A parking lot with white and black lines.

How to Determine When to Repave a Parking Lot

Your parking lot speaks volumes about your business. So if your parking lot is bumpy with faded striping and full of potholes, you can only guess what this says about your business to current and potential customers. But your parking lot is much more than a reflection of your business – it’s also the surface that your clients and customers will be driving through, parking on, and walking across, and that means that the safety of those people depends on how well your parking lot is maintained.

Fortunately, asphalt is an extremely strong and durable surface. But at some point, after the surface has been there for a period of time and been exposed to a certain amount of wear and tear, it’s possible that it will need to be repaved. Here are some indications that your parking lot may need to be repaved in the near future:

  • The parking lot floods and/or collects water in some areas. This can be an indication that the sublayer of your pavement has been damaged, causing areas to cave in, crack and/or buckle. In these instances, repaving is often the only option.
  • Your parking lot is faded and cracked. When asphalt is cracked and faded, it’s often an indication that the integrity of the surface has been compromised. This typically means that the asphalt has not been regularly maintained and will have to be repaved.
  • Your parking lot surface is uneven. This is especially obvious in areas where the parking lot surface integrates with another paved surface, such as a walkway or an adjacent road. If you notice that your parking lot is uneven, it may be a sign that it needs to be repaved.
  • The pavement is buckling. This is typically the case when the paved surface undergoes heavy vehicle traffic. But it may also happen if you don’t have an adequate gravel base underneath the pavement. In either case, if your parking lot is buckling, it usually means repaving.

While these are good indications that your parking lot may need to be repaved, the only way to know for sure is to contact a reputable paving contractor to visit your site and assess the damage.

Even if your parking lot does need to be repaved, we have good news: your contractor can provide you with information about how to better care for your paved surface in the future. Asphalt is incredibly strong, and when it’s properly cared for, it will last for many, many years.