Benefits of Sealcoating a Parking Lot

Cracks and potholes are inevitable when dealing with asphalt pavement; however, neglecting to seal coat your facilities asphalt pavement can lead to an accelerated cracking and pothole situation reducing the pavements service life.

Dry weather and freezing weather, although freezing temperatures is not usually a big problem here in Florida, can have a degrading effect on asphalt pavement. Other environmental issues such as tree roots, vehicle traffic, gas, oil, sand, and litter also work to crack and damage asphalt. Properly maintained parking lots, those that receive regular sweeping service, crack filling, pothole repair and sealcoating, are prone to outlast those parking areas that are left to "fend for themselves" against these elements.

The Benefits

There are many benefits to sealcoating, such as:

· Minimize Repair - Sealcoating minimizes the need for asphalt repairs.
· Weatherize - Sealcoating helps weatherize asphalt and stops weather damage.
· Limit Oxidation - Sealcoating prevents the oxidation of asphalt.
· Curb Appeal - Sealcoating improves the look of asphalt pavement.
· Damage Resistant - Sealcoating helps asphalt resists damage from gas, oil, and salt.

Ask the Professionals

Pavement contractors bear the burden of pavement maintenance for most commercial facilities. They provide a range of services from crack filing, to resurfacing, pothole repair, and other types of asphalt repairs. But, one of the most important duties that paving contractors perform is sealcoating.

With proper and timely application, sealcoating completed on a regular basis, hand-in-hand with crack filing, and asphalt repair, can extend pavement life past the post where the cost to benefit ratio of added pavement life exceeds the cost of conducting the maintenance itself!

A properly installed, high-quality sealcoating product will protect your parking lots' asphalt from fuel, oil, weather and traffic wear. If asphalt is not property seal coated or, not sealed at all, cracks can start forming in the asphalt, which can then lead to potholes. Depending on your environment, most asphalt pavement should be seal coated every two to three years. For the best results, sealcoating should only be done by a professional paving and sealcoating company.

Cost of Sealcoating

Asphalt pavement sealing costs are determined by more than just a calculated method based on square footage. There are many variables to determine the cost of sealcoating such as: number of cracks to be filled, potholes to be repaired, number of coats needed, and how much hand work is needed. Ask your paving contractor to come out to your commercial facility to inspect the area to be seal coated and to give you a free quote.

Maureen McHale is a marketing consultant located in Longwood, Florida. With more than 20 years of experience, ABC Paving and Sealcoating is Florida's leading paving contractor. Services include: asphalt paving, asphalt repairs and prevention, pothole repairs, sealcoating, line striping and marking, thermoplastic, crack filing, signs and safety devices, concrete sidewalks, concrete curbs and site preparation. For more information about ABC Paving and Sealcoating, visit our website for a free estimate for your paving and sealcoating needs or call 866-934-7623.

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Vaca Vet Striping Helps Bring Local Company Up To Code

Vaca Vet Striping brought a local Vacaville company up to code with the Fire Marshall by painting necessary curbing with red paint and signage and repainting handicap stalls per ADA requirements.

Peak Parking Lots

Q: We will be closing on a building within a month. It has a parking lot that is beginning to show its age, probably about 20 years old. What sort of preventative maintenance is appropriate for parking lots?

A: The average life of a parking lot is generally from 20 to 30 years, but that depends greatly on its overall maintenance during its lifetime. You did not mention its present condition, but it is common that a parking lot undergo a major renovation that includes an overlay or complete resurfacing after 17 to 20 years, so yours is probably due.

The original construction of the lot (the quality of the installation, materials, foundation, and drainage), and its continuing maintenance are the major factors influencing its eventual life. If there are problems with the original construction, they will generally show up early in the form of fatigue cracking, depressions or rutting. The original design should take into account high traffic or areas that might bear extra weight, such as loading zones. Environment also causes parking lot failure, particularly water infiltration. Sunlight, water infiltration and a freezing/thawing cycle all contribute to parking lot failure.

