B&E Coating Services offers a complete range of asphalt maintenance services to customers throughout the Mid-Michigan area, where often homes and businesses deal with snow covering their asphalt pavement. The weather in Michigan can be unpredictable. Summers are usually mild, but heat waves do happen. The lower peninsula may have to deal with an occasional tornado during the late spring or early summer. Fall is often calm, but overnight temperatures sometimes plummet. However, one thing that is virtually guaranteed in Michigan is that there will be snow in the winter — and sometimes in the late fall or early spring as well. If you have asphalt pavement, you may be wondering what impact snow has on your parking lot, street, or driveway.

Snow Conditions on Your Asphalt Parking Lot – The Problem

If snow simply fell, remained the same temperature all winter and magically disappeared in the spring, your only problem would be clearing a path for pedestrians and vehicles. Unfortunately, snow is never static. It melts, freezes again, turns to ice, melts, and repeats the cycle many times before spring finally arrives.

Here is what is happening beneath the blanket of snow covering your asphalt paved surface.

• When snow melts, the water is often trapped beneath a covering of ice or un-melted snow. As it is a liquid, the melted snow will try to flow beyond its boundaries. If it can find a crack in your pavement, it will follow that path to the foundation that is supporting the weight of your pavementas well as your traffic.
• The water can destabilize the foundation, allowing the pavement to subside in places. This can lead to an extensive pattern of cracks referred to as alligator cracking; at best, you can expect that existing asphalt cracks have been made worse, and you will probably discover that new potholes have developed.
• Every time that the trapped water freezes and thaws, more damage is caused. Furthermore, every time that the snow on top of the pavement melts, more water penetrates beneath the surface.

Other Potential Damages

Snow and ice can indirectly lead to other types of damage as well. Certain deicing agents can break down the bond between the asphalt binder and aggregates, leading to longitudinal cracking, rutting, or raveling. Snow plow operators must know how to adjust their blades properly to prevent excessive scraping against the pavement, which can strip the sealcoating or leave gouges in the pavement.

B&E Coating Services offers a complete range of asphalt repair services to customers in Mid-Michigan and surrounding areas. Our asphalt paving services include residential sealcoating, infrared asphalt repair, asphalt crack repair, asphalt paving, parking lot markings, and more. We provide quality work at competitive rates to commercial clients, small and large businesses, industrial facilities, and schools as well as homeowners. To receive a free quote, complete the online form or contact our Cadillac asphalt paving contractors at (989) 352-7305.