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According to homeadvisor.com, the average cost of asphalt paving was $4,285.
While this number includes both asphalt driveways and parking lots, it still represents the investment customers make in asphalt pavement installation.
By following these 5 tips to extend the life of your paved surface, you can ensure your asphalt lasts for up to 20 years.
An asphalt sealcoat manufacturer can provide the crack sealing and repair products needed for proper maintenance.
In this blog post, we will go over the five things all property owners should be doing to extend the life of paved surfaces.
Sealcoat Asphalt Pavement
It’s important to understand that sealcoating is not meant to repair damage to your asphalt surface.
Rather, it is a protective layer applied to the surface of your pavement that shields it from UV rays, rain, snow, and automobile fluids.
All of these things take a toll on your paved surface and make it vulnerable to asphalt cracks and potholes.
Control Traffic
As the owner of your asphalt parking lot or driveway, you have a lot of control over who drives and parks on your pavement.
Asphalt pavement is always engineered to support a certain range of weight.
However, going over this range can cause significant damage to the foundation of your asphalt pavement.
Resist the urge to let trucks and other heavy vehicles park or drive on your parking lot unless your pavement was designed for heavy loads.
Stacks of heavy supplies or storage containers can also damage pavement.
In fact, when heavy loads are allowed to sit on the surface, they cause more damage than if you just drove a heavy vehicle across your parking lot.
Heavy loads also create indentations where water can pool.
Repair Asphalt Cracks
Small asphalt cracks can be easily fixed by either you or a professional asphalt contractor.
However, if you neglect to repair asphalt cracks, they can easily grow into more expensive repairs.
You should be able to find all the asphalt repair products you need at an asphalt supply company.
The sooner you repair asphalt cracks, the less of a chance there is for water to seep into the pavement’s foundation to cause permanent structural damage.
Prevent Standing Water
Whenever water pools in certain areas of your parking lot or driveway, this is a sign of drainage problems.
Make sure you periodically check the catch basins in your parking lot to ensure no obstructions block the flow of water.
Sunken pavement can also be a sign that the foundation of your pavement is failing. There should never be standing water in your parking lot, especially if it’s been a few days since the last rain.
Invest in Asphalt Sweeping Services
At the very least, we recommend having your commercial parking lot professionally swept in the spring.
This is because after the snow melts, it often leaves behind dirt, gravel, trash, and other debris.
Sweeping asphalt pavement does more than help it look clean.
It also helps you keep an eye on the condition of your parking lot.
Sometimes property owners don’t discover cracks and potholes right away because they are covered by loose debris.
B&E Seal Coat Products, Inc. is a Grand Rapids sealcoating supply company dedicated to helping homeowners and asphalt contractors find the right asphalt products for the job.
If you are interested in learning what sealcoating products can extend the life of your paved surface, please feel free to call us at (616) 608-6169.
