Anybody use hot tar to fill driveway cracks? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mgburg · #16 09-14-2009, 01:26 AM

Nate mentioned gloves...that works if you like that kind of stuff...I don't mind getting the hands dirty...just being that it was the first time with the stuff, I didn't expect it to be so hard to get off...

As for the back-filling of the cracks...I chose the sand for three reasons...it seemed to drain the moisture better, it wasn't muddy and it was easier to stuff back into the crack than anything else...since the cracks varied in width, it made sense to use it as opposed to tacky-strips or tacky-wicks...pour the sand in, add enough moisture to help the sand settle, re-fill if needed, let it dry out for a few days, then fill the crack to the top w/filler-in-a-jug...then dust a little sand on the top, drop some TP on top (did that later with another project), let the repair settle for a week or two, then seal-coat the whole driveway. If you "feathered" the repair area, the seal-coating will blend everything in pretty well...enough so it will almost look like the original driveway.

However, in cmac2010's case, you're using an asphalt-based patching system on concrete. That's a completely different animal you're trying to tame...

My assistant picked up some concrete-patch-compound-in-a-tube...I'll look for the tube at work tomorrow and post the manufacturer...my assistant used it on a floor that had some "stress fractures" and it seemed to do a decent job of repairing the floor...it doesn't match the old concrete exactly, but if you're going to waterproof the floor later, then it won't matter too much...if you're going to paint it, then you're more likely going to spend more than enough time prepping the floor for a primer coat than you'll spend actually painting the floor.

Any way you look at it, building maintenance, whether it be for home or work, is always a PITA. I'd rather it be work than home...just from the stand-point that at work, I get paid, whether I F' it up or not...however, at home, if and when I screw the pooch on THAT project...it comes out of my pocket, I never hear the end of it from those that are suppose to love you, and you don't get paid for the KITA (just like PITA, only the 'K' stands for "Kick"...)...and you have to spend more of your own money to fix it.

cmac2012 · #17 10-02-2009, 01:38 PM

Oh well, I wanted the rope like meltable tar, and I got it.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5/R-100084640/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Not real easy to use but it works. The driveway's on a bit of a slope and when the stuff starts to melt, it has virtually no surface tension - molecules a moving pretty fast - and it goes where it wants to. Takes a while to melt, progress is not fast. We hit on using sand poured over the hot tar so as to end up with a more attractive end result. And when it's all done, I'm going to have to take a wire brush to it to get the propane flame blackish smoke residue off of the concrete near the seam.

I initially tried some concrete colored Sika-flex (about the most serious caulking available, IMO) it's a polyurethane based product - dries like semi hard rubber. Not real easy to use, it's not a Home Depot, mom and pop type product, more of a lumber yard/construction kind of thing. De-natured alcohol will get it off of surfaces if need be.

Anyway, she didn't like the overly light grey color compared to the weathered concrete. So I put sand on it while it was still wet and over the last few weeks, dust and dirt have migrated to it, making it blend in pretty well. So after I bought the rope-tar and put some in, suddenly she's liking the Sika-flex result, which would have been easier and faster to use for the whole job.

The lady is pretty sweet and no dummy but occasionally she shows her 'princess on 20 mattresses with a pea underneath' side.