Asphalt repair
Fix the cause, or buy the same hole twice
A pothole is almost never a surface problem. It is the surface reporting a problem underneath it.
Illustrative image
Why pavement fails
The hole is the symptom, not the fault
A parking lot is a thin asphalt surface over a compacted base, and the base carries the load. The surface spreads weight across it and keeps water off it. Those two jobs are the whole design.
When water gets below the surface, through a crack or an open joint or a low spot that holds it, the base softens and stops supporting what is above. The asphalt then flexes under traffic where it used to be rigid, and material that flexes repeatedly breaks apart. What you see as a pothole is the last step in that sequence, not the first.
This is why a repair that only replaces the surface can fail in the same place. If the water route is still open, or the ground under it is still saturated, the new material has the same problem the old material had. The repair worth paying for is the one that deals with why it went.
Scope
What asphalt repair will not do
Being clear about the boundary saves a disappointing conversation after the invoice. None of this is a reason to defer repairs, but it is worth knowing what you are buying.
- It will not match the rest of the lot. New asphalt is darker and the joint stays visible
- It will not fix drainage. Water that has nowhere to go will find the repair too
- It will not substitute for resurfacing once failure stops being localised
- It will not stop the surrounding pavement ageing. The lot around the patch keeps weathering
Central Texas
Heat above, moving ground below
Two local conditions do most of the damage here, and they work on the pavement from opposite directions.
From above, heat and sun make the binder in asphalt brittle, so it cracks under movement it would once have absorbed. From below, much of this region sits on clay soils that swell when wet and shrink when dry, which moves the ground the lot is built on. Brittle surface plus moving base is a reliable way to open a route for water, and water in the base is what actually causes failure.
- Sun and heat embrittle the surface so it cracks rather than flexes
- Clay soils swell and shrink with moisture, moving the base underneath
- Heavy rain after a dry spell finds every route that opened while the ground was shrinking
- Standing water is the clearest warning sign a lot gives you before it fails
How the job runs
What happens on your property
- 01
We walk the lot
We look at the failed areas and at what is likely to have caused them, including drainage. You get the scope in writing, with anything we think is a cause rather than a symptom called out, even where the answer is outside what we do.
- 02
Sections and schedule, agreed first
Repairs are localised, so they stage well. Which areas close, in what order, on which nights, in writing before the first day so you can pass it to tenants without translating it.
- 03
Cut out and replace
Failed material is removed back to sound pavement and the area is prepared before new material goes in. Repairing up to the edge of failure rather than through it is what stops the patch coming apart at its own joint.
- 04
Cure, then reopen
The area stays closed until it is ready for traffic, and how long that takes depends on the material and the conditions that day. Then we walk the finished work with you rather than sending an invoice and disappearing.
The two questions that decide the job
Driving on it, and working around your tenants
The same two questions decide every job on an occupied property, and they matter more than anything else on this page.
On drive-on time, we will not publish a figure. It moves with the material and with the conditions on the day, and a number that holds on one job is wrong on the next. What we will do is give you the window for your lot and the conditions we are working in, in writing, before the first day.
On scheduling, repairs are the easiest of these services to work around tenants, because they are localised by definition. The areas being repaired close in sequence, crews work nights and weekends, and the rest of the lot keeps operating.
- Drive-on window given for your lot and your conditions, in writing, before the first day
- Localised by nature, so the rest of the lot stays open throughout
- Nights and weekends so the closed area is closed at the quietest time
- A call if the weather moves the schedule, rather than a crew that does not turn up
Questions
What property managers ask about asphalt repair
Will a repair stop the same spot failing again?
Only if the repair addresses why it failed. A pothole is usually the surface giving way over a base that has softened, and replacing the surface without dealing with the water reaching that base gives you the same hole again. When we walk your lot we will tell you what we think caused it, including when the honest answer is that the cause is drainage rather than pavement.
Will the repair match the rest of the lot?
No, and anyone promising otherwise is overselling. New asphalt is darker than weathered asphalt and the joint line stays visible. It evens out as the new material weathers, but it does not disappear. If uniform appearance matters on that property, sealcoating after the repairs is what does that, not the repair itself.
How long before we can drive on it?
It depends on the material and the conditions that day, so we will not publish a figure. What we will do is tell you the window for your lot and the conditions we are actually working in, in writing, before the first day, and stage the work so the section that is curing is not the section your tenants need.
At what point is repair no longer the right answer?
When the failed areas stop being patches and start being most of the lot. Repair is the right answer while the failure is localised. Past a certain point you are repeating a job in place of the resurfacing the lot actually needs, and we would rather tell you that than keep selling patches. We will say so plainly on the walk.
Do you have to close the whole lot?
No. Repairs are localised by definition, so they stage well. The affected sections close in sequence and crews work nights and weekends, which on most commercial properties means a route change for tenants rather than a closure.
Should repairs happen before sealcoating and striping?
Yes. Repair, then crack seal, then sealcoat, then restripe. Work done out of that order gets undone by the next step, and it is the most common way a property ends up paying twice for the same square metres.
There is standing water in one corner after it rains. Is that a repair job?
It is a drainage problem showing up as a pavement problem, and repairing the surface without changing where the water goes will buy you time rather than fix it. We will tell you what we see, including when the real answer involves grading or drainage that sits outside what we do. That is more useful to you than a patch that fails in the same place.
Can you do repairs at the same time as other work?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible way to run it. Repairs, crack sealing, sealcoat and restriping are one sequence rather than four visits, and doing them on one mobilisation avoids paying to bring a crew back. Tell us what you are planning and we will put the order in the written scope.
Request a quote
Send us the lot and we will come walk it
Tell us the property and roughly how many spaces it has. We will walk it, tell you what we think caused the failures, and send back a written scope with the work in the order it should happen.
Rather talk it through? (512) 289-8415