Lone Star Paving for Quality Asphalt Repair in Nashville, TN

Your pavement may be sending you a message – and it is a message you need to heed! If you catch these signals early enough, you can avoid costly asphalt repair in Nashville and move forward with a clean, safe paved area. Whether it is potholes or full depth failures, Lone Star Paving provides quality asphalt repair in Nashville, TN, ensuring a smooth ride. Contact us today!

Here’s more on what to watch for:

Waves in the pavement are called corrugation, shoving or wash boarding. They show up most commonly where cars and trucks are stopping and starting. The appearance of waves indicates that the asphalt surface material is not exactly correct. The material may be defective due to excessive asphalt cement binder, an incorrect match between cement type and climate, and insufficient aggregate. Basically, the rock in the mix is not performing its job properly. A somewhat related and occasional companion to corrugation is flushing.

Flushing is the name given to the dynamic that produces a smooth, shiny surface in the wheel paths. If this is going to happen to your asphalt, it will usually crop up in the first few years. Flushing is a material problem frequently caused by excessive asphalt binder in the mix, similar to corrugation. Flushing is very difficult to correct without removing the defective material and replacing.

Ruts in the wheel paths look like waves in the pavement running in the direction of the traffic. This condition is conveniently referred to as rutting. The presence of rutting tells you the pavement design/installation was insufficient to withstand the actual traffic loads. Rutting is a structural failure. Rutting can pose a serious driving hazard due to its sudden affects on the car’s direction. It will also force water to collect in the low points creating a possibility of hydroplaning.

The presence of water or mud pumping to the surface usually indicates a pothole is on its way. The water and mud are coming from below the paving surface. They are carrying away the structural foundation to the asphalt pavement. Once the structural base has been sufficiently weakened, the pavement surface will collapse and you will be left with a pothole. All three conditions indicate that you have a water problem. Water is penetrating the surface somehow and eroding the structural support of the pavement. Until the conditions which are allowing the water penetration are resolved, the pothole will keep returning.

Numerous small cracks are called alligator cracks and tell you that either: one of the asphalt layers is too thin, the compaction is inadequate, or water penetration has deteriorated the pavement’s structural strength. Excessive bending of the surface creates the cracks. Hardening of the pavement accelerates the cracking.

When your pavement surface wrinkles or tears, it is telling you that the bond between the base and the surface has failed. The two must stay “glued” together to perform properly. The bond may fail for several reasons, but if your parking lot has a weak bond the symptoms will usually show up within the first year of operation. Typically, bond failures result from an installation error, but can be due to a major structural flaw.

Asphalt Solutions – Parking Lot Repair

Cut and Patch

The following techniques applies for the majority of the problems described in this section, including potholes. The only difference for potholes is that instead of cutting the edges, you need them cleaned up vertically to remove all loose material from the edge. If your asphalt’s problems are of sufficient magnitude and appearance is valued, you should consider having a permanent repair done to these areas. Drainage performance will be superior on a new, smooth surface.

When the areas needing repair total less than 25% of the overall asphalt area, spot repair should be your approach. If the entire parking lot suffers from structural under design or significantly poor installation, then you may need to consider replacement of the base and pavement surface. If more than 25% of the pavement area requires repair, you may need to consider replacement of the pavement surface combined with spot repair of the base.

For maximum longevity, the edges of the deteriorated pavement areas should be saw cut to ensure the crack left by the patch minimizes water penetration. Once the patch perimeter has been marked and cut, all loose asphalt material and debris should be removed down to a solid base. All dust should be blown or swept out of the hole. Tack should be applied and the patch material should installed in lifts to ensure proper compaction (slightly convex to avoid ponding). A crack fill material should be applied around the edge of the patch to ensure against moisture intrusion. A roller or compaction plate should be used for compacting the edges first then proceeding with proper compaction techniques to correct density.

Overlay

Once the problem spots have been properly repaired to attain a suitable structural support for your parking lot’s vehicle traffic, a new pavement surface can, and often should be laid over the existing pavement surface. A new pavement overlay will allow the installing contractor to control the water flow over the parking lot thereby minimizing future water related pavement problems. The existing pavement surface should be swept clean and a tack coat applied to bond the new pavement surface to the old pavement surface.

If the old pavement surface contains several cracks, a crack filling project should be completed prior to the installation of the overlay. Without filling the cracks, the existing cracks will quickly be reflected from the old pavement surface into the new pavement surface. Not only would the visual appearance be less than acceptable to you, water would now have quick access to the subsurface again. Crack filling will not prevent all reflective cracking, or other cracking, but it will greatly diminish them and slow down the rate of creation.

Pavement failure is uncommon during the early years of the parking lot unless there is a structural problem. Failure generally occurs later in the life cycle of pavement (10 years plus) and normally when preventive maintenance has not been performed or heavy traffic occurs. A common contributor to pavement failure is improper design for the type of weight and traffic the parking lot area receives.

Pavement failure means that your parking lot cannot be brought back to an acceptable condition through spot repairs and an overlay. A failed parking lot usually requires the removal and replacement of both the base and the pavement surface. Sometimes the base still remains in relatively good shape and just the pavement surface needs to be removed and replaced. The less you have to remove the lower your immediate asphalt repair cost.

One guideline to remember, if the problems are serious and the base is the cause, only removing the pavement surface will not buy you much time. The base’s flaws will recreate the surface symptoms relatively quickly and within a few years you will be back to where you are right now.