As a business owner, your pavement sees far more use and abuse than the average driveway. You have customers, employees, and shipment trucks constantly beating your pavement up, and if you don’t maintain that pavement properly, it can end up being an extremely costly expense well before it’s necessary.
To help you out, we’re going to give you the top 7 pavement maintenance tips every business owner should follow to make their parking lots and driving areas last as long as possible.
Let’s get started.
1: Have a Budget Ready
First and foremost, pavement maintenance isn’t free. No matter which route you take, you’ll need to pay for resources and services. So, you need to have a budget set ahead of time to ensure that you can pay for those resources and services without it cutting into your expected earnings all of a sudden.
This can get complicated. You need to plan for a specific number of needs, but the budget for each item will differ depending on where you’re at, where you’re buying the item, and whether or not you have any sort of discounts to leverage.
We can’t account for all of that. So, we’ll list the general maintenance items you need, and you can do a bit of personal research specific to your area to see just how much you need to have set aside.
- Cleaning equipment: The most basic maintenance task is cleaning. You’ll get the best results if you have a pressure washer, all the necessary chemicals, and of course, running water taken care of. Other expendables such as Ice Melt should also be considered for unique situations.
- Repairs: This will likely be the most expensive part of your budget. We’ll talk more about it later, but it’s far easier to pay for small repairs as they pop up than to deal with a much larger problem later on.
- Restriping: If you let all your pavement markings fade, you cause confusion and look unprofessional. Make sure you have enough in your budget set aside to get your pavement restriped annually.
- Snow services: When winter hits, your pavement is in jeopardy. Snow is one of the most destructive elements against your pavement. You likely won’t have staff on hand to properly remove snow and protect your pavement. So, it’s important to be ready to hire a snowplow service along with using common chemical solutions to fully remove snow and ice. Budget appropriately.
2: Stay on Top of Snow Removal
In the winter months, when snow is inevitable in many areas, you need to stay on top of your snow removal needs. First, if your lot is covered in snow and ice, your customers won’t pull in to shop or otherwise engage with your business. So, not bothering to stay on top of it is essentially shutting your own business down for the day.
On top of that, snow is extremely destructive. The ice affects the asphalt, and as that ice melts, it seeps into cracks and can cause excessive damage. If you don’t stay on top of your snow removal needs, you’ll quickly find your pavement developing potholes, massive cracks, and other problems that are detrimental to you and your customers.
The amount you need to set aside for this depends on the available services in your community, the amount of snow you typically see, and your general expectations.
3: Restripe Your Pavement
The markings on your pavement are important. They show your visitors exactly where they can park, drive, etc. If you don’t maintain those markings, or “striping”, you can confuse everyone who comes to your business. On top of that, you can create dangerous situations, and you can look extremely unprofessional.
Restriping isn’t an overtly expensive service. You do need to research your local services to see how much you’ll need for an annual restriping service, though.
4: Clean the Pavement Regularly and Thoroughly
You can’t reasonably expect to do many of the things we’re mentioning on your own. It’s simply unlikely that you’ll have the extra staff, with the proper skills, to do these things the right way. However, there is one maintenance task that practically anyone can do with 10 minutes of guidance. Just clean it off.
Cleaning your pavement regularly prevents a lot of damage.
We recommend purchasing proper cleaning materials that won’t corrode the binders in your asphalt, a pressure washer to make the job more efficient, and of course, properly training an employee or two to use the available equipment and clean the pavement regularly.
You should clean your pavement roughly once a week. This ensures that dirt buildup, chemical spills, and other issues are removed quickly.
5: Get an Inspection Regularly
Typically, problems start to pop up long before you can see them. This creates a major issue in the long run. You might wait until there’s a massive crack in your pavement or a giant pothole that damages your customer’s cars to notice, but most of those issues start developing months, or even years before they’re that serious.
It’s all about the little things. As such, you need a professional who knows how to spot those little problems (such as potholes) early so you can take care of them quickly. Make sure to leave room in your budget for a professional inspection annually.
6: Get Repairs
Repairs are going to be necessary, and they won’t be “cheap”. However, if you catch those repairs quickly and have them done, you won’t have to worry about the very expensive problems until your pavement is so old it’s time to get a new one. This is where most of your budget will need to be allocated. Whether you’re filling in potholes and cracks, resmoothing it, or anything else, you should have plenty set aside to repair it.
If you wait and let that necessary repair go untreated, you can expect to pay much more for a whole new pavement area.
7: Get Your Pavement Sealed
You will need to do these basic maintenance tasks to some degree regardless, but shelling out for a pavement sealing treatment will help lower the chance of needing repairs or doing anything else serious. It also allows you to be a little less concerned with your pavement’s state.
Contact Seal Canada to get your pavement sealed, today.