A planned maintenance program is the best way to ensure that your parking lot reaches its peak life span. This includes regular sweeping (sand works just like sandpaper on wood), crack sealing, filling potholes and seal coating. There should be an urgency in sealing cracks and filling potholes. The longer they are unrepaired, the more extensive damage as water infiltrates. Winter repair may be temporary, but it should be done quickly. If necessary, a more permanent repair of cutting and replacing should be done in the spring.

Pavement will age regardless of how it was installed. Within three to four years a parking lot begins to "ravel", which means the surface is getting rougher. This is the time to seal-coat, and we recommend seal-coating no less than once every four years. This is the time to fill any cracks, which are disastrous to the long term life because they allow water intrusion into the pavement, as well as any potholes. And obviously, re-striping will be necessary after a complete seal-coating.

There is no magic available to indefinitely extend the life of a parking lot. But with a planned maintenance program, you can extract the maximum life, probably avoiding a costly total lot replacement by at least 10 years. This is truly one of those cases in life where spending a relatively small amount of money upfront will substantially reduce your overall cost.

David G. Hunt, MCR, CCIM, SIOR is the president of Hunt Corporate Services, Inc. and Hunt Construction Services, Inc. He has thirty-nine years experience in commercial real estate on Long Island, New York. Do you have a question regarding commercial real estate? Email your question to Commercial Real Estate Q & A, at email@huntcorp.com for possible inclusion in a future column.

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Protecting and Prolonging the Life of Pavement

The surprisingly reasonable installation cost of asphalt pavement as opposed to concrete puts property owners in a position to spread out maintenance cost over a twenty or thirty year time frame.

Over time most roadways and driveways need asphalt maintenance to keep them in usable condition. The biggest enemies to pavement are water and the sun. Cracks in driveways can allow water to enter the road base layer and begin to wash away the compacted base that provides the foundation for the driving surface. If asphalt pavement is neglected too long, the water damage eventually leads to pot holes and large areas of road failure. Keeping the water out of the base is the primary function of Sealcoating and pavement maintenance.

Sealcoating is the process in which a new protective and durable layer of slurry sealcoat material is sprayed or squeegee on top of existing pavement. Slurry Sealcoat has aggregate embedded into the asphalt mix to provide a new wearing surface for the driveway or parking lot. This process serves the purpose of sealing small cracks and adding a barrier coat to protect the pavement surface from the elements that destroy pavement. Paving contractors need to have the specialized equipment and materials necessary to perform this service correctly.

If pavement maintenance is put on the back burner for too long, the condition of the roadway can get to a point where it seems beyond repair. It is vital for asphalt maintenance to recur on a regular basis to ensure the overall reliability of a street, parking lot, or drive way. Some cities and counties around the country keep an asphalt paving company on retainer for seal coating and other routine maintenance activities. Professional pavement maintenance contractors are the best option for corporate driveways and shopping center parking lots, etc. Check for these few items when choosing a contractor. Choose a contractor that has a good reputation and has also been in the business for many years. Choose a paving contractor that has exclusive rights to materials in your area, these asphalt contractors have worked hard to earn their authorized material contractor status.

Regular pavement maintenance is a necessary evil for any privately owned paved road or street made from asphalt. Keeping in contact with a local asphalt paving company and scheduling regular Sealcoating applications to your shopping center can be the best way to protect a large investment property and it ensure the asphalt driveway can best service patrons and attract new businesses.

The author of this article has expertise in Sealcoating. The articles on Pavement Maintenance reveals the author's knowledge on the same. The author has written many articles on Sealcoating as well.

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Sealcoating Extends The Life Of Asphalt

Sealcoating provides versatility, rapid usability, and aesthetic value, while correcting minor deficiencies in the pavement surface and preventing further deterioration. Sealcoating has the ability to increase the life of your pavement and save money by preventing minor problems from turning into major ones. It is also more eco-friendly and less expensive than many other systems.

Many existing deficiencies with aged pavements such as cracking, raveling, loss of profile and/or loss of traction due to flushing or polishing of aggregates, can be corrected with a proper application of a sealcoat.

