If you own or manage a business, you know all too well how important it is to maintain a clean and safe parking area for your customers and other visitors. Because your parking lot is a major investment, it’s important to do whatever you can to ensure that the pavement doesn’t become damaged in any way. Part of maintaining a parking area includes keeping it clean and having minor repairs made on a regular basis. But you may be overlooking one very important aspect of safeguarding your parking lot: adequate drainage. Water – whether it’s from rain or plant irrigation – is truly the enemy of pavement. Water seeps under the surface, weakening the sublayers and ultimately damaging the pavement.
If you hire a reputable, professional contractor to install a new parking lot, that company will incorporate drainage solutions into their installation from the get-go. But if you have an older parking lot, or if you inherited the parking area from a previous business, you may need help to fix current drainage problems. In most cases, inadequate drainage is obvious – pooling water on the surface or water running down certain areas of the parking lot are typical signs that your drainage needs improvement. But there are other indicators as well. You may notice sand or gravel accumulating in certain areas of the surface, for example, which is often a sign that water is breaking down the pavement.
The best way to know for certain whether or not you have drainage issues is to contact a local paving contractor. They will consider a variety of options to resolve these problems, such as one or more of the following:
- Curbing – Asphalt curbs can help to direct water off of and away from your paved surface and into either landscaping or an existing drain.
- Improving the slope – If the current design of your parking area isn’t sloped correctly, you’ll never be able to completely resolve your drainage problems. This might require your paving contractor to improve the slope of your parking lot.
- Installing inlets and drains – A paving contractor can strategically locate inlets and drains in various locations throughout your parking lot, allowing rain and irrigation water to drain off before it can damage the pavement.
Your parking lot is a major investment, so it only makes sense to do whatever you can to protect that investment. Ensuring that you have adequate drainage is one of the most important steps you can take to extend the lifespan of your parking lot. To find out more, contact a local reputable paving contractor today.