Tips For Winter Preparation To Protect Your Asphalt Pavement

Asphalt pavement is an attractive and durable surface that can provide service and value to your home and property. However, it is important that you care for the pavement through all the seasons and weather conditions to ensure it lasts and remains as durable as possible. Winter is a rough time for your asphalt, making it an important time to maintain its protection. Here are some recommendations to help you keep your asphalt protected during winter weather.

Sealcoat Before Winter

Sealcoating is a great surface protection product that seals your driveway's surface with a waterproof barrier that also restores its appearance and its flexibility. However, sealcoating is a treatment that can only be applied when the temperatures can stay consistently without freezing temperatures so that it can cure to the pavement properly. For this reason, it is recommended that if you need to apply a sealcoat you should do so before winter arrives. 

Depending on the climate and temperatures in your area, you may be able to apply a sealcoat in the late fall. Talk to your sealcoat professional about scheduling this or wait until spring to have a proper sealcoat treatment. If you apply sealcoating in the winter when the pavement is cold, the sealcoating layer will not cure properly and it will end up lifting off the pavement within a few months.

What you can do during the summer as you clean and care for your asphalt pavement is to consider applying the sealcoat if the surface is beginning to grey and dry out. Also, if there are cracks forming into the asphalt, you should have them filled and request a sealcoating to finish the maintained surface. 

Repair Cracks and Crumbling

To prepare your asphalt pavement for winter, take some measures to repair damage and apply patches to the surface. This will protect the surface of your asphalt from the cold, moisture, ice, and snow that your pavement will become exposed to in the upcoming winter months. The reason for applying patches before winter sets in is because moisture will get into the cracks and crevices on the surface of your asphalt, where it will freeze and expand, further widening the damage on your pavement.

Complete summer and fall asphalt repairs as you take regular inspections of your pavement. Remove any crumbling asphalt and chunks that have become loosened from the area of damage and clean out the cracks of dirt and any vegetation growth. Then, you can apply an asphalt patching compound or liquid asphalt emulsion into the crack to seal it and prevent further moisture intrusion.

Contact a driveway sealcoating service for more information.