Tips To Extend The Life Of Your Parking Lot
Picketts Paving LLC
December 2, 2022 at 3:47 PM
Key Takeaways:
- The parking lot manager’s responsibility is to keep it in good condition.
- Maintenance is a routine activity that prevents deterioration or future damage and prolongs the property’s life.
- Repairs are necessary when anything on a commercial property creates liability or possible damage.
- Tips to boost the life of your parking lot include repairing cracks, filling potholes promptly, cleaning and sweeping, fixing obvious drainage problems, controlling the surrounding landscape, addressing oil stains right away, managing vehicle load on asphalt, and being proactive about seal coating.
Your responsibility as a property manager or company owner is to keep your property in good condition. The parking lot is an important feature of many business establishments. Employees and clients will have difficulty getting to and from your building if you do not have a proper parking lot.
This is why it is critical to take good care of the parking lot by providing regular upkeep and maintenance. This is also important for enhancing the lifetime of your parking lot. Here are a few tips by Pickett’s Paving LLC to help you extend the life of your investment.
Understanding Maintenance and Repair:
A repair, such as filling a pothole, is generally partial and returns something to its former state. Repairs are necessary when anything on a commercial property creates liability or possible damage.
On the other hand, maintenance is a routine activity that prevents deterioration or future damage and prolongs the property’s life (including seal coating, crack filling, striping, and so on). Allowing your parking lot to deteriorate completely will cost you money and time.
Tips To Boost the Life of Your Parking Lot:
Tip 01: Repair Cracks
Let’s face it: pavement cracks are every business property owner’s worst nightmare. Cracks are a warning of worse things, whether your parking lots are busy with retail traffic, renters, or even heavy industrial traffic. Ensure that you have a go-to partner for crack sealing or that your on-site staff employs suitable materials and techniques to fill gaps proactively.
We commonly witness fractures emerging from winter through spring, especially in summer. Look out for big weather events involving moisture, such as rainstorms. Cracks may often evolve into worse problems during these periods, which is why filling them is vital.
Tip 02: Fill Potholes Promptly.
Potholes form when water enters the pavement through cracks, freezes, expands, and thaws. This process causes the asphalt to contract and expand, which weakens the material. Eventually, this will lead to chunks of asphalt coming loose, creating a pothole.
Potholes are not only unsightly, but they can also cause damage to vehicles. Most importantly, though, potholes can create trip hazards for pedestrians. Promptly filling potholes will save you some cash in the long term and help keep your parking lot safe for everyone who uses it.
Tip 03: Clean Sweeping
Cleaning the lot on a regular basis eliminates the dirt and debris that tends to gather. Too much dirt generates the ideal circumstances for standing water, which weakens the surface and seeps into the substrate, causing further damage. Sweeping also enables you to identify potential new problems.
Tip 04: Fix Obvious Drainage Problems
Suppose rain or melting snow accumulates in your parking lot. In that case, the underlying asphalt will degrade quickly because pooling water accelerates erosion. Wear and tear can result in the formation of nicks, grooves, and ripples that hold water. After a hard rain, carefully inspect the property for signs of pooled water. If you discover a problem location, a commercial paving contractor can level it.
Consider power washing your parking lot at least once a year. Chemicals, salts, and other materials can be removed using a pressured water system. Power washing can also reveal cracks in the pavement, allowing them to be fixed.
Tip 05: Control the Surrounding Landscape
Snaking roots and growing plants may wreak havoc on asphalt from below. Keep any landscape elements surrounding your lot—or within it—in good condition.
Install edging around flowerbeds, for example, to protect the plants from encroaching on the parking surface. A robust curb around the entire lot is recommended to confine the asphalt and avoid cracking.
Tip 06: Address Oil Stains Right Away
Oil stains are unavoidable because cars will travel over your lot all day. Unfortunately, such stains are more than just a nuisance. If the oil is not removed, it will saturate the surface and weaken the asphalt, making it more prone to breaking.
If the stain is relatively recent, a scrub brush with firm bristles and mild detergent should be able to remove it.
Tip 07: Manage the Vehicle Load On Asphalt
Asphalt parking lots are damaged by heavy commercial trucks. Loading docks and huge garbage containers should be placed in areas where heavy vehicles do not have to traverse or park, particularly on lots designated for automobiles, pickup trucks, and SUVs.
Tip 08: Restriping
Your parking lot should always be a secure environment for your staff and consumers. Restriping is one of the most efficient methods of keeping it safe since it informs cars and tourists where to park. Furthermore, restriping allows you to use the available parking space best. Call a professional to refresh the paint or repaint if your stripes have faded. As a result, the parking lines become more apparent, increasing safety.
Tip 09: Be Proactive About Seal coating
Seal coating the parking lot is a certain approach to ensure the asphalt’s resilience and lifespan. You may be confident that your parking lot will look and feel more appealing with the correct pavement treatments. Smoother pavement will also improve the life of the pavement by 10% to 25% after seal coating. As a result, scheduling regular seal coating every few years is a wise investment. Parking lots must be adequately coated with seal coating due to continuous wear and tear, a large traffic load, and climatic damage.
Ending Note:
These are only a few ways you can help increase the life of your parking lot. You can avoid large, costly repairs down the road by making small changes and being proactive about maintenance. Consult a professional to get the best advice for your specific needs.
Want to maintain your parking lot?
Pickett’s Paving LLC can help! Our experts provide excellent crack-filling solutions at reasonable prices, allowing you to get crack repair done quickly. We also provide asphalt seal coating services to residential and business clients in Viroqua, WI.