Step One: Remove All Loose Debris

Wet or dry, UPM^® Cold Mix works in all weather conditions. However, you will first want to sweep out the pothole and surrounding area with the STIFFWITCH^® Broom to remove all of the following:

• Dirt
• Ice
• Loose asphalt
• Debris
• Dust

While it isn’t necessary to rid the area of every last bit of dirt and dust, the area does need to be cleared of all large objects and loose pavement. However, removing water from the pothole is not necessary! Our pothole repair mix excels in wet weather and can even be installed in water-filled potholes.

Step Two: Pour UPM^® Cold Mix into the Pothole

Next, pour or use a flat-edge shovel to scoop the mix into the hole and overfill the pothole by 25%. For holes deeper than two inches, UPM^® Cold Mix should be applied in two-inch layers. Each two-inch layer then needs to be compacted using a tamper or shovel before applying any additional layers.

Step Three: Compacting the Crown

Due to the normal wear and tear of traffic conditions, settling and compaction will naturally occur. To account for this compaction, the crown of the UPM^® Cold Mix should be leveled off at a height 25% higher than the total depth of the pothole. Then, the permanent pothole repair mix will need to be thoroughly compacted using a shovel or tamper.

After the pothole has been thoroughly compacted, the aggregate and asphalt interlock, making the pothole repair stable enough for immediate traffic. The surface of the pothole patch will cure to the hardness of the surrounding pavement and the mix below the surface will cure at a very slow rate, depending upon the depth of the patch.

UPM Mix vs. Other Asphalt Pothole Repair Products

Unlike UNIQUE’s pothole repair mix, most other cold mix products cure very quickly, causing the patch to be rigid and inflexible. Traffic loads, weather, and normal expansion and contraction will cause regular pothole repair patch products to fail, as it cannot adhere to the change in roadway conditions. Simply put, the pothole patch material will not stay in the pothole.

However, the slow-curing nature of Cold Mix Asphalt Repair allows the patch to move with the pavement during weathering, expansion and contraction, and load-bearing traffic. UPM^® Cold Mix Asphalt Repair is engineered to continually “grab” and adhere to the walls and base of the pothole. This flexibility of the material is why UNIQUE guarantees that our mix will stay in the hole, unlike other cold patch asphalt pothole repair products on the market.

Asphalt and Concrete Pothole Repair Case Studies

UNIQUE’s permanent pavement repair proprietary additives and stringent quality control procedures ensure that you get a pavement repair solution that outlasts the surrounding pavement over 90% of the time when you use our award-winning cold mix asphalt repair product, UPM^® High-Performance Cold Mix.

Although some cold mix asphalt manufacturers have falsely referred to their products as being comparable to our mix, none have stacked-up as of yet nor been able to duplicate the high rate of success of UNIQUE’s pothole repair materials.

To see why so many people choose UPM^® Cold Mix to permanently repair potholes, check out these case studies:

• Lexington Kentucky Asphalt Pothole Repair –Read the case study from the city of Lexington, Kentucky and their asphalt pothole repair evaluation that found UNIQUE’s UPM^® Permanent Pavement Repair Material to be the superior product.
• Lindley, New York Bridge – Road Repair Demonstration– Read the case study from Lindley, New York and learn how UNIQUE’s UPM^® Permanent Pavement Repair Material proved itself again and again on a busy bridge and roadway that was being repaired daily due to traffic overuse.
• St. Louis, Missouri Riverview Drive – Extreme Road Repair – Read this case study from St. Louis, Missouri and learn how UNIQUE’sUPM^® Permanent Pavement Repair Material again demonstrated superior performance, as supervised by MoDOT on a problem area of the road that had previously required repair every ten days.

Still not sure if UNIQUE’s pothole repair materials are right for your application? Request a free sample of UPM^® Permanent Pavement Repair material today!

How Much Pothole Repair Mix Do You Need?

The coverage rate of UNIQUE’s UPM^® Cold Mix Asphalt Repair Material equals approximately 10 pounds per square foot at one-inch depth, so a five-foot square hole, one-inch deep, would use one 50-pound bag of UPM^® mix. For anything deeper than two inches, we recommend installing UPM^® mix in two-inch-thick lifts or layers for an effective and permanent pothole repair.

Still not sure how much concrete pothole repair mix you need? Try our pothole patch and asphalt repair material calculator!