Maintenance & Construction
 
 
 
Commercial  Industrial  Parking-lot
  • Hot asphalt repairs
  • Asphalt sealing
  • Line marking
  • Catch basin rebuilding
  • Bollard installation
  • Rubberized crack filler
  • Speed bumps
  • Precast curbs
  • Concrete repairs
  • Interlock sidewalks
  • Retaining walls
Residential Driveways
  • Hot asphalt repairs
  • Asphalt sealing
  • Slurry sealing
  • Rubberized crack-filler
  • Ramps
  • Catch basin rebuilding, lid & frame  replacement
Residential Brick Concrete  Stone
  • Interlock pavers
  • Flagstone
  • Garden walls
  • Retaining walls
  • Concrete repairs
  • Sidewalks, steps
  • Concrete coloured coatings
  • Stone, clear sealers
  • Parging
  • Tuck pointing
  • Colour dye cement & brick repairs
  • Foundation coating
  • Waterproofing, rubber membrane
  • Weeping tile
  • Power washing
 

GLOSSARY

or History of theWorldPart 1

        This page is under construction, please check back for updates,Y.M.D.9.1.4..2:52am. The majority of my sources are Wikipedia & Wiktionary if you need clarification & more detail or more stringent facts. I'm trying to include a little humor,  personal opinion & experience. Also 1 heading covers many interrelated terms. Sign my Guest book, make a critique ( easy there ), a correction, a suggestion. Post a link & return the favour. ( When I have the time to develop the skill I'll replace all these brackets with hyper links. )

Asphalt   

Asphalt is a liquid or technically  a collide. It is the asphaltic cement that binds your driveway together. Liquid asphalt or bitumen combined with sand & gravel forms a composite process that was patented in 1901 as Tarmac. Although possibly done a thousand years before in Iraq. Asphalt is a natural formed substance from amebas formed from decayed vegetation being trapped below ancient lakes & glaciers during the ice age. Alberta tar sands, Lake Venezuela, Pitch Lake in Trinidad, The Dead Sea ( the lowest body of water on earth & is sinking 1'  a yr. & has a circumference called  asphaltites, the Dead Sea was called Lake Asphaltites by the Greeks & periodically spits up chunks of asphalt from the sea bed which the Egyptians used in there mummification process. ) as well as some smaller ones in California to name a few. Los Angeles suburbs have working oil rigs between houses on residential streets. A naturally formed high viscosity collide ( a mixture of gas, liquids or solids such as fog, milk , glass,  it can be 1 of either & another or 2 of the same except 2 gasses, a meteor shower - a Big Collide, ( lol ) of hydro-carbon ( see Cranberry Glass ). Bitumen & asphalt are somewhat interchangeable in layman's terms depending on your geography. At one time man-made asphalt was refined from the distillation of coal ( coal tar )which is chemically different than bitumen. Bitumen accounts for approx. 6% of an average crude oil deposit. But Canada & Venezuela deposits ( the heaviest ) account for 2/3 of the earths oil. Petroleum originally meant " rock oil ". Liquid asphalt was used as far back as ancient Persian pottery ( Present day Iraq, cradle of civilization & Mesopotamia ) as a waterproof coating in Turkish style baths, 2,000 B.C. at least. ( also see the Asphalt page )

