Most industrial parking lots buzz with activity during work hours. These large expanses must accommodate countless vehicles, workers, and machinery managing a range of tasks. All of this movement (combined with environmental threats) takes a toll on the asphalt, gradually forming cracks, dips, bumps, and potholes. If not promptly dealt with, these pavement problems can become serious liabilities. Now that winter is finally receding across New England, you can expect to find a fair share of potholes and other problems throughout your industrial parking lot. You shouldn’t wait to make these repairs – at the same time, these projects can interfere with your operations, so having a thorough plan in place is essential for restoring your lot without hurting your bottom line.
Here are some things to plan for your industrial lot before investing in pothole maintenance and repair work.
Things to Plan for Your Industrial Lot Before Asphalt Maintenance
Determine Your Asphalt’s Needs
Pothole maintenance can look quite different from one parking lot to the next. Moreover, if a parking lot needs to fill its potholes, chances are it requires additional maintenance and repair work. The more attention your industrial lot needs, the more costly and time-consuming the entire project will be. The faster you can get it over with, the better. At the same time, you don’t want to miss any important details. Therefore, your first step in the planning stage should be to receive a comprehensive asphalt assessment from a reliable contractor. Doing so will reveal the scope of your project and help you plan each subsequent step.
Strategically Schedule Asphalt Services
Once you have an idea of the services required for proper pavement repair, you can start to develop a project timeline alongside your contractor. If possible, aim to schedule these services for a time when your facility and its parking lot won’t be in use – this might be over the weekend, overnight, during a holiday, or at the time of some other scheduled shutdown. Choosing a quiet time like this will mitigate disruptions and allow asphalt contractors to work more efficiently.
Establish a Safe Route for Traffic
Some industrial facilities are unable to shut down for extended periods of time. While this complicates matters, pothole maintenance can still be accomplished with the right approach. Unlike major asphalt renovations, pothole repairs are localized, meaning small sections of asphalt are worked on at a time. As a result, the majority of your industrial lot should still be usable while your pothole repair company operates. Drivers, machine operators, and pedestrians must have clear visual indicators of where they can and cannot go when navigating the parking lot. Caution tape, traffic cones, and other barriers and forms of signage will keep everyone safe and in their respective lanes.
Allot Ample Time for Drying and Other Measures
Because every pothole maintenance project is unique, the time it takes to complete such a project can vary widely. That said, there’s more to consider than the project’s initial duration. Even after your contractors have fixed every pothole and crack scattering your lot, additional time is often required before these areas are usable once more – this is especially true if your contractors sealcoat these surfaces after repairing them. Account for the fact that you may have to wait an additional 24-48 hours after the sealcoating process to drive or walk over these areas.
Need Help Planning Parking Lot Pothole Maintenance?
A lot of planning goes into any successful industrial paving, repair, and maintenance project. The good news is that you don’t have to do all the preparation on your own. At Cassidy Paving, we work closely with our clients to determine the project’s scope, cost, timeline, safety measures, and more. Call us today at 866-978-9788 to receive a free estimate on your next asphalt project.