Eventually routine maintenance on your driveway or parking lot will need to be supplemented with repair work. Repairing necessary areas ensures that damage will not continue to spread throughout the existing driveway, parking lot, or road. Pot holes, alligator cracking, standing areas of water, and depressions in asphalt are signs that seal coating and crack filling are no longer sufficient. Once these take place, structural problems to the sub base have occurred.

Environmental freezing and thawing cycles, oxidization due to the sun, snow plows, and general wear and tear can damage the first layer of asphalt pavement. This damage often is referred to as alligator cracking and the damage is confined to only the first layer of asphalt pavement. The base course of the asphalt and the sub base of gravel are still unaffected at this point in the life cycle of asphalt.

A frequent repair necessary in any climate that experiences cold weather like Michigan does is the patching of potholes. Potholes are a result of water seeping into pavement through cracks that are not sealed or not properly sealed. The water freezes and expands when the weather gets cold causing the cracks to enlarge.

Sommerset Paving is an expert installer of fabric membranes which is installed prior to asphalt overlaying. Fabric membranes slow reflection cracking and reduce secondary pavement cracking. Membranes improve pavement fatigue and protect sub-grades from water intrusion.

Using recycled asphalt pavement, sometimes called reclaimed asphalt pavement, or RAP, is an affordable and environmentally favorable option for asphalt paving a driveway or parking lot. Asphalt is 100 percent reusable and is one of the most recycled products in the United States, according to the National Asphalt Pavement Association.