By admin Construction • • • 0 Comments

5 Types of Spring Road Hazards

Did you know that many people believe that during the spring season is the safest period to venture into the roads, unaware of the concrete problems that await them? Research undertaken by the US department of transport shows that drivers are cautious during winter when its ice snowy as compared to the warmer spring season.

As winter fades away and ushers in longer days and intense sunshine, more drivers in the country will be hitting the concrete roadways with overconfidence attitude because the ice has started to thaw. This assumption is not the case because, with the melting ice, new hazards crop up, creating real problems which end up disastrous.

During this anticipated and exhilarating moment of the spring season, hazards range from wet parking lot pavers, a proliferation of motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and animals emerging from their hibernation to constant rainfall and hailstorms.

If you are a business owner, you should be aware of the following spring road hazards before embarking on a business trip or mission on the roads.

Active animals

Many animals hibernate during winter. When spring season starts, these animals initiate their nature and start migrating, mating, and looking for food. These animals can cross the roads abruptly without signaling, especially at dusk or dawn, when its harder to spot them.resulting to an accident.

Potholes

After the snow and ice vanishes through the thawing process in winter, it leaves dents on concrete roadways.plowa are deployed to tend the road during winter boring out chunks of the way leaving behind enormous potholes. Consequently, during the cold season, potholes are filled with ice and snow; hence their impact on automobiles and drivers is greatly minimized. When spring sprouts, ice, and snow thaws leave deep potholes that damage vehicles, they lead to accidents. Hitting potholes culminates in concrete problems like bent rims, malignment of your car, popping tires, and damaging suspension. Freezing and thawing lead to contracting and disintegration of concrete on pavements and parking lot pavers, leading to more extensive and expensive repairs.

Frequent rainstorms

According to a survey released by the federal highway administration, the rain was responsible for 46%of all weather-related accidents from 2005-2014. Storm proves to be the most treacherous weather-related driving hazard, especially when it mixes oil residue on wet pavement inducing hydroplaning. Heavy rainfall laden with wind can impede visibility and flood out roads quickly, making the paths slippery. These slippery roads reduce your vehicle handling ability leading to concrete problems like swerving, hydroplaning, and reduced tire traction caused by big puddles

Increased Motorcyclists and Bicyclist

During the warmer spring season, many motorcyclists and bicyclists will be hitting the road, this means that there will be increased traffic culminating into increased accidents. Due to the small sizes of motorcycles and bicycles, it becomes difficult to see them at a distance. This invisibility can result in an increased risk of accidents/deaths if the drivers don’t exercise extra caution since there are many distractions within his/her visibility. Drivers are encouraged to share the roads with them cautiously when nearing them to mitigate the chances of accidents.

Floods

The emergence of spring brings warm weather and longer days. However, it supersedes a variety of conditions that could be hazardous. These include heavy rains and rapid snowmelt, which aggravates the risk of flooding. This peril becomes a nightmare for drivers because fast-flowing water exerts pressure to contact areas like concrete pavements, hence reducing your vehicle’s handling ability.
Road trips during lovely spring weather can be the most breathtaking expedition as a driver. However, it’s of paramount importance to remember this can abruptly turn into a catastrophe. Being aware of spring road hazards can help you to navigate safely hence reducing chances of probable accidents.

By admin Asphalt Paving • Construction • • • 0 Comments

What to Ask a Commercial Paving Company

Anyone that owns or manages a commercial property will know how important it is to have a quality parking lot, walkways, and other paved areas. To ensure the job looks great and the paving lasts for a long time, you need to hire a quality commercial paving company. To ensure that you hire the right company for your needs and situations, you should make sure that you have all of your questions answered. There are three questions in particular that you should ask any commercial paving company.

What Projects Have You Completed Lately?

Whenever you are going to hire any commercial asphalt company, it is always helpful to see the work that they have done in the past. One of the advantages of a pavement contractor is that you are often able to check out the work that they have done for yourself. You should ask a commercial paving company for a list of projects that they have worked on over the past few years.

You should take a look at some recent projects as well as those that were completed a few years back. This will allow you to see what the final product looks like as well as whether the paving holds up to the elements. If you see work that looks sloppy or cracked, it could be a red flag. The contractor should also be able to give references that you could contact to see what their overall experience was like.

What is included in the scope of work?

When hiring a commercial paving company, it is very important to fully understand what you will be getting in your contract. If you ask for multiple bids from different contractors, you should have each contractor carefully list out all of the services that they will be provided along the way. This will make it much easier for you to compare services on apples to apple basis.