Tarmac

Liquid asphalt was sprayed over a Macadamized road ( see McAdam, macadam ) a gravel road developed by the Scotsman McAdam in N. America to overcome the multitude of muddy streets of the time being built in the frontier land. The 1st. tarmac was made from coal tar (distilled from coal ). Now tarmac is made from bitumen ( crude oil). What we now call roadway asphalt, asphaltic cement ( AC ), pitch, asphaltum, black gold, Texas T that is, pack up the family & move to Fort Mcmerrily, $bills that is, or Fort McMoney ( lol ). Tarmac is now mostly used in N.America as a term for airport runways but I believe it to be the best term for an engineered road & my personal favorite for asphalt  ( see: tarmac.abelasphalt.com ). Around 1765 Pierre-Marie-Jereme Tresaguet developed the original method of a built up gravel roadway crowned at the top for water runoff. Later perfected & simplified by Thomas Telford ( he raised the height & added ditches ) in the early 1800's in Scotland.  Then a Scotsman in America, John Loudon McAdam in the 1820's. So that a water-bound macadamized road evolved into a tar-bound macadamized road. The tar was sprayed on to keep the dust down & water was probably used before that for that purpose as well as for compaction. This tar spraying method was further evolved by Henry Cassell, 1830's; layers of fine stone & tar spray. And then Edgar Hooley mixed tar & gravel in the early 1900's added Portland cement to the mix, made it thicker & used a Steam Roller. He patented it in 1901. His Co. was called Tar MacAdam. Bought out in 1905 it is a major aggregate Co. in England. Somewhere in there tar was replaced with bitumen in the tarmac mix. ( also see Slurry Seal, an asphaltic emulsion & portland mix used extensively in the Southern States. A 1/4" slurry recap topping ) Which became the portmanteau of the 2 terms into TARMAC, not the contraction or I'dn't've used it ( lol ). Not the original man made  coal tar or pine tar but the tarry natural substance bitumen & McAdam, TAR MAC. Baghdad had some version of asphaltic roads in 800 AD. Corduroy roads ( log ) in England in 4,000 BC. And signs of stone road building in Mesopotamia in 4,000 BC & the Wheel in 5,000 BC. The irony of what some would say is a war of oil & the wheel, is not lost on me (sigh ). Doe's anyone know the name of the ancient stone road under water supposedly going to Atlantis, yea yea I know  it's called the road to Atlantis ( lol ). Q: Excuse me how do I get to Atlantis?      A: Take the Bimini road 1/3 of a mile & then turn...... Well there we have it, the history of asphalt, roads,  the wheel & the cradle of civilization in a paragraph.

Asphalt Paving

 

There are 3-6 common grades of asphalt. HL1A, HL2A, HL3A & HL3, HL6 & HL8. HL1A: used for fine patching & crack repair. A sand-mix. Not available everywhere. HL2A: used for recapping* existing residential driveways. Beautiful finish, but not super strong & more susceptible to oil penetration. Great all round use for patching residential & commercially. HL3 & HL3A: used for all paving of roads, parking  lots & driveways. One course residential, or top course ( recap ) commercial & industrial. HL3A has more sand. H = hot, L = liquid, 3 = 3/8", A=extra sand. Therefore HL6 = 6/8" or 3/4" stone. HL3 = 3/8" stone. HL2A = 2/8" or 1/4" stone with extra sand. HL1A has hardly no stone & could be called HLA, & is usually just called sand-mix. HL6 & HL8: used for a base course for commercial  & industrial lots. Very strong but not good without a  top coat. The stones pop out & it develops potholes very fast. A finer coat on top becomes burnished & is more resilient. ( see the asphalt page ).

Asphalt sealers

 
 

        There are 3 asphalt sealers on the market today. The one we apply most is sprayed or rolled on & is a liquid asphalt based emulsion. The 2 commonly available in the store are water based, acrylic & coal-tar.  ( also see the Sealer page ).

 

Stone sealers

       There are many different types of sealers & coatings for concrete warehouse floors, brick masonry, block walls, interlocking paving stones. We will help choose the right one for you.

Slurry seal

Slurry Seal, an asphaltic emulsion & Portland cement mix used extensively in the Southern States and less so here in Canada. They did my street a few years back in a 1 day. An 1/8" - 1/4" slurry seal recap topping is used as a faster cheaper way to refurbish a roadway. Doesn't last as long but price / value :ratio means it can be done more often. The trucks that did my street looked like the sq. cement trucks that add dry Portland from the top ( not the round rotating ones that are just delivering). See The Slurry Sealing Assoc. of America.
I have used a similar product called driveway resurfacer ( see photo on the, about us page & see driveway resurfacer below ).


Driveway resurfacer

 A similar product to slurry sealing is commercially available in stores. It's about $20. for a 10 L. pail. Expensive but,  I used about 100 pails on 1 job doing spot area crack repair as well as cut-outs to try & keep the job from snowballing into a complete Re & re paving job which the Co. didn't budget for that year. Fills all cracks in a spider web area by use of a squeegee, looks great but larger cracks develop smaller hairline cracks, not bad though. Also has a sandpaper finish which can be used as a nonslip application. The main problem I had was the manufacturer wouldn't sell wholesale so I had to run around to approx. 40 stores in the GTA buying 1 can here & 3 cans there...( sigh ). And some of the stock was old so we had to work at it, a fresh batch goes on like butter but not if it's old.
 
Bollards & traffic control
 
A post used to tie off boats or ships. A post to protect a structure or stop vehicular traffic. Used extensively around industrial factories. There are 100's of types, especially in Europe. There are hydraulic ones that come out of the ground for security or time related issues or anti terrorist ones. Spring loaded ones that can be used to lock a parking space. Floppy ones that are break resistant & deter not stop. There are surface mounted for installation on parking slab structures. Some are ornamental iron, chromed, & lighted. And the most common, the simple steel cylinder submerged in the ground. ( see photo on the, about us page & see the Bollard page ). Also consider precast concrete planters available in weights from 1/4 -2 T. Also mobile water filled containers & landscaping boulders.

