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Asphalt provides a strong and durable driveway surface for homeowners, making it a popular choice for residential and commercial driveways. Even so, wear and tear can occur from repeatedly driving over it. Cracks, potholes, and low spots can develop in your driveway over time. Fortunately, asphalt driveway repair and maintenance is relatively easy.
Stanley Paving offers a wide range of residential and commercial paving services, including topcoat painting in Forked River, NJ. We’ve listed five steps you can take to fix a low spot in an asphalt driveway.
Step 1: Choose a Warm and Sunny Day
Choose a warm, sunny day to fix a low spot in an asphalt driveway. Check the weather forecast to avoid planning this project for a rainy day, as clear and sunny weather ensures you get the best results from your work.
Attempting to repair on a hot day won’t allow the asphalt to set correctly. By contrast, cold weather may freeze the materials. Therefore, plan to fix your low spot on a day with temperatures between 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit with clear skies.
Step 2: Remove Loose Material
The next step to fix a low spot in an asphalt driveway is to remove any loose material from the low area by hand or with a small shovel. Use a leaf blower to clear away small pebbles and sticks thoroughly.
If the base of the low spot is crumbling or cracking, use a hammer and cold chisel to chip the asphalt out. Removing loose material from the low area is essential to patching it up cleanly.
Step 3: Clean the Low Spot
Sweep the low spot with a broom to remove any dirt or small debris from the surface. If dirt remains visible, use a hose to wash the area and sweep dirty water out of the depression.
Use an asphalt cleaner to clean the low spot for an oil or grease stain, then let the area dry. It’s vital to clean the spot before attempting to patch it, as you don’t want any material to get embedded in the repair when you fix a low spot in an asphalt driveway.
Step 4: Add Cold Asphalt Patch
Add a one-inch layer of cold asphalt patch to the bottom of the low spot. Choose a cold-mix patching material that includes added binding agents to promote adhesion to the existing asphalt.
A hand tamper tool is helpful for tamping down the cold-mix asphalt patching compound tightly to the base of the low spot. Next, add one inch of cold patches and tamp down each layer until you build the patch up to one inch above the surface of the existing asphalt.
Step 5: Flatten the Patch With Your Car
Lay plastic over the patch, followed by a sheet of plywood over the plastic. Drive the front wheel of your car over the patch to compact the cold-mix asphalt.
If the asphalt patch compacts lower than the rest of your asphalt driveway, add more patching material. Then, repeat the other steps by recovering the area with the plywood and plastic and using your car’s wheel to flatten it again.
Repeat until you’ve completed the asphalt repair to match the rest of your driveway. Now you know the steps to fix a low spot in an asphalt driveway with success.
Stanley Paving Delivers the Best Service
Stanley Paving delivers the best service no matter where your property is or what kind of property you own. We provide paving repair and service on blacktop driveways, private roads, and parking lots, in addition to asphalt milling in NJ. Contact us today for a free estimate!