After Sealcoating
Caring For Your Freshly Sealed Asphalt Parking Lot After Sealcoating
Once your new asphalt parking lot has been sealed, there are several things you should know Here are some tips which will help keep your parking lot looking freshly sealed and in great shape.
1) Tire Tracking
Tire tracking may be visible on the freshly sealed asphalt but will not harm the sealer. Time and oxidization will slowly fade tire tracking. If it’s excessive and happens very soon after being sealed, these areas can be touched up.
2) Power Steering Scuffs
Power steering scuffs are caused by turning the steering wheel while a vehicle is sitting in place. Over time, power steering scuffs will disappear but you still may be able to see them slightly.
3) Construction Equipment
If your parking lot has been paved recently and you plan on doing any type of construction on the property which requires any heavy construction equipment or heavy concrete mixer trucks, they should avoid driving on your new asphalt. If it’s absolutely necessary, then the best time for them to drive on the asphalt is early in the morning hours when it’s at it’s coolest or in the evenings after the sun starts to go down. But even then, these heavy vehicles may still damage the new asphalt parking lot.
4) Campers, Boats and Trailers – Parking Them On The Asphalt
If you store any campers, boats or trailers on the new asphalt parking lot, it’s a good idea to place some plywood underneath each tire in order to spread the weight more evenly to keep small divots or low spots from forming in the asphalt. These divots or swayles are irreparable without causing even more problems surrounding them. The way these are formed is by any combination of several things: like the wind blowing, climbing in and out of the boat, climbing in and out of the trailer or camper… this vibrating or moving the vehicle back and forth, wiggles the asphalt back and forth under the tires and eventually causes that low spot or a swayle in the asphalt. To remedy this, place some (3/4”) plywood underneath each tire. Generally, we like to see about 2 feet on each side of the tires and of course, a couple of feet in length past the front of the back tires. This will distribute the weight more evenly over a larger area and eliminate that potential problem.
5) Oil Spots
Oil spots are not a major problem as long as they’re cleaned up soon after oil has leaked or spilled onto the asphalt. Oil can stain the asphalt and cause it to get somewhat gummy over time. Oil will attract dust and dirt and become unsightly. If it’s not cleaned, over a very long period of time the asphalt may become soft in those areas. When the new asphalt parking lot is sealed, the seal coat contractor should prime them to help to cover them up, which is not a permanent fix.
6) Fuel Spills
When it comes to fuel spills, regular unleaded gasoline will not damage the asphalt immediately. It would take some time to sit on there to actually cause any severe damage, so you’ll want to try and clean them up as quickly as possible. On the other hand, diesel fuel on asphalt is a completely different story. As a matter of fact you’ll notice that the company that installs asphalt, they may sometimes use diesel fuel to clean some of the moving parts on their paving equipment and hand tools. Diesel fuel is the best solvent for asphalt. So you definitely do not want to spill any diesel fuel on your asphalt parking lot at all as it will destroy the asphalt very quickly. Diesel fuel will completely dissolve the binders in asphalt and eventually it will turn into a hole. You can literally take a screwdriver and just scrape it all out.
7) Low Spots/Bird Baths
Once the parking lot installation is complete, you may notice some small bird baths here and there after it rains or snows. Now they may or may not be a problem depending on how deep they are. To determine if a low spot is a potential problem, fill the low spot with water and then drop a quarter into it. If the water doesn’t completely cover the quarter, then it’s nothing to worry about. Now if it’s a 1/4″ deep or more, then that could potentially be a problem in the future. In this case, call your installation contractor. Most of the time these bird baths are not much to worry about.
8) Ice Melting Products
Ice melting products are very handy in the wintertime in the colder climates. Salt or any other commercial products which melt ice will not hurt asphalt, so they may be used liberally. They can stain the asphalt, however, which will lead to having the parking lot cleaned or sealcoated more frequently.
9) Snow Removal
Snow plow blades and tires with chains can cause deep gashes in the asphalt which may not be noticeable until the snow melts off or in the spring. In some cases these areas can be sealed over on the next scheduled sealcoating job or repaired with an infrared machine.
10) Moving Vans
On more than one occasion we’ve seen moving vans completely destroy parts of an asphalt parking lot. Avoid allowing moving vans on your parking lot if at all possible.
11) Trash Collection Trucks
Trash trucks are extremely heavy and can destroy even 6” thick parking lots. If at all possible, don’t allow them on your asphalt parking lot. This is when concrete dumpster pads are very useful.
In Closing
A lot of times we find the unethical, “fly by night” rip off contractors won’t even call you back if you have problems with your new asphalt parking lot. The bottom line is they don’t care about you or their reputation. We find a lot of contractors will promise people over and over to come back and fix problems, but then never show up. They put property owners off until the warranty has run out. Don’t let this happen to you. Avoid asphalt maintenance scams and see our report on, “The Most Common Ways Asphalt Maintenance Contractors Rip Us Off and How To Avoid Them”.
Or make it easy and request an asphalt installation estimate from one of our Trusted Asphalt Maintenance Contractors!