Asphalt is an extremely durable material, without a doubt, but it needs maintenance just like any other paved surface. Whether you’re a homeowner with an asphalt driveway, or a business owner with a large parking lot to care for, it’s important to plan ahead for your asphalt maintenance. If you don’t properly maintain any paved surface, the results could be cracking, sunken areas, and/or potholes and crumbling around the edges. Here are some tips on how to plan ahead so that you can easily afford to maintain your asphalt.
Understand the Importance of Preventive Maintenance
As is true with any paved surface – or any building material, for that matter – the time for maintenance is before any damage occurs. Otherwise, your money will be spent on repair rather than maintenance. When it comes to properly caring for your asphalt surface, it’s important to address small issues early on. Tiny cracks in the asphalt can easily (and quickly) become big cracks that allow water to seep underneath the surface layer. Once that happens, substantial damage can occur to the pavement. But there’s another good reason to focus your efforts on preventive maintenance – it’s much less expensive than making costly repairs. As soon as you notice tiny cracks forming, contact a local paving contractor to repair those cracks, then apply seal coat to protect the surface from further damage. These minor repairs and seal coating are relatively inexpensive, particularly when compared to fixing potholes and crumbling edges!
Making Asphalt Maintenance a Priority
You wouldn’t think of having your house painted once, then simply forgetting about it for decades to come, would you? It’s important to remember what a significant investment your asphalt pavement is, and to make it a priority when planning your home and/or business budget. Think of asphalt maintenance in much the same way you would with any other upgrades or maintenance you plan for your residence or workplace. Set aside a certain amount of money each month for anticipated pavement repairs. Whatever money is left over can be used in the future – when the surface will, inevitably, need to be replaced altogether.
Extend the Lifetime of the Asphalt Surface
Most asphalt surfaces last between 20 and 30 years if they’re properly maintained. But once the pavement is about 20 years old, you can expect that major work will need to be done to extend its lifetime. While it is possible that the pavement will need to be completely replaced after 20 years or so, if preventive maintenance is done on a regular basis, it’s quite possible that your surface can last as long as three decades. Plan ahead for the worse-case scenario, then be pleasantly surprised when your surface lasts longer than expected.