April showers bring May flowers, but if your parking lot doesn’t have proper drainage, those showers will also bring ponding and asphalt damage. Splashing through parking lot puddles is an annoyance for pedestrians and drivers, but it’s also bad for the pavement. When the standing water has nowhere to go, it seeps into your pavement, which breaks down the asphalt and leads to cracks and potholes if the issue remains unfixed.
In addition to structural damage, ponding can also cause liability issues—customers using your parking lot can easily slip on the wet pavement or from jumping to avoid a huge puddle. Cars can drive through a puddle that has a hidden pothole underneath, causing damages to the vehicle. Ponding also makes your parking lot unappealing, thus giving off the wrong impression about your business to customers.
When we come out to assess your pavement and your ponding issue, we’ll use our laser profiling technique. This allows us to find the low spots in your pavement where the water is getting trapped, and we can also find the best spot to ensure proper drainage. We have to determine where the water will go before starting repairs to the asphalt, as simply patching up potholes won’t solve the problem. If your parking lot is uneven, and those low points have no way of draining the water, the cycle will just continue.
Once we’ve determined where the new drain will go, we get to work on installing it and repairing the damaged pavement. If a lot of your parking lot is uneven, and you have ponding in multiple areas, we’ll either do an overlay or a replacement, depending on the extent of the damage. With proper drainage and an even parking lot, your pavement will be in good shape for the rest of spring showers and storm season.
After the project is done, you can join our free maintenance program so that any future damages will be caught before they become a big problem. Each spring, we’ll send out a paving expert to assess your lot and let you know if it needs any maintenance. Sealcoating is a great preventative maintenance option to upkeep your parking lot, especially because it helps protect the asphalt against harsh UV rays in the summer—it also helps keep your pavement in good condition throughout the winter and the freeze-thaw cycle.
Metro Paving has been providing quality asphalt paving since 1988. Call to get on our spring or summer schedule!