, crushed in pieces no more than 5x5x5cm.

First, pour bitumen into the barrel, then asphalt. Cook so that there is more fire from the fire, and not coals, you can use waste oil, old roofing material from the roof, especially if rotten wood is used as firewood.
When it becomes more or less liquid, periodically stir with a wooden stick for uniform heating, keep the stick with its end in the barrel where the asphalt is cooked without removing it.
It is convenient to cook on a slope, placing bricks under the barrel, one brick from the side of the hill, and two supports, two bricks on top of each other, from the side of the slope.
When cooked, the molten asphalt becomes liquid, easily interferes with a wooden stick or a shovel, separates into a more liquid fraction at the top and with pebbles at the bottom.
To pour asphalt into the bucket, a pair of bricks are removed from the side of the slope and placed in two rows on the sides of the intended slope of the barrel so that the barrel does not roll to the sides.
Then the barrel is tilted and placed along the slope, resting the upper edge on the bucket that has been substituted, and the contents are poured into the bucket, helping with a shovel, scooping up the heavier fractions from the bottom with it.

Before pouring, the asphalt in the barrel is stirred every time. Anyway, the lighter fraction is poured first, containing more bitumen and less mineral additives, which must be taken into account when pouring.
After filling the bucket, hold it so that it does not tip over the slope, and return the barrel to an upright position so that it lies down on the coals from the fire and the contents continue to heat up while the pouring process takes place. After the return of the barrel
in an upright position, you need to clean the molten asphalt from the wall to the bottom with a wooden plank so that it does not cool down on the wall.
You can dig a hole for the bucket and fill it with bricks, in this case, at the beginning of pouring, the bucket is placed on the bricks at the same level with the ground, and with subsequent fillings, the bricks are gradually removed from the hole so that the bucket sinks deeper
and the barrel, leaning on the edge of the bucket, leaned lower and lower each time until the bucket was deepened to its full height and the barrel lay on the ground completely.
If from the beginning of cooking you put a bucket on the fire filled with asphalt and bitumen next to the barrel, then you can additionally weld two more buckets of asphalt asphalt while the asphalt is being cooked in the barrel.

The old asphalt is more than halved. Fill a 200-liter barrel no more than halfway (15 six-liter buckets - 12 asphalt and 3 bitumen), otherwise it is difficult to mix and turn a full barrel. Such a barrel is cooked for 4 to 6 hours.
When pouring, the asphalt is leveled with a wooden stick or board, and fine gravel is immediately poured onto the filled area, while the asphalt is still liquid. The asphalt, which has thickened in the bucket and remained in it, is left for the next cooking, in order to put in the same bucket next to the barrel on the fire and melt.
Cast asphalt melts much more easily than compressed asphalt. Each time after cooking, the barrel and bucket must be cleaned by beating off the slag that burns to the walls and bottom, otherwise the cooking time the next time increases very significantly. Speaking about asphalt, I immediately want to say that this building material has more disadvantages than advantages in relation to the summer cottage. Asphalt pavement has only a few main advantages - low cost, high strength, simple technology of creation and versatility. Asphalt is often chosen only because it has the lowest price in comparison with such materials for paving garden paths as paving slabs, paving stones, decking, natural stone, etc.

The disadvantages of asphalt are very significant factors that affect not only the landscape design of the garden. Among the most significant disadvantages are:

1. In hot weather, asphalt evaporates and exposes the human body to the influence of harmful substances. In addition, the unpleasant smell itself will not allow you to deeply relax in the garden, which is what we need.

2. Asphalt pavement has practically no decorative ability, therefore, it will not only be unsuitable for decorating a plot, but also, on the contrary, will worsen the situation. Paved paths hardly fit into garden styles, which is also very bad. The only exception is colored asphalt, to which various pigments are added, due to which the coating can be not only the usual gray color, but also green, pink, blue, etc.

3. In case of poor-quality paving, asphalt quickly collapses in winter: water gets into cracks, freezes, and when it freezes, it destroys the pavement.

4. During the heat, the asphalt melts.

As you can see, the disadvantages of asphalt pavement are more significant than the advantages, but, despite this, it is recommended to build asphalt paths on the functional units of the garden: for example, between the garage and the utility block. It is strictly forbidden to build asphalt paths near recreation areas, because of the harmfulness of asphalt.
How to lay asphalt with your own hands?

In order to lay asphalt in the country with your own hands, you need to carefully prepare the area, know the technology of asphalt laying and have at least a homemade manual roller for asphalt paving.

You should immediately draw your attention to the fact that it is very difficult to make asphalt on your own, because it is necessary to warm up the bitumen, mix it with crushed stone and additives and know the correct proportions. Since asphalt is not expensive, it is best to order a ready-mix from a road repair company. In this case, you will not lose a lot of money, for that the asphalt will be brought to you directly to the place of laying in a hot state, all that remains is to quickly level it, tamp and roll it.

Preparing the area for asphalting with your own hands

First of all, we mark the boundaries of the future asphalt track. At this place, it is necessary to remove a layer of soil (at least 30 cm, it all depends on the purpose of the path) and make sure that tree roots do not pass near the future path, otherwise they will soon begin to destroy the asphalt. If there are roots, then we cut them out with an ax. After that, along the entire perimeter of the path, we install curbs, which will be the borders.

The role of curbs is not only to prevent the spread of asphalt, but also as a decorative function. To install the curbs, we dig a small even trench and put them on a cement mortar in this trench. To create an even curb, we pull the rope from the beginning to the end of the sides of the path and orient ourselves along this rope. As a curb, you can use bricks that are laid not only on the side edges, but also bricks.

