In the winter, snow and ice make it difficult to notice growing potholes or water seeping into cracks in asphalt pavement. Unfortunately, this also means that a lot of commercial property owners are surprised to see their parking lots filled with asphalt potholes and cracks that were much smaller in the fall.
The best way to avoid expensive asphalt parking lot repairs is to invest in maintenance before the snow flies.
In this blog post, the asphalt paving contractors at B&E Coating Services will explain how winter weather affects parking lots and what you can do to prolong the life of your pavement. For more information, we recommend contacting an asphalt paving contractor near you.
Faded Parking Lot Striping and Marking
As a commercial property owner, it is your legal responsibility to keep your parking lot safe for pedestrians and motorists. In the winter, this means you’ll need to clear snow and ice from your parking lot. While salt and de-icing chemicals won’t affect asphalt, they will cause pavement markings to fade. Parking lot lines and markings can be touched up in the spring. However, we recommend you start budgeting now in case your pavement markings have considerably faded by spring.
Asphalt Cracks and Potholes
We recommend filling asphalt cracks and potholes before the snow flies. That way, you’ll prevent water from seeping into cracks and causing permanent damage to the foundation. While small asphalt cracks and potholes can be easily repaired in the fall, the same can’t be said in the spring if water has breached the parking lot’s foundation. Depending on the type of business you run, you may have more traffic from holiday shopping, which can also add stress to pavement.
Damaged Sealcoating from Snow Plow Blades
Hiring a professional snow removal company is necessary when you manage a commercial property. However, you’ll need to make sure you hire a contractor with plenty of experience. It’s not uncommon for rookie snow plow drivers to set the blade too low so that it scrapes off the asphalt sealcoating. While a new layer of sealcoating can be easily applied in the spring, you’ll need asphalt crack filler for gouges deeper than 1 inch. Thankfully, most snow plow damage to parking lots is superficial.
Dirt and Trash Left Behind When the Snow Melts
After the snow melts, you may notice a lot of dirt and litter left behind that wasn’t there in the fall. If this is the case, we recommend hiring a parking lot sweeping company to clear your parking lot of debris. Snow and ice can hide litter that has been thrown in your parking lot.
For example, if a person drops a candy wrapper in your parking lot, that piece of litter can get covered up overnight by several inches of snow. Snow plow blades can also drag a lot of sand and dirt into your parking lot. The best solution is to have your parking lot professionally swept in the spring.
The Michigan asphalt paving contractors at B&E Coating Services, LLC work hard to make sure your parking lot is protected against snow, ice, and freeze-thaw cycles. If you are interested in our asphalt crack filling and commercial sealcoating services, give our asphalt contractors a call at 1 (800) SEAL-817.
