Ask any commercial building owner and they’ll tell you that the costs of maintenance are probably close to burying them.
It costs a lot to maintain the interior or exterior of any building, but between roofing and asphalt resurfacing, it could impact more than just your pocket. If you don’t prepare in advance, it could be a huge inconvenience for everyone.
Here are five of the major pitfalls of resurfacing and how you can avoid them.
1. Failing To Account For Geography
Every location has its own particularities when it comes to how the ground above it shifts and erodes. While there have been some great leaps and bounds in architectural engineering and our understanding of structural integrity, spaces change unexpectedly.
If the surface that you’re dealing with is located near a construction site or near a waterway, there could be a significant change. Areas with seismic activity, whether manmade or natural, are going to have serious asphalt issues all of the time.
Make sure that the conditions of the soil underneath your asphalt are going to be stable for a while. If you can’t change the issue, you can still account for problems by adding more material or reshaping your asphalt to stay away from those regions. While it’s a pain in the neck to have to reshape your whole project or even your whole commercial parking area, it’s worth avoiding repeated trouble you can’t fix.
2. Losing Parking Revenue
If you’re going to repave your entire parking area and you rely on that for revenue, you need to make sure that you keep it open as long as possible.
If you don’t have an alternative space, make a plan before you resurface your area. Even if it’s just a lot for workers at your commercial building to park, it’s could impact revenue that your tenants make.
Work with a nearby commercial building to exchange parking needs. Eventually, every lot needs to be resurfaced so make an agreement, in writing or verbal, that you’ll allow their employees to park in your lot and vice versa. This can save everyone a lot of hassle and keep things going smoothly if the two locations are close enough together.
If you’re running a lot where you’ll be selling parking access for special events, choose your timing carefully. Coordinate with the company who is doing the resurfacing to fit in when there’s an offseason or there’s a dip in attendance.
For a lot that’s meant for a business, you could work with your tenants on a solution. Consider helping to fund the system or software they need to allow their staff to work from home. Hire a shuttle to come twice daily from a commuter rail to the building and back so that people can get to and from work easily.
3. Choose the Right Asphalt
The asphalt that you choose is going to determine how often you need to clean it and how you maintain it. Porous versus non-porous asphalt have their own needs when it comes to how you clean and whether or not you use certain cleaners.
If you use a pressure washer to clean up your asphalt, you could damage it, causing you to resurface it sooner than planned. If you use the wrong kind of detergent, you might also cause the asphalt to break down and deteriorate. While most outdoor paving can handle pressure cleaning an pressure washing make sure that your asphalt isn’t going to be ruined by it.
Using the wrong technique on asphalt or glassphalt could be destructive. You need extra care to protect it, but insufficient cleaning can also be destructive.
Make sure you’re choosing a resurfacing material that you can keep up with. Whatever you choose, debris, waste, and contaminants must be managed to protect the surface.
4. Choose the Right Contractor
When you’re going to have your asphalt resurfaced, make sure you do your research on the contractor who you hire. There are lots of great contractors out there but also some who are a little bit subpar. Look for reviews online to find out what other people have said about that contractor in the past.
Find one who has the equipment and has a specialty on the kind of surface that you’re dealing with. There are a lot of fly-by-night contractors out there who want to get your business but will take forever and then do a less-than-stellar job.
Look out for any contractor who is going to cut corners on you. If they’re doing a resurfacing, they should have a plan in order for you to follow and use high-quality materials on the final surface.
Also, your contractor what they’ll do to improve the old base before they resurface. The contractor you hire should have at least a 1-ton roller to finish the surface and smooth it out at the end.
5. Choosing To Patch or Repave
While some people choose to patch and patch their lot when they see a pothole or an issue, patching can’t solve underlying issues. After a while, patches wear down unevenly and can even damage vehicles that drive over the lot. If you’re going to resurface, don’t bother trying to patch everything up as that’ll be a waste of money.
The issues underlying your constant patching or need to resurface must be dealt with as comprehensively as possible before you resurface. A professional company can take the time to help you understand problems with your lot so you make the right decision on treatment and materials.
Asphalt Resurfacing is Costly but Vital
When you’re choosing an asphalt resurfacing partner, you need someone who you can trust. It’s important that they put your business’s interests in front of their own when it comes to scheduling, materials, and methodology.
If you want to know what to look for in a parking lot resurfacer, check out our guide.