Today, many contractors offer a range of different services to their customers. The team at Superior Aggregates, Inc can provide many different asphalt and paving services. This can include design, commercial concrete and asphalt installation services, ongoing maintenance, commercial seal coat, and striping services, as well as many other services that may be needed for your project. By comparing bids, you will get a better sense of whether the offer you are receiving provides you with the most value.

Have you done work in this area?

A commercial asphalt company will ideally be experienced working in your city. There are many reasons why this is advantageous. If they are experienced and licensed in your area, it also means that they have gone through the process of getting all zoning and local approval work done. Depending on where you live, this could end up saving a lot of time and frustration. Additionally, when you are speaking with a pavement contractor, you should also confirm that they are fully licensed, insured, and bonded.

Another reason why local experience is important is that it will ensure the contractor is experienced with working terrain similar to yours. If a contractor is new to your area and is not used to the type of land that your property is situated on, it could lead to challenges that the contractor is not expecting. A local and experienced contractor will have already dealt with these challenges successfully.

By admin Asphalt Driveway • • • • • 0 Comments

When to Patch, Resurface, or Repair

Repairing a driveway can be very expensive at times. Even though the driveway is made of concrete or bricks, installing a new driveway makes things very expensive. All you have to decide is whether you need your driveway to be patched, resurfaced, or repaired.

Since repairing a driveway could be very expensive, most of the homeowners fail to replace their driveway and instead choose to patch the cracks and the awful spots on the driveway. This could be cheap at that time, but in the long run, it could turn out to be more than expensive for you. Before you decide what to do in your driveway, you need to consider several factors to ensure you are getting the right option for your driveway repair.

With so many cars moving on your driveway for a long time, your driveway will begin to show signs of damage. The first thing that you will start to realize is having small cracks as well as some divots on the material that is used in making the driveway. If the cracks on your driveways are not that deep, it is good to decide to repair your driveway. All you need is some liquid crack fillers for filling the cracks in the driveway. In case the cracks are more substantial, maybe a width of more than a quarter-inch, it is clear that your driveway is in a mess. If you repair such cracks on your driveway by just filling them using liquid crack fillers, the problem will be solved but temporarily.

Driveway patching

In case your driveway has some holes in it, you need to ensure that you patch the holes using some patching materials. Although you will have your driveway patched, water will still find its way through the patches. With time the water will begin opening the holes on your driveway again. Some homeowners will choose to patch the driveways by themselves rather than hiring concrete contractors to repair. Patching your driveway pushes the replacement of your driveway for quite some time.

Driveway replacement

The look on your driveway could be the main factor that gives your home a complement. If your driveway is in bad shape, then your home will also be in the same shape. Consequently, if you are the type of homeowners who sells houses, you will realize that your buyers will tend to look at whether the driveway has holes and cracks on it. If this is the situation on your driveway, then it would be best to replace it rather than patching it. This type of concrete repair would be best for the driveways whose conditions are deplorable. Although it could be costly, the replacement on your driveway could give your driveway the best look that every homeowner will want.

Driveway resurfacing

At any time you want to hire any concrete contractors to work on the patches that are always on your driveway or redo it, you should think about resurfacing it. When you get the best contractors for concrete repair, they will help you in resurfacing your driveway. Resurfacing your driveway involves removing the topmost layer on the driveway and replacing it with another. The best thing with having your driveway resurfaced is that it becomes brand new. Even if there are cracks and pits on the driveway, when you resurface it, you will not have the same problem for quite some time. When the driveway is resurfaced, all the cracks and the pits will be repaired at the same time. This is the best option if you want to have your driveway looking better at all times.

By admin Asphalt Paving • • • 0 Comments

What Causes Asphalt Pavement to Deteriorate?

Asphalt pavement is the most commonly used material the world over for roads, airport tarmacs, parking lots, and driveways because it is very durable, resilient, cost-effective, and quick and easy to put down. When proper inspection and asphalt maintenance is conducted it can be expected to last for as much as 25 years. However, it’s not indestructible, and there are many factors that can cause pavement damage over time, including exposure to the elements, improper construction techniques, and just normal wear and tear. Here are some of the most common causes of asphalt pavement damage.

