Expert Advice
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Training Infrared Asphalt Repair Crews
Proper training yields best results By Jeff Winke Construction machines need people. The best and safest results for anything involving machines comes from skilled and knowledgeable operators. This is especially true for asphalt infrared repair crews. Repairing...
Selecting the Best Paver
What to consider By Jeff Winke In quiet moments of reflection, an asphalt paving contractor’s thinking will trip over the central question..... What type of paving machine do I really need? That is a big question. The answer can branch out into many directions, each...
Expand or not
Commercial sweeping is an option By Jeff Winke When he hears the phrase “leaving money on the table” a Midwest paving contractor sees his smooth oak kitchen table with several stacks of Benjamin Franklin hundred dollar bills on it. “I’ve got 25 Benjamins I’ve...
Thinking about Sports Surfaces & Sports Courts?
Considerations before expanding your services By Jeff Winke Imagine creating a multi-sport activity center in a home’s back yard or on the grounds of a community center or school? A sports place or sports court where kids (and adults) can enjoy hours of fun playing...
Best Skill Set for Compaction Machine Operators
Training keeps compactor crew sharp By Jeff Winke The most elemental meaning of the word “compaction,” is the exertion of force on something so that it becomes more dense. In the realm of road construction, compaction is considered one of the most important processes...
Infrared Asphalt Repair
Selling the benefits to pavement owners By Jeff Winke Most encyclopedias and physics books credit Sir William Herschel, the British astronomer, with the discovery of infrared radiation in 1800. He found the first solid evidence that light and infrared are the same...
Crack Sealing Customer Expectations
Gain confidence when outlining the project By Jeff Winke Scan the titles at any comic book store and there are plenty of superheroes -- Superman, Spiderman, Captain America, Wolverine, but none named “Crack Mender” -- the asphalt construction contractor called in to...
Milling Best Practice
Defining good operational practices By Jeff Winke The asphalt milling machine—also known as a cold planer, pavement planer, pavement recycler, or roto-mill—is a construction machine used to remove bituminous pavement or asphalt concrete from roadways and other...
A Small Investment in Crack Sealing Yields a Large Return
Study shows Crack Sealing as Pretreatment Improves other Surface Treatments By Ade Craig Simply put, crack sealing works. Few resources impact society more than roads. Roads supply access to the world and are the arteries through which economies pulse. And like...
Prep for Line Striping
The best practices By Jeff Winke As far as old sayings go there’s the “a tiger cannot change its stripes,” meaning that people are incapable of changing their essential nature. The same saying has been used with zebras -- a zebra cannot change its stripes. And someone...
Keeping Sealcoating Equipment Running Smooth
The steps to take By Jeff Winke Equipment is the heart, life blood, and soul of every paving and construction business. They are critical to success. In some respects they become the extension of the business. And sealcoating machines can be the most important tool...
The Costs & Benefits of Going Green
How to weigh the options By Jeff Winke Probably one of the toughest lessons to learn growing up is delayed gratification. Kids live in the now. The future spans from moments beyond now to eternity. Planning to get something or do something tomorrow is basically an...
ADDITIVES
The new norm in asphalt mix and sealcoating By Jeff Winke When people talk about living in the “new normal” it is often referred to as the reality of the aftermath period of a major crisis or the result of evolutionary change brought on by technology or different...
When is the Time Right?
Knowing when to replace and upgrade your paver By Jeff Winke Price is a given. But there are other considerations when thinking about upgrading or changing out an asphalt paving machine. “The expectation that the paver will perform and return a profit is the most...
Benefits and Limitations of Cracksealing
The go-to solution extends pavement life and prevents problems By Jeff Winke The superstition has many people avoiding stepping on cracks. Early folk beliefs held that cracks were not something to trifle with because danger lurked in these empty spaces. The cracks...
Do Due Diligence
Before buying anything for the company By Jeff Winke When making a decision to purchase any new product, it is imperative to do research and information gathering in order to ensure the right decision is being made. Yes, there is the upfront cost to consider, but the...
The Infrared Edge, Adds Profit
By Jeff Winke There is agreement among those in the know that incorporating infrared asphalt restoration into a current paving business gives a contractor an edge... adding a service niche that may set them apart from their competition. Infrared allows contractors to...
ADDITIVES an Overview
Understanding and Caution in their Usage By Girish C Dubey The use of additives in sealcoating coincides with the very introduction of sealcoatings in the 60’s. Additives based on specialty latex/rubber polymers have been a part of the FAA Specification since early...
Winter is Opportunity Time
How sealcoating contractors can prep for the new season By Jeff Winke For sealcoating contractors the winter season shut down should not mean that everything stops. It is an opportunity... a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something positive for the...
Company Sweeps Things Up
Expansion into sweeping pavement maintenance pays off By Jeff Winke Facing the unexpected can generally get the heart racing. It can generate panic or excitement and always disturbs the general flow of life. An out-of-the-blue opportunity in business can be good and...
Asphalt Roller Oscillation’s Role
How does it fit into the paving business? By Jeff Winke For many asphalt paving companies, the old Big Joe Turner tune made famous by Bill Haley & His Comets in the 1950’s could be updated to more aptly reflect current compaction roller practices. Bear this out......
Additives
Extending production into colder weather By Jeff Winke As the days click past and the seasons flip from warm... to cool... to cold, asphalt and sealcoating contractors look for ways to extend their productivity. Does everything need to shut down until Spring? One...
Choosing the Right Size Infrared Heater
Is bigger better? By Jeff Winke Sometimes bigger is better. When you’re fishing for pike, perch, or pickerel, or ordering pizza for a hungry high-school team, or building the huge ball of twine for your road-side-attraction, bigger is better. Push the limits...go big,...
Winterizing the Asphalt Paver
Steps to take to guarantee a strong spring start By Jeff Winke The writer and veteran of WW I, Henry Beston has a great way of describing the season change as paving contractors prepare for winter: “The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes...
