TIPS & EDUCATION

Invest Wisely in Your Asphalt and Stretch Your Dollar
Especially with this economy, we all need the most cost effective solutions to stretch the life of our asphalt surfaces and save money. If we're going to invest in new paving or repairs, they'd better last as long as they're intended to last. Count on the expertise of United Paving Co. to evaluate your property and provide you with the best long term, and short-term, treatment options for your goals and budget. We have experienced estimators who are eager to help you create your asphalt maintenance budget and stick to it.

Price is Important, But Be Cautious of the Lowest Bid
While price is a concern to us all, keep in mind that the lowest bid may also provide you with the least effective repairs for your investment. There's little sense in spending money on a "cheap fix" up front when having to repeat the same repairs will end up costing you a lot more in just a few short years, or possibly even months. For example, when you have severe alligator cracking throughout your parking lot, and it receives a 1" overlay without any preparatory treatment to the existing pavement, you're likely to see those cracks reflect through the new surface earlier than intended.

If you're looking to receive a 1" asphalt overlay to revitalize your pavement, be sure your contractor has accounted for the root of the problem that caused the damaged asphalt and how that problem will potentially effect the new asphalt, in his proposal. This way you're more likely to have the problem fixed correctly the first time, stretch the life of the repair, and receive an appropriate bid or proposal that reflects the best repairs for your pavement and maintenance goals.

The Importance of Flowline, Curb, and Gutter
Asphalt's biggest enemy is water! Protect your asphalt pavement from erosion by ensuring effective concrete structures to help carry water away from it. Flowline, Curb, and Gutter are crucial structures that facilitate the evacuation of surface water (i.e. rain and irrigation waste) from asphalt pavement to protect it from erosion and decay. A concrete flowline that is heavily cracked cannot perform its duty to collect and carry away water from the bordering asphalt. Instead, it leaves water to wash away the adhesive and waterproofing properties of the asphalt, allowing it to dry out, crack, and ravel. The damaged asphalt then allows water to seep through to deteriorate the sub-base/sub-grade which compromises it's ability to withstand the pressure of heavy traffic loads.

Asphalt is Not Meant to Act as a Bridge
A damaged flowline can allow water to create a void of material underneath the Asphalt, in effect leaving a bridge. Asphalt is not meant to act as a bridge and is only as strong as the foundation beneath it. It requires an effective sub-base and sub-grade to support it's weight bearing traffic. When the foundation beneath asphalt is compromised, the surface is destined for issues like potholes and alligator cracking. These are typical causes for expensive removal and replacement costs.

Are Trash Trucks Trashing Your Asphalt?
Have you found that the asphalt in front of your dumpsters is getting crushed and broken by your city dump trucks? Trash trucks are the leading cause of asphalt damage. Generally, parking lots are not constructed to handle heavy truck traffic. It has been discovered that one trip of a trash truck has the same effect on an asphalt parking lot as 9,600 trips of a car! This extremely heavy load can severely damage asphalt and may cause the need for costly removal and replacement early on.

Install a Concrete Trash Truck Pad
You may save money from repetitive asphalt repairs by installing Concrete Pads in front of the dumpsters. The Concrete Pads are much more capable of withstanding the intense pounding and shuddering of a trash truck than the typically used thickness of asphalt. Talk to your United Paving representative to consider this option as well as an option to construct an asphalt thickness to handle such a heavy weight bearing load.

Side Walks and Trip Hazards. Not to Be Taken Lightly.
While cracks or elevated sections in your sidewalk may appear to be no big deal, keep in mind they may be trip-hazards. Trip-hazards are major risk factors for lawsuits and high insurance premiums. Trip-hazard repair costs are almost insignificant to the cost of a major lawsuit!

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