Catch basins

Catch basins are the precast concrete rainwater receptacles found in pavement. Parking lots usually have sq. ones that are 2' in diameter. There are a few other varieties as well. A curb side for large volumes of water along curbs. A valley type where 2 cants ( planes ) of asphalt meet at a seam.There are special ones for parking garage concrete slabs.They all have a steel frame & a lid. They are attached to a sewer line. Residential ones are round & sq. 6" - 2' in dia. & are made of concrete or plastic. When parking lots are built the basins are set in at an approx. level for grading. That level sometimes needed to be raised up with bricks prior to 1973, after wards a precast concrete collar was introduced. The ones that were built using bricks collapse due to the hydrodynamics involved in the water moving below the surface of the asphalt & escaping into the catch-basin, this pushes the bricks in, causing the brickwork & catch-basin frame & lid to collapse. Another problem is frost pushing them up in the winter.

Manholes

Manholes are round precast concrete access-ways designed for human access & inspection & may have ladder rungs. The lids are round as well & slide off unlike catch-basin lids which tilt up & could fall on a human. They should be installed slightly above grade so water doesn't flow in & form ice on the ladder rungs in the winter. I have seen a DANGEROUS, potentially fatal situation at least a few doz. times, where a sq. catch-basin lid was used on a manhole. Another possible legal combination is a combination manhole - catch-basin frame & lid that has a sq. frame & "safety"  round lid that slides off as opposed to tilting up which can fall down on the personnel.

Rubberized crack-filler
 
Rubberized crack-filler is available in hot or cold pour. Both work well, the hot pour is better for larger jobs with bigger cracks for volume. Also suited for fairly straight cracks. The cold pour is better suited for more detailed work on smaller cracks as well as curved & spiderwebs & especially residentially where esthetics are important. The cracks can be manually cleaned with a spade or a gas powered router can be used on larger jobs. A cheaper alternative or combination can be a hot asphalt sand-mix can be swept into larger cracks.

Line-marking
 
A larger gas powered machine is available for larger jobs using 5 gal. cans of paint ( can't be saved ) it uses federal ( lasts longer ) & provincial ( brighter ) grades of paint. White & Yellow ( more visible in the snow ). A blue base for disabled parking. A smaller machine is more cost effective on small jobs & has no waste of paint. Also can be used inside in factories. We have a variety of stencils. ( see the Line-marking page ).
 
Cement

Cement in layman's terms primarily is a compound of silica sand & limestone. It is the glue used to make concrete which is made by adding other aggregates. Limestone aggregate can be used as an exceptional base for all pavements. Approx. 3 x the cost of other crushed aggregate stone base materials it is not used on large paving jobs as frequently as in the past. Lime is the primary ingredient in Portland cement as well as ancient Roman cement. Portland cement has 2 setting cements, alite ( early ) & belite ( late ). Belite is also naturally forming in limestone as larnite. Alite (  Tricalcium Silicate )  has mostly negative characteristics except to speed up the set time. According to " mindat.org " a mineral search engine, alite is a synonym for halite which is salt.
The secret of concrete was lost for 13 centuries until 1756, when the  engineer John Smeaton pioneered the use of hydraulic lime in concrete, using pebbles and powdered brick as aggregate. Portland cement was first used in concrete in the early 1840s.

The largest limestone quarry in the world is in Michigan.
Concrete & cement are the largest manufactured product in the world. China presently consumes 40% of global production.
 
Stone

Natural stone,  paving stones or pavers have been found in England in 4,000 BC. And signs of stone roads built in Mesopotamia in 4,000 BC & the Wheel in 5,000 BC.  The most common today is flagstone. Often consisting of limestone. Also known as shale. It is from ancient riverbeds made from ancient sea shells. ( historically similar to asphalt bitumen ) It is quarried & sorted into batches of relatively uniform thickness between approx. 1" - 3" & comes in light & dark tones. The thinner variety is usually lighter & best suited for vertical & horizontal adhesion to residential concrete steps & porches. The thicker darker variety for placement in a bedding aggregate to form a sidewalk or driveway ( see photo album ). The front of Art Deco office bldg. from the 1920's are limestone. As well as cathedrals. Susceptible to damage from acid rain. Mustn't be cleaned with a caustic cleanser. Lime is made of salt ( see cement ) therefore can be dissolved by it similar to asphalt being dissolved by oil or gas ( see asphalt ).

