Not every parking lot failure comes down to age. In this case, the property owner had paid for a brand new parking lot just one year earlier, and the surface was already breaking down. When we evaluated the site, we found the original install had poor compaction and base problems that were causing the pavement to fail far sooner than it should have. That is what happens when a crew rushes the base work to win the job on price. The owner pays for it again a year later.
Riley’s Asphalt, a Denver asphalt contractor, was brought in to remove the failing pavement and rebuild the lot the right way.
The project involved about 8,600 square feet of asphalt replacement. We started by removing the existing surface and checking the base underneath. We found several soft spots that needed more support, along with a few areas where minor grading would help. Our crew added and compacted road base where needed to build a stronger foundation before paving.
Once the base work was done, we were scheduled to come back the next day to pave. But overnight, rain soaked the site. Rather than pave over wet material, we pushed the project back a week to let the base dry out. Weather delays are never fun, but letting the foundation dry before paving is what gives the asphalt proper compaction and long-term performance. A crew in a hurry would have paved anyway, and that is exactly how you end up back where the owner started.
When conditions were ready, we came back and installed 5 inches of asphalt in two lifts. Paving in multiple lifts lets each layer compact properly, which makes for a denser, stronger pavement. This is a relatively small lot, but it regularly sees truck traffic, so proper compaction matters even more here.
In total, the project took about 220 tons of hot mix asphalt.
The finished lot gives the owner a durable surface built to handle daily traffic and the occasional truck, without the problems that plagued the first install. We rebuilt the failed areas, strengthened the base where it was weak, and laid down 5 inches in two lifts. The lot is now built to deliver the durability and performance the owner expected the first time around.