Repairing A Crack In Your Asphalt Parking Lot
Asphalt cracks do happen, and the best preventative medicine is continued maintenance. As with anything, having knowledge about a specific subject helps you to make the best decisions when it comes time for maintenance and care. As always I turned to the experts of asphalt paving and repair to help get some great content for this article.
Over time, there isn’t much you can do to avoid cracks in your asphalt parking lot, driveway or roadway. Even with a good asphalt paving job, professionally done with the best materials, it begins aging the minute it cools down. The oil that binds it together weakens, and the movement of the ground, in combination with the effects of moisture and the sun, cause it to deteriorate. Once a crack appears, moisture reaches below the pavement’s surface and softens it, or in cold climates freezes it, causing it to expand. The pavement around the crack then starts to deteriorate, which makes the problem worse. For this reason, it’s best to tackle the issue before it gets out of control.
Preventative Maintenance Schedule
To make sure the problem doesn’t get worse, preventative maintenance is necessary. This can help to avoid further deterioration of a parking lot and is usually the cheapest solution. Asphalt parking lot crack repair should be performed as soon as the pavement begins to first show signs of wear and tear. This is especially true because vegetation can begin to grow in between the cracks, which can actually cause the pavement to rise, creating, even more, damage.
Preventative maintenance includes actions like
- seal coating
- asphalt patching, and repair
- crack sealing
Usually, this maintenance needs to be done on an ongoing basis to make sure it is successful. If done once and then left alone, the problem is likely to arise again after a time. This is true whether you are dealing with simple cracks, which should be easily repairable, or pot holes or tiny cracks that look like “alligator skin.”
Hire A Professional
When repairing cracks in a driveway, parking lot, or roadway, it is always important that you always remember to remove all dirt and any other debris from the crack using an appropriate tool. Then, use a pressure washer, or garden hose if that will do the trick, to flush out any remaining debris. Before applying crack filler, it’s important to allow the crack to dry. This is especially the case if you use a pressure washer, as it can push moisture down deeper, potentially causing further problems.
If you hire a professional, as is usually recommended, they will often use an Asphalt Crack Heat Lance, which will burn any vegetation, evaporate any moisture, and blow dirt and debris out of the area. They also have several industrial tools and additional methods available to repair the asphalt.
Oftentimes, a seal coat is desired after the crack filler has been applied. This will always cover the repair and make the parking lot look more like its original state. In addition to creating a uniform black surface, it will also guard against tracking and adds to the strength of the crack fill material.
Repaving a parking lot can be expensive, and repairing one isn’t going to work if it isn’t done in the right way, and properly maintained. For these reasons and any other that may be available, it is highly recommended to hire a professional, or at least get a consultation, if you don’t know what you are doing that is why we would always refer you to our technical team for professional assistance as far as asphalt parking lot crack repair is concern.
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