Precast stones or house bricks have been made for roads & buildings for centuries. Today we have a whole variety of precast products that do a very realistic job of impersonating nature or not if desired. Some softer clay house bricks are susceptible to damage by water splashing at the bottom 3' of older Victorian homes in downtown Toronto, these are often parged ( a hard word to find in the dictionary ) over with a thin coat of cement or mortar. The spaces between the bricks can be repaired with mortar as well, this is called tuck-pointing. Dyes can be added to the mortar to soften the new against the old. Bonding agent isn't cheap but good insurance.

Precast Interlocking  paving stones last forever if installed to a high standard. The cost of taking them out & relaying them is greater then replacing them so do it once.

Small garden interlocking stone walls are within the reach of the average consumer nowadays. Large load bearing walls over 3' - 4' high need to be engineered.

A crushed limestone aggregate or screening is an ideal partner in many of the jobs above. If I have a load of limestone in the back of my truck & it is rained on it is difficult to remove because it hardens up like cement.



Services we offer

We apply asphalt coatings, We apply foundation coating, We apply sealer to interlocking brick, We apply slurry seal, We build ramp for garage, We build ramps for disabled access, We coat asphalt with an asphalt based emulsion, We do seal coating, We do asphalt coating, We do asphalt cutouts, We do asphalt driveway repairs, We do asphalt driveway sealing, We do asphalt maintenance, We do asphalt patch repairs, We do asphalt patching, We do asphalt patchs, We do asphalt paving, We do asphalt repair, We do asphalt repairs in Toronto & the GTA, We do asphalt seal coating, We do asphalt sealing maintenance, We do asphalt sealing, We do basin rebuilding, We do basin repair to lid, We do basin repairs to frame, We do blacktop repair, We do blacktop sealer, We do blacktop sealing, We do bollard installation, We do brick parging, We do brick refacing, We do brick repair, We do brick tuck pointing, We do catch basin lowering, We do catch basin raising, We do catch basin rebuilding, We do catch basin repair, We do catch-basin rebuilding, We do catchbasin repair, We do catch-basin repair, We do chimney repair, We do concrete coating, We do concrete paving, We do concrete repairs, We do construction, We do crack filling, We do crack repairs & patching, We do crack repairs in driveway, We do crack repairs, We do crack sealing in concrete, We do crack sealing of asphalt, We do curbs poured, We do deliver & install parking curbs, We do disabled line marking, We do disabled parking, We do drain repair, We do drains cleaned, We do driveway asphalt repairs, We do driveway asphalt, We do driveway crack repairs, We do driveway cracks, We do driveway extensions, We do driveway hot asphalt, We do driveway pavement, We do driveway paving in Toronto, We do driveway paving, We do driveway repair, We do driveway repairs, We do driveway sealing asphalt, We do driveway sealing, We do driveway, We do driveways, We do extensions, We do fill cracks, We do flagstone & and interlock sealing, We do foundation waterproofing, We do hole repairs in asphalt, We do hot asphalt driveway, We do install bollard Toronto, We do install catch basin Toronto, We do install interlocking stone Toronto, We do install, We do installation, We do installed, We do landscape, We do landscaping in Toronto & the GTA, We do landscaping stones, We do landscaping, We line mark parking spots, We do line marking in Toronto & the GTA, We do line marking, We do line painting, We linemark, We line-mark, We do linemarking, We do lines pavement, We do lines, We do lot maintenance, We do lot sealing, We do maintenance & construction, We do maintenance construction, We do maintenance of asphalt paving, We do maintenance to asphalt parking lots, We do maintenance to parking lots, We do manhole rebuilding, We do manhole repair, We do manhole repairs to frame & lid, We do membrane to basement walls, We do oil stain removal, We do parging of steps, We do parking lines on pavement, We do parking lot lines, We do parking lot repairs, We do parking lot sweeping, We do parking lots in Toronto & the GTA, We do patch repairs, We do patch work, We do patching with hot asphalt, We do patio installations, We do pavement maintenance, We do pavement markings, We do pavement sealing, We do paving crack sealing, We do paving in Toronto, We do paving, We do permeable paving, We do pot, We do pot hole repairs, We do pothole repair, We do power sweeping, We do power wash, We do pressure wash, We do raising & lowering, We do repair driveway pavement, We do repairs & asphalt sealing, We do repairs & patching, We do repairs & paving, We do repairs hot, We do repairs patch work, We do repairs pavement maintenance, We do repairs rubberized, We do repairs to asphalt, We do repairs to