Your parking lot is the first impression any new visitor or potential customer will receive when arriving at your property. Its functionality, condition, and aesthetic appeal are each an important component to the conscious and subconscious evaluation their brain is producing with each second of time, each metre driven, and each step taken when they exit their car and head for your entrance. It takes just one tenth of a second to judge and to form a first impression. One of two things are likely going through your mind right now: 1. Whew, I’m glad I decided to re-seal the parking lot again this year, or 2. Uh oh, I better call in some experts to help me fix the problems. The good news is that parking lot repair can be flexible, staged over time, and if you stay on top of it, the investment in maintenance will not only keep the property looking fantastic, but it will reduce your pavement life cycle costs by about 50 per cent!

It’s always best to begin with some education and light research, to help you ask better questions and ensure a thorough Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Let’s start with some definitions to get you comfortable with the basics and their industry terms:

 

Asphalt – A mixture of rock, asphalt cement, petroleum adhesive, and gravel.

 

Alligator Cracking or Crocodile Cracking – Only about six per cent of the asphalt aggregate is made of up adhesive. As such, oxidation, moisture exposure, or oil and fuel deposits can dissolve the adhesive over time. The remaining materials, mostly stone, become dry, brittle and susceptible to single line cracking. If left unrepaired they eventually form a network of cracks that resembles the scaling pattern of reptiles – hence the nickname alligator/crocodile cracking. These severe cracking systems will eventually lead to pavement fatigue failure at the base – causing sinking, undulations or worse.

 

Asphalt Crack Routing –In order to properly repair moisture cracks in your parking lot, each crack is opened with a routing machine and cleaned out. The newly formed reservoir is then filled with material that effectively bonds to the edges and seals out moisture.

 

Asphalt Seal Coating– A periodic sealing application that protects the top layer of asphalt and most importantly adhesive, from the sun’s UV rays, moisture, and high volume traffic wear and debris. These seal coatings are generally high performing polymer modified refined tar emulsion products.

 

Catch Basin Repair – Storm sewers and drains provide additional cause for repairs, and special considerations when fixing the drain or surrounding surface area. Due to the excessive flow of water in this region, it is imperative that seems and seals are perfect, and the top layer is compacted to 95 per cent density. For these same reasons, it is highly recommended to seal coat these regions every three to four years on average.

 

Milling and Paving – Depending upon the depth of cracking, the top asphalt layer(s) are milled, ground up, and removed for recycling. Base layers are rolled and compacted before the replacement layers are then filled and finished.

 

Line striping – After resurfacing applications are completed, parking lot line markings are applied for directional and space management according to each city's by-laws.

 

 

Now that you know the basics, call up the top vendor and negotiate the best deal possible!