Sealcoat is applied to asphalt to seal the pavement surface and protect it from the degradation caused by sunlight, oxidation, and water, and to act as a shield against drippings such as oil and gasoline. Sealcoat also beautifies the pavement by providing a smooth, black, even surface ideal for painting lines and sweeping. On older pavements, seal coating can replace fine particles lost from the asphalt surface while sealing small cracks before they become larger, protecting the supporting base material from water intrusion.

Sealcoats typically last between 3-5 years.

Vaca Vet Striping Specializes in Parking Lot Striping!

We specialize in striping for shopping centers, business complexes, apartments, and private roadways. Whether you have a small job of just two parking stalls or a multi-acre parking facility, V.V.S. will provide professional and timely work.  Give us a call!

Handicapped Parking Compliance

Vaca Vet Striping can help you have the handicapped parking areas to be properly marked and in compliance. Give us a call for a free estimate at 707-592-8331

Crack Sealing and Pavement Repair

Pavement cracks need to be filled and/or sealed to prevent water from entering sub-grade layers. Special rubberized materials are applied to the cracks, which seals the pavement and helps to prolong its life.

Application of pavement crack treatments consist of three basic steps:

• cleaning the cracks
• cutting the reservoir if needed
• installing the material

Sealing treatments are used for pavements that primarly have working cracks greater than 1/8 inch. Sealing treatments consist of creating a widened reservoir to provide proper geometry and placement of flexible material that can accommodate the expected movements. Call Vaca Vet Striping at 707-592-8331 for an estimate.

Asphalt Seal Coating is Important

Asphalt seal coating is important because although asphalt has great waterproofing and adhesive properties, it also has some rather serious flaws that relate to its chemical makeup which provides easy access to weather, salts, and chemicals that destroy the asphalt molecules. As these molecules are destroyed, asphalt will lose much of its original properties, such as waterproofing and binding. The first visual sign of this is a change in color from black to brown to gray. As asphalt is a byproduct of petroleum distillation processes, it is easily dissolved by the many other products that are also derived from petroleum. This is because these individual items come from the same source, and therefore have a natural affinity for each other and will try to rejoin when put together again. Therefore, oil and gasoline both work to easily dissolve asphalt, which contains many very similar chemicals.

This problem is normally only seen in off-street, low traffic pavements such as driveways or minor streets; places where the oil and gasoline have a chance to sit and soak in. Asphalt seal coating can resist these other substances and keep these chemicals from interacting, therefore extending the life of the asphalt and preventing the need for excessive, expensive repairs and patching. If your asphalt does need to be repaired, however, be sure to do it quickly as no seal coating can protect the asphalt from water and other elements once the surface itself is cracked. Although once a crack appears, they do tend to come back, it's still worth it to patch and fill them as it's much cheaper to do this than to re-lay an entire driveway or parking lot.

Contrary to popular belief, however, your asphalt does not need to be re-coated yearly. Re-coating too often can actually cause problems, such as peeling at around the ten year mark. You should also be very, very careful with who you choose to lay your asphalt seal coating. As consumers in generally are not very educated about the process, many unscrupulous types are taking advantage of them. Common practices include diluting the sealant to the point of being completely ineffective. Be sure that whoever you hire is local, in your phone book, and happy to show you his insurance certificates. If they're from out of state, it's probably safer to just turn them away. After all, who are you going to call if something goes wrong?

We are a full service commercial Parking Lot maintenance company located in Daytona Beach, FL. We are centrally located on the east coast of Florida allowing us to provide seal coating services, crack sealing services, line striping, parking lot marking, ADA compliant parking lot products such as wheel stops, detectable warning mats, speed bumps, warning signs & rubber curbs to Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Deland, Deltona, Palm Coast, Ormond Beach - Volusia County - Flagler County For more info about Parking Lot Marking or pavement crack sealing services & parking lot repair, please call 386-868-2704 or visit Parkin Markin http://www.AsphaltSealCoatingPro.com

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