01/20/2023
This right here is what makes it hard for honest contractors. I normally don't worry about what other contractors do but when you do something that hurts the whole asphalt maintenance community then you should be shamed.
So today I was driving down the road and saw this paving operation (more like some rip off artist giving us a bad name). This company isn't from around here. They told the owner of the store that they had left over asphalt and they would "cut him a deal". I bet ya this contractor knows exactly what they are doing is wrong but they are going to lay this asphalt in the rain and right on top of that soaking wet asphalt parking lot knowing that it will not bond and it will fall apart but these are the paving crews whose motto is "Pave it black and don't look back". So I went in the store to grab a drink and to get a pic if these thieves so called paving operation to let people know that this is unacceptable.
Their "victim" /customer was told that it is okay for it to be wet because the asphalt has an additive in it to bond with water, well there is only a few asphalt products that actually do have that capability but those products come in buckets or bags and is not intended for full blown paving and those products do not come out in dump trucks. Hot asphalt will not bond to this wet pavement and here is why, so when the hot asphalt makes contact with this wet pavement it cools the bottom of the layer of asphalt down and the heat pulls up the water and moisture inside the pavement and it creates the bottom of the new asphalt to loose it stickiness (if you will) and it becomes loose on the bottom and it acts like it has ball bearings under it and the new asphalt will move and slide under traffic driving over it and in a few months it will look as bad as it did or worse than it did before they ripped this store owner off and when he tries to call them to come fix it they will be long gone and he will basically be stuck like Chuck. Then when an honest paving group comes by and asks him to give him an estimate to repair said parking lot the owner will be extremely picky and have his gaurd up and will doubt anything the honest contractors try to tell him. So that makes it harder than it should be because of this dishonest contractor. But on the bright side his parking stalls need to be repainted (they didn't get repaved) and I gave the owner a quote and I'll go do it when we have optimal conditions to do so and hopefully gain his trust to fix his parking lot when it falls apart prematurely because this contractor paved it knowing good and well that they were ripping this store owner off.
So to anyone needing any asphalt work please understand that any reputable contractor would not pave in this condition.