asphalt repair companies

Is Asphalt Repair Cost Effective?

Despite common misconceptions, asphalt repair and regular maintenance can be extremely cost effective and absolutely essential to maximizing your asphalt investment over its lifespan. In fact, given that the cost of repaving, on average, increases historically every year, you can’t afford NOT to maintain it!

From day one of your asphalt’s life, it will gradually begin to deteriorate from traffic, weather elements, water penetration, and just general degradation. Without asphalt repair and maintenance, the deterioration will progress much faster.

If it is assumed that a parking lot will last 15-20 years with no maintenance at all, it must also be understood that the parking lot will be riddled with potholes, tripping hazards, and large cracks for at least half of its lifespan. However, if a regular program of asphalt maintenance is implemented, you can not only expect to remedy such visible deteriorations, but you can also expect the lifespan to increase to 20-30 years, while also avoiding any potential hazards and liabilities along the way!

Asphalt repair and maintenance consists of many things including:

  • Crack filling on a regular basis
  • Patching problem areas
  • Restriping every few yearsasphalt repair services

Asphalt patching is the process of filling potholes or other areas of deterioration with a hot asphalt patch. Some scenarios that asphalt patching would be a good solution for are:

  • Asphalt pothole repair
  • Raised or sunken areas
  • Standing water
  • Heavily cracked areas or extra-large crack (can be tripping hazards)
  • Catch basin problems
  • Snow plow damage

During the first 5 years of a pavement’s life, the lot will likely need very little maintenance. As we reach years 5-10, as part of your maintenance implementation, we will begin crack filling, re-striping, and some asphalt patching repairs if necessary. From years 10-15, we will need to conduct larger scale crack filling and asphalt patching more often, as it begins to deteriorate more rapidly. Once your pavement reaches the second half of its life (year 15-30), maintenance will be necessary more often. However, it is important to remember that this maintenance is helping to extend the life of your pavement, which overall drives your annualized costs down!

repaving for asphalt repair

On the other hand, repaving consists of removing and replacing old asphalt, including the base layer and the asphalt pavement layer, which is typically around 8-10” thick, combined. This is commonly required when proper maintenance and asphalt repair is neglected leading to the surface completely wearing away. This wearing also increases the chances of water penetrating the base, leading to complete structure failure. Generally, repaving is a huge construction project and could come with a very large price tag, varying per lot, depending heavily on its size.

Did you know that parking lot repair also increases the curb appeal of your property and can shape a buyer’s first impression? Read more on this in our blog, Parking lot repair and maintenance increases value!

If you’ve neglected asphalt repair because you believed it was too expensive or not necessary, you may find that it is actually a wise, and cost-effective investment. As with all home maintenance, being proactive is always that best plan of action, and helps to not only save money, but potentially big headaches. For all of your parking lot maintenance and asphalt repair needs, contact EastCoat Pavement!

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