Next, we start creating a cushion for the asphalt. We carefully tamp the bottom of the trench for the track, fill it with the first layer - crushed stone (10-15 cm thick, large fraction) and tamp it again. On this layer we fill up another layer of crushed stone, but only of a finer fraction, the layer thickness is no more than 10 cm.Well, the last layer is sandy, about 5-10 cm.As soon as the pillow is created, fill it with water and, using a roller, carefully we are rolling away.

To prevent water from collecting on the asphalt path, make a small drain in advance: construct the path at an inclination of 1-2 degrees and circle it with a drain that directs the water flow into the soil.

Self-laying new asphalt

As we said earlier, it is more expedient to order asphalt from the factory. After the asphalt is delivered to your site, you must immediately proceed to laying it, because the solution quickly hardens.

First of all, we spread the asphalt with a shovel over the entire area of ​​the track, making an even filling. Further, using a mop-engine, we level the asphalt along the entire path, while throwing asphalt into the pits, and leveling the bumps. Please note that the minimum thickness of the asphalt pavement must be at least 5 cm to ensure the strength of the garden path, therefore this requirement must be observed.

As mentioned earlier, the asphalt quickly hardens, so it is better to invite several assistants to create the track, so that the process is carried out faster.

As soon as part of the path is planned out, we take a hand roller and begin to roll this section, while the others plan the path further.

Mandatory requirement: before rolling the track, lubricate the roller with diesel fuel so that the asphalt does not stick to it and the track is perfectly flat. You can also lubricate shovels with diesel fuel to make it easier to throw asphalt onto the track.

When working with the roller, it is necessary to move slowly at the same time, making only rectilinear movements (reverse movements are prohibited). During rolling, seams will form at the joints between the lines, in order to remove them, it is necessary to roll them across the seams.

Never leave the roller on the track after work.

For high-quality rolling, the roller should protrude at least 10 cm beyond the edge of the track.

If the weight of the roller is not enough for a good rolling of the track, then you can ask one of the assistants to stand on the frame of the roller, then the weight will increase.

Laying asphalt on an old pavement on a personal plot

If you decide to lay asphalt not on the ground, but on the old asphalt surface or concrete screeds, then the process of preparing the area will change. Instead of a cushion of rubble and sand, you just need to repair the old coating. To do this, you need to rid the surface of dirt and various debris, if there are small cracks, they must be expanded manually, so that in the future they would be tightly clogged with asphalt.

After that, along the entire perimeter of the future garden path, it is necessary to pour molten bitumen and, using a mop-engine, spread the bitumen into strips of 50 cm (not less). Along the entire length of the track, it is necessary to make transverse bituminous strips with a step of half a meter and then create an asphalt track with our own hands using the technology indicated above.

How to repair an asphalt path yourself?

Even if you have laid the asphalt with high quality with your own hands, the track will sooner or later start to collapse. The most common destructive factors are:

Asphalt started to melt in hot weather

Water got into the cracks in winter and when it thawed - destroyed the coating

Heavy equipment has entered the asphalt path, for which this path is not designed

To repair the asphalt pavement with your own hands, it is recommended to use cold asphalt, which is allowed to be laid even at low temperatures (minus).

If the asphalt path has completely collapsed and is not suitable for repair, then this situation must be corrected. There are two ways to fix a broken asphalt track:

1. Remove asphalt and re-lay

2. Lay paving slabs on top of the asphalt or pour a concrete screed

As for the first method, all construction companies involved in road repairs must remove the broken asphalt, re-create a cushion of rubble and sand, and roll a new asphalt surface. For an inconspicuous garden path, this process will be difficult and not economically viable.

It would be more expedient to fill a layer of sand (at least 5 cm) on top of the asphalt, fill it with water and start paving the paving slabs.

In order to save money, today they often resort to the restoration of used asphalt. Let's take a closer look at how to use old asphalt and what is needed for this.

Recycling of asphalt is possible only after reclaiming it at the plant. But this process is simple and quite allows you to carry out all the work yourself.

Having carefully tamped the soil in the place of future asphalt laying work, we equip a cushion of sand and crushed stone, water it and again compaction of the layer. This completes the preparation of the base - now you need to acquire the starting material that remains with you after dismantling the old pavement, or simply buy old asphalt. You will also need several kilograms of bitumen and physical strength.

In order to melt the old asphalt, we load it into a metal container together with the purchased bitumen and heat it up. To do this, simply place the container over the fire. We constantly stir the composition until it melts to a homogeneous mass, after which we add a little more crushed stone and sand so that the mixture has a crumbly consistency. The recycled asphalt can then be laid onto the surface of the previously formed substrate. To avoid adhesion of the compound to the surface of the paver, you can treat the sealing surface of the fixture with old oil treatment.

Here, in fact, is all you need to know about how to use old asphalt at home.

Recycling of asphalt at the plant, as mentioned above, is carried out by the reclamation method. In this case, while mixing the molten composition of the old asphalt, sometimes new mineral fillers and plasticizers are added to it, in addition to standard bitumen.

Recycling of asphalt to improve the efficiency of recovery plants is best done after crushing. Also, this method significantly increases the degree of accuracy of the batch recipe. But, in this case, it is necessary to additionally deal with the adhesion of asphalt material to the working elements of the crushers.

The solution to this problem was thermal crushing in steam plants. In such units, during crushing, the material is heated up to 80 ° C. But this is abroad, and in domestic production for the regeneration of old asphalt, in the standard version, they use conventional installations for mixing such compositions. Also, additional equipment of installations with equipment for storage, transportation and dosage of asphalt concrete mixture is used.