Asphalt roads are a common sight when we move from place to place. The asphalt concrete, also known as blacktop or tarmac, is a composite material of mineral aggregates bound with asphalt that’s laid in layers and compacted. We can find these asphalt surfaces almost everywhere: roads, driveways, parking lots, airports, and highways.
It’s no wonder that many companies specialize in working with asphalt pavements, considering how widespread the material is. If you need an asphalt paving company to repair or install your driveway in the area of New Jersey, we can help you. Among the asphalt driveway services that we offer, the most requested ones are:
Asphalt Driveway Installation
We can construct and design your asphalt driveway to upscale your property. It gives your property a better appearance with the added benefit of providing comfortable access to your car’s parking spot. The driveway also increases the value of your home in case you’re thinking of selling it shortly.
It also is one of the most economically accessible materials for driveways, second only to gravel. If you’re interested in getting a red asphalt driveway, we can use a chip-seal with an aggregate during installation or a tinting seal coat to give the road that color finish.
We can use recycled asphalt millings, also known as crushed asphalt, to build your driveway. Asphalt millings are an even more economical and environmentally-friendly material choice. The recycled asphalt milling has good bonding qualities due to the tar that’s still present in it, allowing it to pack together and harden over time. These properties make it more resistant to extreme weather and diminish the dust and mud that kicks up when you compare it to the cheaper gravel, making clean-up less frequent.
Asphalt Repair
There are plenty of ways to repair the potholes and cracks that may appear on your driveway, mainly depending on the damage extension. It should be fixed as soon as possible, as the standing water that collects in them can worsen it and spread the damage. You may repair potholes yourself using a cold patch asphalt product and cracks with an asphalt crack filler, and, should you require it, we can help you fix both typical and severe problems that may surface on your driveway. It’s also possible to use crushed asphalt as a temporal asphalt patch for potholes until you need to whip up a more lasting solution.
Asphalt Resurfacing
When the top layer of your driveway has too many cracks and potholes to patch, resurfacing it is a good alternative as long as it meets some conditions. It can delay replacing the driveway for another 12 years on average. When we resurface, we remove the top layer of asphalt and lay a fresh one over the exposed foundation, assuming that it’s structurally sound, with less than 30% of it needing repairs. Otherwise, the foundation itself needs replacing.
When the original asphalt coat is too damaged, the resurface job doesn’t last too long, and continually repairing it adds up the costs in the long run. Replacing the driveway guarantees a job that lasts over 20 years, so when your driveway is nearing the end of its life expectancy, a new installation is the cheaper option.
Asphalt Sealcoating
Applying a protective coating to asphalt driveways is a necessary maintenance process to mitigate the damage from water, U.V. rays, and chemicals. It extends the useful life of asphalt pavements while offering other benefits, such as giving the asphalt a crispy black finish and providing a slip-resistant surface. Although an asphalt sealer tends to give the roadway a lustrous black appearance, other colors are available at an expensive price point.
Constantly seal coating your asphalt driveway can save you significant expenses down the line. The process itself isn’t complex, requiring a two-coat application and a waiting time of one day or two before becoming usable again. It’s essential to apply the coating on days when rain isn’t coming and when temperatures don’t drop below 55°F to ensure it properly sets. If you have doubts about the process or don’t know the specific sealer to use, you can leave it all to us to help you decide or even do the sealing for you.
Asphalt Paving Types
Now that you know the most requested services, you may be interested in what kinds of asphalt types are commonly used to perform these paving jobs. The difference between the types mainly stems from how the asphalt and the aggregate are mixed. There are a couple of different formulations, but some see more use than others. Here are some of the different types of asphalt paving materials available for use.
Hot Mix Asphalt Concrete
It’s the most common asphalt concrete mixture found on high-traffic driveways, such as highways, airfields, and racetracks. The hot mix asphalt is a combination of heated asphalt binder and dried aggregate, which reduces the binder’s viscosity and the aggregates moisture. Both the asphalt and the aggregates need mixing at temperatures between 300°F and 350°F, and the paving and compaction process need sufficiently high temperatures to keep the asphalt hot enough to finish the procedure.
Many countries restrict hox-mix asphalt concrete paving installations to summer months as, during winter, the asphalt may cool before contractors can pack it to the required density.
Warm Mix Asphalt Concrete
This mixture is a derivative of the hot mix asphalt concrete. The warm mix asphalt concrete asphalt is made by adding some aggregates to the asphalt binder before mixing. Some of these aggregates are zeolites, asphalt emulsions, and even water, and they considerably lower the mixing and laying temperatures required. This results in a decrease in fossil fuel consumption, resulting in less carbon dioxide, vapor, and aerosol releases.
