Paving your property’s parking lot with asphalt can be a terrific remedy to water percolation issues. A well-developed layer of asphalt covered with an effective sealcoat essentially serves as a waterproof barrier. However, simply because pavement helps protect the underlying ground from becoming saturated doesn’t mean that it is not subject to water damage itself. Water, for all that it’s relied upon, is also one of the most destructive elements in nature. The trouble is that it’s often easy to overlook it in its most destructive forms.
Common Causes of Pooling Water
Walk outside after any rain storm, and you’re likely to see a vast collection of puddles. The immediate presence of standing water immediately after precipitation falls shouldn’t be all that alarming. If those puddles remain after a couple of hours, however, the potential for water damage increases significantly. Water can pool in certain areas in your parking lot for any number of reasons. If your parking lot experiences a high volume of heavy equipment traffic, those vehicles can leave ruts in the asphalt. Shifting in the soil underneath your pavement can result in uneven surfaces that can lead to pooling. Gasoline and oil residue causes asphalt to soften, which can lead to divots. You also could be experiencing drainage issues.
How Water Damages Asphalt
Whatever the reasons are that are contributing to the pools of standing water in your parking lot, the constant presence of puddles should not overlooked. While on its surface, a puddle may not appear to be particularly troublesome, it’s not the surface you have to worry about. The underlying water will eventually eat away at the sealcoating, allowing the water to then percolate into the pavement itself. There, it begins to oxidize, which then causes the asphalt binder to deteriorate. While this water damage may be slow at first, cracks soon begin to form, which hastens the destruction by allowing more water in. If it’s late in the year, that water may then freeze and cause further damage as it expands.
What You Can Do About It
If left unchecked, this deterioration can lead to large cracks in your parking lot or even areas of crumbling asphalt, which could require costly repairs or even a complete replacement. Fortunately, there are steps to can take to curtail water damage. These include:
- Cleaning your concrete regularly of any gas or oil residue
- Having cracks sealed as soon as they begin to appear
- Reapplying sealcoating every 1-3 years
Don’t overlook the danger that frequent puddles of standing water pose to your asphalt parking lot any longer. Once you start to see water begin to pool, it’s time to call in the experts. The team at NVM Paving and Concrete, Inc. has years of collective experience in asphalt coating, repair and maintenance. One call can help re-fortify your pavement against the many forces it’s subjected to day-after-day. Give our experts a call at (703) 372-9335.
