A property with a well-maintained asphalt driveway looks attractive, especially if it's for sale. Asphalt is a paving material that can last for many years if it's properly maintained. Nonetheless, asphalt can crack or chip even if it's a durable material. A place will look more rundown if it has a deteriorating asphalt driveway. You should contact a professional paving contractor to assess your chipped or cracked asphalt driveway to know if it needs to be replaced or repaired. Here is what most competent paving contractors look at before they recommend asphalt driveway repairs:
1. Vegetation Growth
Weeds, grass and other plants will pop up from the cracks if they are left unfilled. Timely asphalt repairs prevent vegetation growth in an asphalt driveway. Vegetation growth doesn't just show a poorly maintained asphalt driveway, but it also creates tripping hazards and more pavement damage. Tree roots can cause more damage to your asphalt driveway and make the pavement surface more hazardous if you don't call in a paving contractor to repair the damaged asphalt in good time. You won't spend thousands of dollars on asphalt replacement and repairs if a paving contractor repairs the small cracks on your asphalt driveway before the vegetation sprouts up.
2. Ravelling
The glue or material holding the sand and stone particles of the asphalt driveway can deteriorate causing ravelling. The layer of the hot mix asphalt experiences progressive disintegration when the aggregate particles are dislodged. Ravelled asphalt is usually rough, and water can easily collect in the ravelled locations if a paving contractor is not contacted to fix the problem. The asphalt binder can get loose due to dust coating, aggregate segregation and inadequate compaction when constructing the asphalt driveway. This causes more water to penetrate the thin aggregate leading to additional cracks.
3. Asphalt Cracks
Some longitudinal and transverse cracks will develop as asphalt ages. Thawing, freezing and condensation will cause the cracks to expand even though they started small. Moisture will freeze and thaw into the asphalt driveways during winter due to the freezing temperatures experienced at night. The paving contractor will first remove any debris or dirt trapped in the cracks before they fill them. According to most paving contractors, you can seal-coat the asphalt driveway to ensure that the cracks aren't formed.
Words can't fully elaborate the need to hire a competent paving contractor once you see any of the above signs. A deteriorated asphalt driveway will not only damage the tyres of your car, but it will also cause some safety risks to the people walking on it. So let an asphalt driveways contractor inspect your asphalt driveway often to see if it has some minor asphalt issues to be fixed before they aggravate.
