According to the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council, about 95% of the roads in Ontario are paved with asphalt. That works out to be right around 150,000 centreline kilometres of paved roads.
You'll also find asphalt used to create more than just public roads in Ontario. Many homeowners in Ottawa choose to use asphalt during the driveway installation process, too.
Do you have an asphalt driveway? If so, you're going to absolutely love it. You will, however, need to take some important steps to avoid asphalt driveway damage.
Protecting asphalt driveways by preventing driveway cracks and other blemishes will be of the utmost importance. This will include keeping substances that could harm your asphalt driveway off it.
Here are several substances that could cause issues for your driveway and force you to take on asphalt driveway repairs.
Rock Salt
Ottawa gets its fair share of snow every year. It snows on about 52 days out of the year in Ottawa on average. This leads to almost 70 inches of snow on an annual basis.
Because of all this snow, you might be tempted to put down rock salt on your asphalt driveway all the time. It'll help eliminate snow and ice from building up on your asphalt driveway, but it can also cause cracking to occur. This will allow water and snow to get deep down into your driveway, where they can begin to destroy it.
You would be so much better off putting down sand or another rock salt alternative on your driveway as opposed to rock salt. It'll make your driveway less slippery without doing any damage to it.
Oil
If you have a vehicle that's leaking oil to some degree, you shouldn't ever park it on any type of driveway. It'll be especially important to keep it away from an asphalt driveway.
If oil is able to saturate your asphalt driveway, it can start to do damage to it before long. It'll also leave a spot behind in your asphalt driveway that'll be impossible to remove.
Water
Something as simple as water could cause asphalt driveway damage if you aren't careful. It can wash away the gravel and sand base of an asphalt driveway and eventually cause the driveway to crack.
It's obviously not going to be possible to prevent water from sitting on the surface of your driveway at all times, but you should take steps to prevent it from pooling on parts of your driveway if you can. You should also see to it that your asphalt driveway is installed properly from the start so that it isn't susceptible to water damage.
Call Us If You Experience Asphalt Driveway Damage
Is your asphalt driveway starting to show signs of wear and tear? Or have you noticed asphalt driveway damage caused by one of the substances listed here?
Alvi Paving Ltd is the asphalt paving company you can count on for all your residential asphalt paving needs. From driveway installations to asphalt driveway maintenance, we can help you do it all.
Reach out to Alvi Paving today to take advantage of our services in Ottawa.
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