MASTIC ASPHALT A HISTORY

This photograph from the turn of the last century shows mastic asphalt mixers in use. One of the workers in the picture is the grandfather of a current Rock Asphalte spreader.

First Use of Mastic Asphalt It is thought that the earliest use of asphalt materials in road paving took place in Babylon several hundred years B.C. From these earliest times asphalt materials were used for caulking and waterproofing.  The asphalts used were obtained from natural deposits found in lakes or pits, that were often residues of crude oil that seeped to the surface through cracks and openings in the ground. The photo on the left is from the 1925 Antiqaries Journal, showing a reconstruction of the Temple of the Moon God (Ziggurat), at Ur, around 600 BC. A mastic asphalt material was used for the external waterproofing, as a mortar for the brick and stone work, and for underground damproofing.

During his 1498 voyage to the Island of Trinidad, Sir Walter Raleigh discovered the the largest and most famous pitch lake of "Asphalt", now known as "Trinidad Lake Asphalt", which became a major source of asphalt epuré. The development of asphaltic materials is associated mainly with road surfacing. In the 1700's the Scottish engineers  Thomas Telford and John McAdam independently developed road surfacing based on correct selection and compaction of graded stones and rock. During the 1800's use began of coal tar and asphalt were used to bind these stones together, but often the only binder was a mixture of sand and water. The introduction of the automobile brought with it dust and mud from these early surfacings, and in the late 1800's the development of hot mix asphalt paving materials began in Europe and. the USA. In these early days the principal binder was either coal tar, or Lake Asphalt, but early in the 1900's refined petroleum took over as the main source of the binder - bitumen - for hot mix asphalt.

With the development of hot mix paving asphalt, these mixtures provided the impetus for improving the historic "waterproofing" uses of older materials, like Pitch, Coal Tar, Lake Asphalt, and Rock Asphalt. and the turn of the century saw the beginning of the systematic use of mastic asphalt formulations for a variety of waterproofing applications.

Recent History:  Rock Asphalte was one of the early companies involved in the rapid growth of mastic asphalt in the period between the World Wars. They were involved in contracting  in all areas of mastic asphalt use from structural waterproofing, tanking, flooring and flat roof waterproofing. In the 1960's they established the Flexiphalte design principle for mastic asphalt roofing, which provided architects and specifiers with a revolutionary system for the correct design of flat roof areas, using British Standard Mastic Asphalt.  

The rapid growth of car ownership in the 1960's, and the subsequent development of multi-storey and roof top car parking as well as elevated lorry service decks created a demand for full waterproofing of these new structures. Mastic Asphalt waterproofing and paving grades were chosen as the best material for the job, still remain the best choice, and continue to be widely used today. The Rock Asphalte Flexiphalte design principle was expanded in 1980 to include a FLEXIPHALTE INSULATED VEHICLE DECK SURFACING SANDWICH  to meet the new standard at that time requiring 0.6W/m^{2 o}C.

The old manufacturing methods (see the manufacturing page) were not best suited to the large volumes required for these large car park decks or for large  flat roof structures. In 1984 Rock Asphalte constructed a new state of the art computer controlled manufacturing plant, for continuous production of all the various grades of roofing and paving and other versions of mastic asphalt.

Another first by Rock Asphalte in 1986 was the development of the world's first Polymer Modified Mastic Asphalt, A roofing grade material called POMMAR , and a paving grade material called - POMPAV, lead the industry. At that time Rock Asphalte introduced the first hot charge tankers in the the UK. This enabled "ready mixed" molten mastic asphalt to be delivered direct to site.

Good design remains a vitial consideration with any construction work, and the latest mastic asphalt development from Rock Asphalte in 1999 was the new FLEXIPHALTE TRIPLE PROTECTION ROOFING SYSTEM. This is a fully bonded polymer modified mastic asphalt/membrane system that can be laid "dead flat" if required and when fully protected is guaranteed for the design life of the substrate upon which it is laid.

Back to top of page