It’s for these reasons that the warm-mix asphalt is seeing increased use as time passes. Working conditions improve, and lower laying temperature means the product is more readily available to use in construction projects with time constraints. These additives allow for paving during cold weather, easier compaction, and longer hauls.
Cold Mix Asphalt Concrete
The cold mix asphalt concrete is the result of a mixture of asphalt emulsion and aggregate. When the asphalt is in an emulsified state, it’s considerably less dense, and the combination is easier to work with and compact. The emulsion can break after enough water evaporates from it, making the cold-mix start taking the hot mix asphalt common properties. For that reason, the typical use of the cold mix is as patching material or as material for less frequented service roads.
Stone-matrix Asphalt
Also called stone mastic asphalt, it provides a durable surfacing material that’s adequate for roads that see heavy use. It has permanent deformation resistance due to its interlocking coarse aggregate content that forms a stone skeleton. This material’s improved durability and flexibility result from the high bitumen context, thicker films, and lower air gaps.
Porous Asphalt
Its produced with the same methods as the regular hot mix asphalt concrete, differing in that the end mixture omits some small aggregates. The result is large and single-sized particle aggregates that leave open gaps, making the material porous and permeable. Porous asphalt pavements usually have reservoirs below the surface to collect the penetrating water and let it evaporate or slowly seep into the soil.
Asphalt Vs. Concrete
Asphalt and concrete are composite materials that make excellent driveways. Determining which one is the right for you can be tricky when you don’t know the differences between them. The materials differ in some ways and are similar in another because of their adhesive materials. Asphalt contains a petroleum base, while concrete uses a cement base.
The choice between asphalt and concrete is ultimately one that depends on personal preferences and a little bit on the weather. Here is a case-by-case comparison of asphalt and concrete driveways to let you know the advantages and disadvantages of both types:
Cost
Asphalt driveways have a lower upfront cost than concrete, usually requiring about half the price per square foot when you compare it to concrete. The cost starts around at $3.00 per sqft and occasionally fluctuates slightly, while concrete driveways price begins around $6.00, and with custom designs, it can go over $10.00.
Repair and Maintenance
Asphalt deteriorates faster than concrete, so it requires more repairs. Although this is the case, asphalt repairs are considerably more straightforward than concrete, considering that asphalt crack filling material can seamlessly blend into the original work. Repairing concrete is both more complicated and more expensive than fixing asphalt.
Asphalt requires constant maintenance and sealing to maintain it in good conditions. Six months after installation, you should apply a seal coat to your driveway, and afterward, it needs resealing every three to five years. The asphalt driveway maintenance is easy in itself and doesn’t demand professional help, but failing to seal your asphalt correctly can result in localized damage.
Concrete doesn’t need to be sealed or resealed, although doing so would improve the driveway’s look over the years. The only necessity is an occasional sweep to remove vehicle fluid accumulations.
Aesthetics and Design
Asphalt driveways usually stand out more because of their black finish than concrete, but their lack of customization options lowers their aesthetic appeal. The asphalt texture is considerably smooth compared to the concrete driveway rough surface. Lately, manufacturers have developed some coloring methods that use asphalt sealers to tint the driveway.
Concrete has a dull gray design, but you can decide on stamp, tint, stain, or etch designs that significantly improve your driveway’s look at the cost of an increase in the installation price.
Durability
Asphalt lasts an average of 15 to 20 years, and with maintenance, it can last over 30 years. On the other hand, concrete can easily last more than three decades without bothering too much maintenance. When you’re taking proper care of it, a concrete driveway can even last up to 50 years. Concrete can deal with heavier equipment than asphalt because it isn’t flexible, while asphalt might be deformed because it’s softer.
Weather
When exposed to high temperatures, asphalt softens, making it stick to your shoes and car tires and extremely hot to touch. Concrete can suffer a lot in winter, as when cracks fill with water, they cause the concrete to expand when they freeze, resulting in possibly dangerous gaps in your driveway for your car and the people who walk through it.
Asphalt Paving near Me
With the asphalt driveway paving crash course over, you should know the essentials of asphalt driveways and whether you’d be interested in installing one. If you are, don’t look for other asphalt companies, as we can perfectly handle any driveway service you may require. We use modern equipment and incorporate the best asphalt pavement techniques, and our workers are dedicated professionals that wish to give you the best possible result.
From asphalt driveway repairs and installations to the recurring asphalt sealing maintenance process, we can help you with any of these as long as you’re in the New Jersey area.
