Fall in New England brings about a number of changes. It’s not just cooler weather that we should prepare for; it’s also rainier than the rest of the year. From an asphalt paving perspective, you could be faced with an increase in issues that seem to happen out of nowhere. While this is common for both commercial paving and even your driveway’s asphalt, it doesn’t have to be the case for your property. Read on to find out why the rainy season is so hard on your pavement and what you can do to avoid costly repairs.
What Rain Does to Asphalt
Rain’s Effect on Asphalt
While asphalt and paving materials are porous, that doesn’t mean they are immune to issues from excess water. Your existing pavement can suffer from deterioration when there’s too much water and no place for it to go. Paving is only porous to a certain extent before rainwater erodes the subbase and shifts the blacktop sealcoating. However, light rainfall is not going to affect your pavement right away. The problem comes when water sits on the surface for an extended time. Standing water occurs when there’s no proper drainage. It could also happen when you have a large number of repairs that need to be done.
Not only can it have a negative effect on existing pavement, but the rainy season is also not ideal for new paving projects. You should avoid installing new pavement if the weather is not dry and warm since best practice needs ground temperatures consistently above 50 degrees even at night. A recent study, The Impact Of Rainfall During Asphalt Paving Operations, found that “it is likely that any adverse impact of rain during paving operations results in a measurable reduction in asphalt layer density and asphalt layer bond strength.” Asphalt installers should only work when conditions are ideal for preventing interruption of bond strength and erosion of density.
How to Avoid Rain Damage
The best thing you can do as an asphalt customer is to work with a professional and certified asphalt paving contractor to make repairs as needed throughout the year. If you leave asphalt potholes and cracks for too long, they invite water inside of your foundation. These problems only get worse when you wait to repair them. Especially during the rainy season, cracks and other types of deterioration will become increasingly worse, and there won’t be much you can do about it until the spring. At Cassidy Paving, we recommend a set maintenance schedule that helps you to avoid asphalt breakdown. No two properties are the same, and the goal is to lessen your liability and costs. Minor repairs and maintenance over time will be much cheaper than a complete repavement project.
Hire a Professional Asphalt Contractor
If you have commercial, residential, or industrial paving needs, now is the time to address them. Don’t wait until late in the year to figure out a repair and maintenance plan. Give us a call today at 866-978-9788 to get a free estimate and personalized information on how to protect your property from heavy rain.