Asphalt Repair: What Seasonal Damages Might Your Driveway Endure this Winter? How Can You Prevent Damage to Your Driveway

How Winter Weather Damages an Asphalt Driveway

Our customers enjoy having an attractive asphalt driveway, but winter weather can damage the surfaces unless Ramsey homeowners take action on a yearly basis. When there are mild winters with little snow and ice accumulation, our customers are less likely to notice any changes in a driveway’s condition, but if there is constant heavy snow and thick ice, then customers need to contact us to have a driveway’s asphalt surface protected with a new application of sealants.

Ramsey, NJ Asphalt Care Asphalt Damage One: Cracks Develop on a Driveway’s Asphalt Surface

Frequent changes in temperature in the winter can cause structural changes in asphalt, making it shift and settle. This leads to fine line cracks that allow the moisture from ice, rain and snow to enter, causing the cracks to widen and deepen. In geographic zones with constant fluctuations in temperatures, cracks develop faster, and our customers need to have a driveway replaced more often.

Asphalt Damage Two: Freezing Causes Expansion of the Asphalt

The moisture from rain, ice and snow seeps into the crevices that develop in the asphalt of a driveway, leading to expansion as temperatures drop below freezing. During the day, the moisture may thaw in warmer temperatures and then freeze again at night. This cycle of freezing and thawing destroys an asphalt driveway’s surface quickly.

Asphalt Damage Three: Asphalt Material May Lift from the Driveway’s Surface

The combination of cold temperatures, cracking and expansion can cause an asphalt driveway to crumble, especially along the edges or where people drive their vehicles. The crumbling begins with only small portions lifting from the surfaces, but eventually, the pieces that lift are larger, leading to potholes.

How Our Customers Can Protect a Driveway’s Asphalt in the Winter

Our Ramsey customers may try to keep people from falling on a slippery driveway by using salt pellets or sand, but these substances also cause additional damage to asphalt. Because moisture on asphalt leads to cracks on the driveway’s surface, it is a good idea to remove snow with a plow or shovels as quickly as possible. However, a better way to protect a driveway’s asphalt is by having it professionally seal coated at least once a year.

A durable layer of seal coat is designed to prevent moisture from seeping into the asphalt to avoid cracking, lifting and crumbling of the materials.

Call McFarlane Asphalt at (201) 327-5258 today to find out more about asphalt services for your Ramsey, NJ home.