Colorado Asphalt Services, Inc.

BLIZZARD EFFECTS ON PARKING LOTS IN FULL BLOOM!

H. Wayne Leiser President/CEO CASI – Colorado Asphalt Services, Inc., AAMD Board Member, and President AAMD Suppliers Council

The snow and ice may have melted off of your parking lots; however, your sunny smiles will soon fade once you look at the effects the snow, ice, cold weather, temperature fluctuations, sanding and, of course, snow plows have had on your parking lots.

Once you brace yourself and have a look, what will you find?  Well, that depends on what condition your parking lot was in before all of the snow came.  Obviously, pre-existing conditions will be magnified with the effects of the snow; but, even if you had had your parking lot maintained, or resurfaced, you will most likely find cracks and possibly small potholes, not to mention snow plow gouges and cracked or demolished auto stops or curbs.  Why?  Melting snow (moisture), the varying degree of temperature during the day and night (freeze-thaw), coupled with the weight and effects that snow plows can cause, did their damage! 

It comes down to the fact that asphalt is water-permeable, and during the day the water from the melting snow can seep inside asphalt and get trapped.  When the temperature dips, the trapped water freezes which causes the pliable asphalt to expand to adapt to the frozen water.  Once the temperature rises, the water melts and the asphalt structure (changed from the frozen water) is weakened and can deteriorate with normal usage.  This, coupled with the heavy weight of snow plow trucks, causes your asphalt parking lot to deteriorate very quickly, leading to major cracks, potholes and “alligatoring”, should the sub-grade below your asphalt deteriorate.

POTHOLES	CRACKS	"ALLIGATORING"

So, you may find cracks, “alligatoring”, potholes, scrapped-off lot markings, crumbled concrete curbs, pads, pans and sidewalks.

You probably are asking yourself:  “Where do I start?  What can I afford to do?  What is the competition doing?”

First assess your immediate needs, particularly issues relating to safety and code compliance, major potholes, crumbled sidewalks, drainage issues, and striping (lot markings).   Even though the temperatures may still be cold, asphalt companies have a mix of asphalt called “cold-mix” they use to temporarily patch menacing potholes in cold weather.  Cold-mix will fill the pothole and major cracks until the temperatures are warm enough to properly patch these areas with traditional hot-mix asphalt.    

If you did not budget for asphalt work to be done this year, start budgeting for next year.  Take care of your immediate needs and determine how to plan for repair and maintenance work for next year.  You may even want to consider phasing the project over this year and next year, if budgets allow.

If you have budgeted for asphalt work for this year, schedule an asphalt estimator to conduct a walk-through of your lot as soon as you have no snow or ice on your parking lot, the sooner the better.  Once an estimate has been received and approved…schedule the actual work to be done quickly.  With the effects of the snow, there is going to be a lot of immediate work to be done and you are not the only one that needs their parking lot repaired.  The earlier you sign your contract, the earlier the work will be scheduled and the earlier your lot will be done.  The longer you wait, the longer it will take to get done.

Once you’ve taken care of your lot this year, remember to plan a maintenance plan for 2008.  Regular maintenance helps your parking lot survive future blizzards better than if no maintenance had been done.  Besides, we don’t know what “ol’ man winter” has in store for us next year.