How to Fill Potholes

Typically, it is the responsibility of city, town or state government to look after repairs to all road surfaces. This repair is best if targeted only to private roads or driveways. Repairing a pot hole can be tough work and requires some lifting and shoveling. Before beginning, examine the possibly underlying reasons the pot hole formed. If the same area erodes repeatedly due to rain and running groundwater, for example, then any repair you make may not last long.

Shovel
Crushed gravel
4-by-4 post scrap
Compacting machine
Automobile

Instructions

- 1
  Remove any debris or garbage from the pothole. Broken chunks of concrete, asphalt or stone are fine as long as they are positioned at the base of the pothole and don't protrude from it.
- 2
  Shovel crushed gravel into the pothole so that it fills all recesses and major cracks. Smooth the gravel periodically while filling to get it as even as possible.
- 3
  Overfill the pothole to create a mound roughly one inch high over the hole. Pile the stone up so that when it is compacted it will compress to approximately the height of the surface.
- 4
  Level the repair by tamping the filled pothole with the end of a 4-by-4 wood post scrap. Compact the stone to reduce the risk of erosion once complete.
- 5
  Rent a compactor from a tool rental company, or drive across the surface of the patched pothole. This requires a few bumpy passes and then the hole will begin to level out evenly with the rest of the surface.
- 6
  Add slightly more stone across the whole area to raise the surface back up if the pothole sinks under the transport of heavy items. Compact the hole a little more by driving over it slowly to keep the gravel from spilling out.

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