Fill a Hole in Your Bitumen Driveway Using Only Four Common Household Items and Some Patch Repair
Do you have a hole in your bitumen driveway? If so, you can have a professional repair it for you, or you can approach the task yourself. Worried that you don't have what you need? Surprisingly, you don't need a lot of tools to repair a hole in the bitumen. You just need the following common items and a container or two of patch repair and a bit of crack repair:
1. Hosepipe
Before you can repair the hole, you first need to clean it. While some people prefer to use a pressure washer, you don't necessarily need one. Instead, grab a hosepipe, train your thumb over half of the opening to make the stream stronger, and then blast it at the hole to remove dirt and debris. If you are worried that your driveway has a lot of built-up oils or vehicle fluids on it, you may want to use a cleaning product. That way, you have a better chance of removing the oils so that your repair sticks.
2. Broom
Once you are done cleaning the area, use a clean broom to remove any lingering debris and to sweep away the standing water. Don't worry if the bitumen is moist. Just make sure there is no standing water.
3. Wall Scraper
Wall scrapers are useful for spreading drywall patches inside, but they can also work for bitumen repairs outside. After sweeping away the standing water, dump the bucket of bitumen repair on the hole. The container should say how much patch repair you need, and that measurement is based on the depth and width of the hole you are filling.
Dump the bucket into the middle of the area waiting to be patched. Then, spread around the bitumen using the wall scraper. If you don't have a wall scraper on hand, you can use other common household items such as a lawn rake, a kids' plastic sand shovel, an old spatula or a range of other items.
4. Piece of Wood
Once the patch is spread, you can use a tamper to push it down. A tamper is basically a flat piece of metal attached to a pole (similar to a broom stick) that you use to tamp something down with. If you don' want to buy or hire a tamper, however, you can make your own tamper. Simply lay a piece of plywood over the repair and press it down as hard as you can. You may want to kneel on it.
Finally, when the patch is firmly in the ground, grab a canister of crack repair and apply it around the patch. This helps to connect the patch with the surrounding bitumen. To make the connection relatively seamless, use your wall scraper from above to feather the crack repair. Then, you're done.
If you're unable to complete this project yourself, work with a bitumen repair company.
Share
