FAQs
Please read some of our most frequently asked questions. For more help, please contact us.
Asphalt thickness depends on a variety of factors, but most importantly the frequency and weight of vehicle traffic. Light duty parking lots are often installed at 3 inches, with drive lanes sometimes upgraded to 4 inches. Medium duty parking lots are typically 4 to 6 inches. Depths can increase to 8 inches or more for heavy truck traffic areas such as loading docks.
Newly installed or repaired asphalt can be reopened to vehicle traffic in as little as 12 hours or less depending on the thickness that was installed. Conservatively, we often recommend waiting until the following day.
Depending on the severity of the damage, base repairs may or may not be required first. If significantly damaged areas are the result of underlying base failures or have now affected the base, the damaged asphalt must be removed and the base inspected. If the damaged areas are not first repaired, they will not have the structural integrity to properly support the overlay.
When asphalt is not properly maintained, the bonding agents in the asphalt break down due to the sun’s ultraviolent light, other weather elements, and vehicle fluids. When this happens, nothing remains in the asphalt to hold the aggregate (rock & sand) material together, and it begins to loosen or ravel. Therefore, regular sealcoating is strongly recommended every 2 to 4 years.
Research has proven that well-designed and well-constructed asphalt pavements are not damaged by sodium and calcium chloride salts used for ice and snow control.
A properly designed, installed, and maintained asphalt pavement surface can easily exceed the life of a concrete surface. One of the reasons is asphalt is referred to as a perpetual pavement. In other words, the lower lifts of an asphalt surface can remain in place, while the upper lift can be milled and replaced or added to as necessary. When concrete fails, costly full-depth replacement is required.
Asphalt is a sustainable product, and 100% recyclable. Most of the asphalt removed from service today is recycled into new asphalt.
Asphalt surfaces are quicker and more cost effective to install and maintain. Newly installed or repaired asphalt can be reopened to vehicle traffic in as little as 12 hours or less.
Asphalt pavements are designed and installed in layers, reducing the chance of costly full-depth replacement.
Asphalt surfaces are not damaged by winter deicing salts.
Properly maintained and sealcoated asphalt surfaces can be more aesthetically pleasing, giving your customers a great first impression.
Depending on the frequency and type of vehicle traffic your road or parking lot experiences, we recommend sealcoating with a two-coat application every 2 to 4 years. However, if only a one-coat application is chosen, the frequency should be more often.
Sealcoat material manufacturers recommend restricting vehicle traffic for 24 to 48 hours to allow for proper curing. However, this is not always practical or possible. At a minimum, we have found that if the final coat of sealer is applied in the afternoon, light vehicle traffic can be allowed on it the following day if it is applied under typical summer weather conditions.
Assuming the pavement was not too cold at the time of installation and a two-coat application was installed, below are some of the more common reasons for premature wear.
- Excess moisture on the pavement at the time of installation: Moisture from subsurface water and or air conditioner condenser drains are difficult to stop, leaving installers little choice but to attempt to apply sealer in these areas despite the excess moisture.
- Oil spots: Even if power washing, scrubbing, or oil spot primer was attempted prior to sealcoating, it often is not enough to allow proper adhesion of the sealcoat material. Severely damaged oil spot areas many times need to be milled out and replaced, prior to sealcoating the pavement.
- Raveling and delamination: If the asphalt’s surface has begun to ravel or delaminate and the bonding agents in the pavement weaken, the application of sealcoat material on top will not stop this degradation of the pavement.
Per manufacturer specifications, the ambient air temperature and pavement temperature both must be 50 degrees and rising in order to allow for proper curing of the sealcoat material.
Due to the inability of county and state roads to be shut down for 24 hours or more (to allow for proper curing), sealcoating it not practical for major roads. Since they do not get sealcoated, this is also why these roads require more costly asphalt repairs and overlays more frequently.
By design, crack sealant material is elastic (flexible), to allow for proper sealing through temperature related expansion and contraction cycles throughout the year. However, sealcoat material and line striping paint do not have such elasticity and will crack or flake when stretched.
Although crack sealant material is flexible and can expand and contract with weather conditions to some degree, it does have limitations. Additionally, movement of the pavement from vehicle traffic or additional pavement failures can increase crack widths beyond the crack sealant’s elastic properties, resulting in both cracks in the sealant and sinking of the material.
