Maintaining Your Asphalt Parking To To Protect It From Weather And Chemical Spills

When you spend a lot of money and time putting in a high-quality asphalt parking area for your business, it is essential to maintain it so it will last. Asphalt seal coating is an excellent way to ensure that water and chemicals can not penetrate the asphalt surface, preserving the asphalt longer.

Preparing Your Asphalt For Sealing

Before any seal coating can go onto the surface of your parking lot, the asphalt must be clean. Sand, dirt, or other materials should be swept off the surface, and oil, gas, or other chemicals need to be removed. 

Most businesses will use a parking lot sweeping service to clean up the lot, and a pressure washing service can wash down sections where gas or oil needs removing. The asphalt seal coating company will most likely require this preparation to be done before they arrive, but discuss it with the service you are using because they may have a sweeper and provide some of the prep for you. 

Sealing Cracks

While some asphalt seal coating contractors will not seal the cracks in the pavement before seal coating, it is an essential step to keep moisture out. Using a hot melt sealant allows the cracks to be filled quickly and will cure fast. Any surface imperfections need addressing, even if they appear small and don't extend through the pavement. 

Applying The Seal Coating

Once the asphalt is ready, the contractor will bring a crew and equipment to the site and begin to close off sections of the lot. The asphalt seal coating is applied as a hot liquid that is spread evenly over the surface of the parking lot. 

Once the seal coating crew completes a section of the parking lot, vehicles will need to stay off it for a few hours. The asphalt seal coating service may do the entire lot on one day if it is small, but larger parking areas are typically spread over several days because it takes some time to apply the sealer and ensure it is the correct thickness for adequate protection. 

The asphalt seal coating will cover any lines you have on the asphalt, so once the material cures, you will need to have a striping company come and paint new lines for you. Sealing the asphalt parking lot will protect it for a couple of years, so it is common for businesses with large parking areas to divide the lot into sections and seal one portion a year. Rotating the work around the lot can help reduce the cost and lessen the potential impact on their yearly maintenance budget.

Contact a local asphalt sealing service to learn more.

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