driveways, We do repairs to pot holes, We do residential commercial industrial, We do resurfacing, We do retaining walls, We do road pavement, We do roadways, We do rubber membrane, We do rubberized crack sealing, We do rubberized crackfiller, We do rubberized cracks, We do saw cut repairs, We do sealing & asphalt repair, We do sealing & crack repairs, We do sealing & hot asphalt repairs, We do sealing flagstone, We do sealing maintenance, We do sealing of asphalt, We do sealing of driveways, We do sealing oil stain, We do sealing parking lot, We do sealing pavement, We do sewers, We do sidewalk repair, We do sidewalks, We do slurry sealing, We do speed bumps installed, We do speed bumps, We do speedbumps installed, We do speedbumps, We do stencil markings on asphalt, We do sweeping, We do tar, We do tarmac, We do traffic barriers installed, We do traffic barriers, We do traffic bollard, We do traffic bollards installed, We do traffic bollards, We do traffic markings, We do traffic signs, We traffic, We tuck point, We do tuck pointing, We do walls parged We do washing, We do water proofing, We do waterproof, We do waterproofing, We do weeping tile, We do wheel chair ramps, We do wheelchair access, We do wheelchair linemarking, We do wheelchair parking, We do wheelchair ramps, We fix potholes, We fix sinkholes, We install bollards in Toronto & the GTA, We install flagstone in Toronto & the GTA, We install speed bump, We install speedbump, We install step, We install steps precast, We install steps, We install traffic barrier, We lay flagstone, We parge walls, We patch parking lots, We pave asphalt driveways, We pave parking lots, We repair alligator cracks, We repair asphalt pavement, We repair driveways, We repair foundation, We repair garage ramp, We repair garden walls, We repair hole, We repair holes, We repair lot, We repair lots, We repair manhole Toronto, We repair manhole, We repair manholes, We repair masonry, We repair oil stain, We repair parged walls, We repair patios, We repair pavement, We repair paving cracks, We repair pot holes, We repair potholes, We repair potholes, We resurface driveways, We sawcut asphalt, We seal asphalt parking lots, We seal asphalt, We seal black top, We seal blacktop, We seal coat, We seal driveways, We sealcoat, We service the greater toronto area, We service the GTA Toronto, We service the GTA, We supply & install, We supply a mason, We supply a stone mason, We supply and install asphalt, We supply and install bollard covers, We supply and install bollard, We supply and install bollards installed, We supply and install bollards, We supply and install brick, We supply and install catch basins, We supply and install cement, We supply and install concrete in toronto, We supply and install concrete, We supply and install crack filler, We supply and install curb, We supply and install curbs precast, We supply and install curbs, We supply and install flagstone, We supply and install gravel, We supply and install hl2a asphalt, We supply and install hl3 asphalt, We supply and install hl6 asphalt, We supply and install hl8 asphalt, We supply and install hot asphalt repairs, We supply and install hot asphalt, We supply and install hot mix asphalt, We supply and install hot mix, We supply and install hot rubberized crack sealing, We supply and install hot rubberized crackfiller, We supply and install hot tar, We supply and install hot, We supply and install interlock, We supply and install interlocking brick, We supply and install interlocking stone Toronto, We supply and install interlocking stone, We supply and install interlocking, We supply and install paving contractor, We supply and install paving contractors, We supply and install permeable paving stones, We supply and install permeable, We supply and install planters, We supply and install precast, We supply and install stone, We're abel asphalt, We're able, We're an insured asphalt paving contractor, We're an insured concrete contractor, We're an insured Toronto asphalt maintenance, Co. We're an insured Toronto asphalt repair, Co. We're an insured Toronto asphalt repairs, Co. We're an insured Toronto asphalt, Co. We're an insured Toronto bollards, Co. We're an insured Toronto catch basin repair, Co. We're an insured Toronto concrete repairs, Co. We're an insured Toronto crack sealing, Co. We're an insured Toronto driveway sealing, Co. We're an insured Toronto driveway, Co. We're an insured Toronto GTA, Co. We're an insured Toronto interlock, Co. We're an insured Toronto line marking, Co. We're an insured Toronto line painting, Co. We're an insured Toronto Ontario, Co. We're an insured Toronto pavement repair, Co. We're an insured Toronto pavement, Co. We're an insured Toronto paving, Co. We're an insured Toronto pothole, Co. We're an insured Toronto potholes, Co. We're an insured Toronto ramps, Co. We're an insured Toronto speed bumps, Co. We're an insured Toronto, Co.


 

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