Looking to take better care of your asphalt pavement this autumn?
As leaves begin to fall and the days get shorter, you know that you’re one step closer to Ontario’s frigid winter season. Whenever seasons change, it’s important that you prepare your asphalt paving for new conditions.
You can achieve this with some simple cleaning, maintenance, and the occasional repairs. Follow these steps to properly equip your pavement for autumn weather!
Remove Leaves from Your Pavement
We all love the pretty colours of autumn, but unfortunately, fallen leaves can be destructive to your pavement and hazardous to pedestrians. For one, wet leaves can cause your customers to slip and fall when walking across your surface—opening your business up to a potential lawsuit.
Leaves can also work their way into existing cracks in your asphalt paving, causing further damage. They can even block your storm drains if you’re not careful, resulting in pooling. At least a few times during the autumn season, sweep all of the leaves from your surface. While you might need a few hands to make this a manageable job, it’s a maintenance task that is well worth the time spent!
Power Wash Your Asphalt Pavement
If you haven’t cleaned your pavement in a while, chances are that there will be stubborn stains and marks that need to be removed. These may come from motor oil, mould, dirt, debris, or other agents.
Fortunately, you can eliminate most of these blemishes with a pressure washer. Instantly restore your curb appeal by washing your surface!
Inspect Your Surface for Standing Water
With more rainfall and snowy weather just around the corner, you will need to make sure that your pavement isn’t prone to pooling. Standing water is not only hazardous to customers and vehicles—especially when it turns into ice—but it can also damage your asphalt.
When temperatures drop, standing water will enter the cracks in your pavement, freeze, thaw, and put additional pressure on your pavement.
Assess the Pavement for Maintenance and Repairs
After sweeping your surface, you should inspect the asphalt to determine if there is any damage that needs to be repaired. If there are cracks, potholes, or other issues with your pavement, it’s best to call up your local paving company as soon as possible to schedule repairs.
There are two reasons for this. First, weather changes can exacerbate many different pavement issues. Second, the longer you wait to make asphalt repairs, the worse the damage tends to become—regardless of the season.
Determine If You Need Fresh Pavement Markings
Pavement markings are especially susceptible to fading during the summer months, as the sun beats down on your asphalt. Therefore, autumn is the perfect time to evaluate your striping and other markings.
After sweeping, take a good look at your surface and identify areas where your blacktop’s once-white lines have started to fade. Be sure to schedule new markings with your local asphalt paving company!
Do you need help with asphalt repairs and maintenance this autumn? Contact Empire Paving today for the number one commercial asphalt paving services in Ontario!
We were very pleased with the professional job done by Empire Paving this fall.
Luciano and his team were very reliable, knowledgeable and able to handle all issues that arose during completion of this project. We would highly
recommend Empire Paving for any paving job!