It doesn’t matter how good your vehicle’s suspension is – no one wants to be stuck in a rut. These long, linear depressions in pavement occur when any of the asphalt’s layers or the subgrade become deformed. Certain factors make rutting more likely, such as a lack of compaction during installation, weak mixtures, and pavement that’s too thin, to begin with. Ongoing use will also accelerate rutting once it starts. Fortunately, like other asphalt issues, ruts in your driveway or parking lot can be addressed with the right type of asphalt pavement repair. With that in mind, let’s go over how to properly fix ruts in your commercial driveway.
How to Properly Fix Ruts in Your Commercial Driveway
Get Rid of Any Debris
The first step to getting rid of ruts is clearing away any debris that winds up in them. Because a rut is sloped inward, plenty of stuff can get stuck in there as time goes on, including water, leaves, twigs, litter, and much more. Attempting to repair a rut before taking this step will yield poor, uneven results.
Assess the Damage
Once the rut is nice and clean, you’ll be able to get a closer look at its depth, width, and length. The more severe the rut, the more intensive and time-consuming your pavement repair project will be. Ruts that are under ⅓ of an inch deep don’t necessarily need fixing right away, though they’ll likely get deeper without careful maintenance and occasional minor repairs.
Get to the Root of the Rut
Before you start fixing your ruts, it’s important to understand what caused them in the first place. As mentioned earlier, ruts are usually formed by improper installation, poor mixing, compaction problems, or some combinations of the three. Still, an unknown underlying issue might be partially or primarily responsible for rut formation on your commercial driveway, such as poor drainage. Whatever the case, determining these root causes will allow you to prevent future rutting from occurring. For the most accurate idea of what’s going on, hire asphalt professionals to inspect your pavement before making repairs.
Fill or Patch Minor Ruts
We already established that small ruts don’t need too much attention right away. These minor ruts are usually accompanied by multiple cracks. If your commercial driveway rut matches this description, your main focus should be to fill any and all cracks. This won’t bring the slight depression back up to level with the rest of your driveway, but it will fortify and smooth out the rut, so it’s barely noticeable.
Level and Resurface the Pavement
Deeper ruts do need to be brought back up; however, asphalt paving alone won’t do the trick. In most cases, you’ll want to either grind down the entire driveway until it’s level and then repave from there or apply tack coat to the rut, spread and compact the leveling layers, and then place and compact the overlay. This latter resurfacing process is less costly and, usually, all that’s required to fix asphalt rutting.
For more on Asphalt Overlay/Resurfacing: https://www.cassidypaving.com/services/overlay-resurfacing
Stuck in a Rut?
Ruts are fairly common on roadways and crop up on driveways, too, but they can become serious hazards for vehicle operators and pedestrians alike. If your New England business requires high-quality driveway ruts repair, look no further than Cassidy Paving. We provide comprehensive asphalt installation, repair, and maintenance services for businesses across the region.
Call us today at 866-978-9788 for a free estimate on your next asphalt project!