Surface Dressing

Bitumen and Aggregates (Tar & Chip)

Surface Dressing by Experienced York Based Tarmacadam Contractors

Surface dressing involves the application of a layer of hot bitumen from a spray tanker, immediately followed by a layer of aggregate chippings. It is carried out annually by local councils across the UK as a means of extending the life of the roads, preventing cracks, and of maintaining safety, and is also ideal for private roads, car parks, farm tracks and driveways.

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Surface dressing offers the following advantages:

Seals the road surface with a waterproof layer of bitumen, helping to prevent a major cause of asphalt road damage.
Protects the underlying asphalt road structure, which in turn improves road life expectancy and helps to reduce the overall costs of road construction and maintenance. A well laid surface can last more than 10 years, even for roads with heavy traffic.
Provides a fresh bitumen and aggregates surface with improved skid resistance, thereby reducing the risk of certain kinds of accidents.
All types of roads, from farm tracks and footpaths to major roads and motorways can accept surface dressing.

Surface Dressing Considerations

The specification needs to be designed for the specific road type and purpose. Please contact our customer service team for a no obligation consultation on your surface design.
Chesterton Surfacing have over 25 years experience in asphalt and tarmacadam road laying and road repairs in North Yorkshire and the UK. We are CHAS and industry certified and can guide you towards making the right decisions on such questions as binder and aggregate requirement so that your project will have the maximum benefit and lifespan.

Environmental considerations

Surface dressing uses far less aggregates, which have to be quarried from finite resources, compared with full hot asphalt resurfacing.
The carbon footprint is also only around 25% of that for laying asphalt, and the time taken is far less, minimising disruption to neighbourhoods and local area traffic.

When to carry out Surface Dressing

Work should be undertaken whilst the existing road surface and underlying pavement is still relatively good condition and before major repair work is required.
Before skid resistance has fallen below national standards for the road type.