Causes Of Asphalt Pavement Deterioration

  • Water and moisture. Water will always seek out the cracks and seams on any surface, breaking down the material that holds the asphalt together and washing out the foundation from underneath, leading to cracks and collapse. This is especially true in areas with heavy rainfall and poor drainage.
  • Heat and sunlight. The UV rays from the sun and the heat they generate will eventually dry out the flexible asphalt material and cause it to lift up and separate from the compacted material of its foundation, again causing cracks and fissures that also allow water in leading to further pavement damage.
  • Petroleum and other chemicals. Asphalt pavements that are used to accommodate motor vehicles such as roads, airport tarmacs, and driveways are constantly exposed to leaks of oil and gasoline as well as the chemicals emitted from combustion. This can cause the asphalt to begin to break down in as little as a few years without proper maintenance. Asphalt companies routinely do repairs on damage from these chemicals.
  • Utility work. When utility companies have to service underground gas, sewer, or power lines they often don’t do a very good job of repairing the asphalt pavement they have to tear up to get at the lines, leading to immediate and accelerated future damage.
  • Tree roots. Especially in dryer regions or those with sandy soil where tree roots have to grow further out in search of water, they can do a lot of damage to any asphalt pavement they encounter by undermining the foundation and causing a collapse of the road or driveway.
  • Heavy traffic. Obviously any asphalt pavement that has hundreds or even thousands of heavy vehicles traveling over it every day is going to need repairs of potholes and fissures more frequently due to normal wear, and asphalt companies are constantly at work maintaining them, as every driver knows.
  • Expansion and contraction. Asphalt pavement that is exposed to extreme cold and hot temperatures will expand and contract as it heats and cools. This causes it to weaken and can lead to upheavals, or blowups, that can happen literally overnight and cause a major hazard to drivers and their vehicles.
  • Poor construction and application. Improper construction techniques are a common cause of asphalt pavement damage. This usually means that the base foundation below the asphalt was improperly compacted or the asphalt was too thinly applied or applied at the wrong temperature.

When asphalt pavement has been installed by a reputable contractor and is properly inspected and maintained it will normally provide many years of service. It’s important when choosing which asphalt companies to use that they have the experience and expertise to do the job right and be available to service their work.

By admin Asphalt Paving • • • • • • 0 Comments

Why is Parking Lot Striping Important?

If you’re like most people, then you spend a lot of time in parking lots. From going to the grocery store to heading to the mall for four hours on a Saturday, we spent a great deal of time in these areas. But while you park, leave your vehicle, then hop back in for the ride home, you probably don’t really think about the different aspects of parking areas and how they work. From the striping to the flow of traffic, there are many aspects that result in a well-functioning and great looking parking area.

In this post, we’ll discuss parking lot striping and talk about five reasons why it’s important.

Safety

Parking lots can be massive with hundreds of spaces crammed into a little area. With so many people walking to and from their vehicles—not to mention the hundreds of cars leaving and coming in at the same time—staying safe can be a tough task. That’s were parking lot striping comes in. This striping helps to label pedestrian areas in order for drivers to know to stay clear of these locations. In addition, striping on parking lot paving can help to improve the flow of traffic. From angled parking spaces to arrows that label the direction of traffic, this striping helps the parking lot function properly to limit accidents and other complications.

Handicap Access

Another reason why striping on parking lot paving is so important is that it gives proper access to handicapped individuals. Some parking lots don’t clearly label these areas, which could lead to others parking in these reserved spaces. In order to provide access for these handicap individuals, parking lot striping makes it easy. This striping can help drivers and pedestrians clearly see these parking spaces to ensure the right individuals park there.

Appearance

Have you ever noticed a parking lot that was just recently completed or one that was just repainted? If so, then you probably noticed how great it looked. That being said, another benefit of parking lot striping relates to the curb appeal. In fact, this can be a deciding factor for a customer to walk into your store or not. In addition, it’s vital to routinely re-paint your parking lot to give off a great impression and welcome customers into your store.

Guides Traffic

One of the more beneficial purposes of striping is to properly direct traffic. Given how some parking lots can fit hundreds of cars, it’s important to have the right traffic guidance in place—including freshly painted striping that clearly marks parking lot spaces, the direction of traffic, walking paths, and more.

Maximizes Parking Area

Another reason striping is vital for parking lots is because it helps to maximize the parking area. If you have faded striping or no striping at all, this can make it confusing for drivers, which could lead to an ineffective flow of traffic and a lot of wasted space. That being said, it’s best to strategize where to place your parking spaces, then ensure that the striping is done appropriately.

Striping Does it All

From helping businesses get customers in the door to providing safety for those customers, parking lot striping is probably more important than you thought. So the next time you head to the grocery store or bank, take a look at the parking lot striping and think about how important it really is.