Preparing Your Pavement for Winter

Dec 13, 2021

Please, Snow Responsibly

The end of 2021 is upon us. Hot chocolate, jingle bells, chain-wrapped tires, and shoveling all arrive simultaneously in a ritual to close out the year, known as winter. Despite its spotty reputation for pushing down the daisies and grounding the animals to their dens for a few months, the season brings with it a crispness and a beauty that is the year’s final gift to each of us.

That gift is given freely, but just like unwrapping a bowling alley for Christmas, we’ve got to make some changes to the house before we can fully accept it.

Enter: Asphalt Materials. We’re not just passionate about landscaping Utah homes, the minutiae of your pavement is what gets us out of bed. We’ve got some tips for you to prepare your hardtops for winter’s snowy gift.

Squeeze in those Repairs

Winter is stereotypically known for two things: calendar holidays and dumping a lot of extra water on our property. Getting the house ready for both takes a bit of planning; the former needs lights, trees, and perhaps a menorah, while the latter needs a sharp eye for spotting problems with your home.

From a pavement perspective, winter can be especially unforgiving as water freezes and thaws repeatedly. Uneven pavement also proves to be an extra hazard for pedestrians if the ground is slippery. Ice melt is important, yes, but having a licensed professional out to see the extent of your pavement damage is wise if you want to stop a bad situation from becoming worse.

Winter repairs usually fall into three categories:

Crack sealing
Pothole repair
Adding sealcoat to your hardtop

Our team not only understands how to best carry out these repairs but we can provide you with all the necessary tools, from cold mix asphalt to liquid concrete crack filler.

Spotting Problems

A year in the life of a rock is no time at all, and yet a year in the life of pavement can be quite eventful. It is constantly being driven and walked over, rained on, and it catches all things that fall to the ground, heavy or soft. A year for well-worn pavement could mean a few extra scars.

Finding these cracks or potholes is relatively easy in the summer but even then the smaller ones (those that get worse in the winter) can be hard to spot. Here are a few tips for figuring out which areas need some work.

Standing Water: Professionally-laid pavement is designed to deal with water, usually by letting it roll into a sluice or drain. Standing water is a good indicator of a pothole because it is catching the moisture and pooling.

Power Clean: Have you ever considered having your pavement professionally cleaned? Not only would it clear debris that could be hiding major problems but it would also keep that same debris from freezing to the ground and causing damage to snowblowers.

Stocking Up

We’ve already mentioned cold mix asphalt. This has different applications from the hot mixture you see being poured by machinery on the freeway. Instead, this is sold primarily to help with repair jobs like what you’re about to attempt. Of course, your winterizing inventory doesn’t stop there. Asphalt Materials has all different types of resources to keep your pavement ice-free and safe this winter.

Generally speaking, you’re going to want to invest in a few solutions that you can lay over your pavement once it has been cleaned and patched:

Ice melt: While all brands of ice melt perform the same essential function, some are rated differently for different types of pavement and for different temperatures. We’d be happy to recommend which one would work best for your property.

Sealcoat: The application of a sealcoat is usually delegated by the property owner to a professional crew but it is an important process for all relatively new asphalt. If your pavement is only a few years old and hasn’t been excessively cracked, a sealcoat could ensure that harsh temperatures, the sun, or other chemicals don’t hurt the integrity of your property.

If you’re interested in winterizing your pavement this year, give us a call today. We can get you squared away completely so that your property looks even better come Spring.

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