Tips for Maintaining Asphalt Surfaces

An asphalt driveway or parking lot needs to be maintained to extend it's life; it's appearence is also renewed. This section is designed to provide our current and future customers with maintenance information for asphalt driveways or parking lots. Please consider the following information to protect your investment.

Leave Time for Curing

Since the liquid asphalt in blacktop needs time to harden and cure, usually 6-12 months, your pavement will remain soft and pliable until then. You may walk on your new pavement immediately, but keep automobile traffic off for at least two full days, or longer in hotter temperatures. Even after the blacktop has cured, do not expect it to be as hard as concrete.

Your new blacktop will soften and harden as temperatures rise and fall. Watering down your pavement with a hose on hot days will cool and temporarily harden the blacktop. This is helpful but not mandatory. Although every effort is made to avoid puddles, some small ones are inevitable depending on the natural slope and drainage of your ground.

Avoid Parking in Same Spot

During the first 6-12 months while your pavement is curing, do not park in the same spot every time. Do not turn your steering wheel back and forth when your car is not moving. The edges are the weakest part of your pavement due to the lack of side support. Avoid driving on the edges, since they may crack.

Things to Avoid on Surface

Avoid using jack stands, unless a piece of plywood is placed under them to help distribute the weight. Also, excessive weight from large, heavy vehicles (trucks) and multiple vehicles can depress your new blacktop. When storing RVs, trailers, or motorcycles for long periods of time, place a piece of plywood under the jack and tires to distribute their weight on the surface. Extra weight on concentrated areas can create holes and depressions in asphalt. During warmer temperatures, you should pay closer attention to lawn chairs and bike kick-stands, and watch out for those pointy high heels!

Imperfections Are Common

Your pavement may look smoother in some areas than in others because of the makeup of blacktop. Blacktop has various sizes of stone, sand, liquid asphalt, and other ingredients that cause a varied texture of the surface. Also, blacktop areas that have been raked and spread with hand tools may appear different in texture from those spread by machine. Your pavement is one of kind; consider it a birth mark.

Seal Coat Drive Every 2-3 Years

To preserve your new pavement, it is advisable to seal coat the surface after it has been paved. Sealing too soon, however, may cause damage. We recommend giving asphalt at least a year to cure and so it can properly breathe. Blacktop is naturally porous. Water can seep into the pavement causing deterioration and upheaval of asphalt, which occurs after the moisture freezes.

Blacktop is also softened and broken up by gasoline, lube oil, grease, road salts and anti-freeze, which drips from cars. Seal coat not only protects blacktop with a coating that is impervious to these harmful elements but also gives your pavement a brand new appearance. Unprotected pavement remains porous, dry out, become rough, and lose their life faster. This is known as oxidization.

Do not seal every year. We recommend sealing every 2-3 years depending on the amount of wear.

 

If you would like more information on the process and the type of sealer Heiberger Paving Inc uses, please see our Seal Coat section. You can even contact us now to set up a future seal coat appointment for your driveway or parking lot. Protect your investment!