As the fall season comes to an end in the northeast part of the US, and especially here in Connecticut, there is a typical steep slope into cold weather. It’s not uncommon to see snow show up in October, making it a challenge to manage your last-minute fall checklist. As tough as it may be to complete those pressing needs, colder weather limits outside tasks the most.
To help, here are 3 checklist items to prioritize your asphalt preparation tasks before we steep into winter temperatures:
1. Line painting
2. Crack Sealing
3. Asphalt Patching
Because of the hotter summer months making outside work unpleasant, it’s common to wait for cooler months do work outside on our homes. In fact, most people want to know, what are the lowest temperature you can paint in outside? Although commercial work doesn’t necessarily follow this thinking, you may not be aware of circumstances specific to parking lot outside work, and the challenges with waiting too late.
When it comes to line striping, preparation of your parking lot is more of a challenge in cooler weather. As the snow starts to fly, so does the sand and salt. Cleaning the lot for proper paint application becomes much more difficult. Because ideal parking lot painting surfaces create the best surface to paint, it’s also important to repair damages before painting. Here is a quick check list to check if your lot is ready for paint:
• Level asphalt or repaired potholes
• Clear and free surface of all debris
• Surface is dry
Read our full parking lot preparation for getting the best line stripping results. It’s especially important to plan out your lot painting while lots contain less traffic.
Prepare Your Asphalt with Crack Sealer
Even if painting lines is not in your job list, preparing your parking lot asphalt for winter should be on your list. Winter’s freeze on water can cause concrete to move. Any crack water can get down is the same crack making your parking lot undrivable come spring. We covered why asphalt cracks in much more depth in this post.
This is the ideal time to seal all your pavement cracks. It will save costs in hot patching your broken asphalt in the early springtime. It’s also right before temperatures do a permanent plunge, turning everything into a winter frozen world. Even without snow, the rainwater tends to seep through the pavement, causing pavement to heave upwards as it freezes.
Repair Broken Asphalt
Pavement that is too broken up, or even potting, will need to be repaired before winter. Allowing water to drain into the subbase is what leads to stripping the aggregate and binder, causing potting to occur in the surface. The integrity of the subbase is what is key to the drivability of the asphalt and the key to maintaining the ideal asphalt surface.
Now is the time to act on planning your final parking lot repairs. Waiting too much longer will limit the ability to plan out traffic and scheduling. EastCoat pavement is always ready to help get your parking lot back to ideal.