Asphalt Maintenance Tips - Maintenance and Repair Services

You might not give much thought to the asphalt you drive and park on, but it is perhaps one of the first impressions people get of every property.

Asphalt pavement is one of the most important elements of your property. It’s the first thing people see when they enter your home or commercial property, and it not only protects your property’s foundation but also acts as a barrier between you, your clients, and/or your employees and what lies outside. Taking good care of your pavement is not only vital in delivering a good first impression on your property— but also in ensuring that your well-maintained pavement will provide you with many years of use.

Importance of Asphalt Maintenance

Asphalt is one of the most durable and long-lasting materials for roadways. Asphalt’s unique properties ensure that it will be the best choice for your asphalt driveway or parking lot. However, the asphalt itself is not actually what holds up your asphalt pavement. The real key to durability is a combination of good asphalt and proper maintenance. Without regular maintenance, water, sun, and traffic will cause your asphalt to erode.

Asphalt Erosion Factors

As we’ve mentioned above, asphalt is a strong, popular paving material for its durability and inexpensive cost. But without regular maintenance, it can become damaged from water, sun drying, or heavy traffic.

Water

Water is one of the biggest factors that cause asphalt to erode: when too much water collects on the surface of the pavement, it causes hydrostatic pressure that damages the structure below. Although small amounts of water will evaporate on their own, heavy rains can cause puddles to form that can’t escape through evaporation. These puddles eventually lead to cracking in the asphalt and other types of damage.

Sun Drying

Sun drying or oxidation is another common cause of asphalt erosion. Asphalt with a good grade of binder will resist this effect, but even strong asphalt will deteriorate if left exposed to the sun day after day. Keep your asphalt covered with a quality sealant so that it lasts as long as possible.

Heavy Traffic

The more traffic your road carries on a daily basis, the more precise your maintenance needs to be to prevent deterioration from occurring faster than it would otherwise. The amount of time between major repairs will also be affected by traffic volume; larger roads with higher traffic will need repairs more often than smaller ones with less frequent use.

Asphalt Maintenance Tips

We have prepared a list of basic solutions that you can use to properly maintain your asphalt.

Patching

When the surface of a road has weakened, such as due to potholes and cracks, patching is often sufficient. The surface is then smoothed to prevent further weakening. If the foundation of the road has weakened, however, it’s important to look at the base and make sure that it’s sound. If there are stress cracks present, then it’s best to take it all away and put down a new surface.

Cracksealing

Cracksealing keeps your asphalt from having cracks. Did you know that even the smallest of cracks can cause water to penetrate through the crack and into the pothole? With less sun drying (oxidation), your asphalt will last longer and hold the blacktop longer. Cracksealing is a sealant that goes on after the corners and edges of a concrete slab is routed to give it maximum hold.

Sealcoating

Sealcoating is a process that can be used to maintain and improve the appearance of asphalt surfaces, including driveways and parking lots. Sealcoating is also a good option for sealing gravel surfaces such as tennis courts or basketball courts.

Asphalt emulsion seal coats are a cost-effective way to preserve and darken the surface of your pavement providing a cleaner, newer look. Yet, emulsion seal coats are less durable and require more frequent applications.

For more upkeep, you can choose the chip sealing process instead. This method uses a layer of asphalt emulsion covered by aggregates to form a new surface. Additionally, for commercial properties, an asphalt emulsion seal coat can be used over the top of the chip seal.

Overlays

If you’re on the hunt for a new or improved parking lot or ready to lay down a fresh coat of asphalt for your road, consider an overlay instead of just another layer of sealcoating. Overlays are going to give you more than just a smooth surface—they’ll also offer curb appeal and extra durability.

In the past, overlays were used to repair damaged asphalt that was not able to be fixed with just sealcoating alone. Nowadays, overlays are often done when pavements are still in good condition but need to be resurfaced due to wear and tear. The smoothing effect overlays have allowed them to extend the life of the pavement. There is a reason why they are called “double-bituminous” overlays: additional asphalt is added over the existing road or parking lot.

Overlays, like sealcoating, extend the life of your parking lot or roadway for many years by preventing cracks from expanding and keeping water from entering between the cracks. However, unlike sealcoating, overlays are much more durable—and with that added strength comes an increase in curb appeal and drainage capacity. Overlays will last longer because they provide thicker asphalt over your existing road or parking lot.

Professional Asphalt Maintenance Services in Louisiana

Protect one of your biggest investments: asphalt. Whether it’s a driveway or a parking lot, Ark-LA-Tex Paving is uniquely equipped to take care of all of your asphalt maintenance needs. Whether you need to sealcoat or repair cracks in the pavement surface, we do it all. Call us today!