Tips To Help Install And Keep A Protected Asphalt Pavement

Asphalt pavement makes a valuable and affordable pavement option for your property, home, or business parking lot. However, when installing pavement, the proper installation is a valuable precursor to maintaining it with good protection and repair practices. The following provides you recommendations for installing a new asphalt pavement and protecting it with good maintenance.

Install With Drainage

When you go to install new asphalt pavement, you want the investment to pay you back over time with a good solid pavement that withstands rainfall and water. Standing water on your pavement is going to be one of the most damaging factors, as it seeps down into tiny cracks and crevices and can damage the foundation layers below. The pavement surface needs to be relatively flat but it should also allow for drainage from a central point or top crest. You can complete this by sloping the entire driveway from one end to the other or building up a central ridge down through the entire length of the driveway. No matter how you slope the pavement, make sure moisture is not allowed to settle and remain on an area of its surface to avoid its resulting damage.

If there are areas in your pavement where a natural slope will cause water to settle, install a drainage collection area where the water will flow off the pavement and out of the area. A drainage grate or gravel-covered French drain are both good options to collect and eliminate the water from your pavement. This is commonly completed within a large pavement area, such as a parking lot where surface drainage with a slope is not possible.

Protect Your New Asphalt

After your new asphalt surface has been installed it is going to look ready to walk or drive over it. However, asphalt needs to cool for a couple of days before it is completely hard and cured so it does not get damaged from traffic. Asphalt does not take as long as concrete to cure, but it will need some time to cool, especially if the weather is hot outside or it is a cloudless sunny day. 

Be careful that when you do use your asphalt for parking that you don't park your vehicle in the exact same spot every day repeatedly. Vary your parking spot over the first few weeks so you don't cause divots to form on the pavement, which will lead to sunken spots where moisture can pool. It is also helpful to cool your pavement down with your garden hose if the sun is extra hot and you plan to park a vehicle upon the pavement.

For more information on asphalt paving, contact a company near you.