That crack in your driveway did not appear overnight, but now that it is letting water in, you have to deal with it before our Kirkland winter rains turn a minor nuisance into a gaping pothole. Water gets down into the subbase, freezes, expands, and pretty soon your driveway looks very damaged. Ace Asphalt Paving is going to walk you through how to tackle small patches yourself, and more importantly, when you need to put down the shovel and call someone who does Asphalt Paving every day in Kirkland, WA.
Before You Start: Assessing the Damage
Take a walk down your driveway and look at what you are actually dealing with. If you have hairline cracks, you are looking at crack filling, not patching. But if chunks of asphalt are breaking away or you see alligator cracking—that web-like pattern that looks like a dried-up mud puddle—you need an Asphalt Patch. Here in neighborhoods like Rose Hill or Finn Hill, the wet native soil and shifting slopes put a lot of stress on pavement. If a depressed area is holding a puddle bigger than a dinner plate every time it rains, surface patching will not cut it because the base underneath has failed.
What You Can DIY
If you are dealing with a shallow hole that is less than a couple of inches deep, you can probably handle Asphalt Patching on a Saturday morning with a bag of cold mix from the hardware store. First, clean out all the loose debris, dirt, and moss using a stiff broom and a leaf blower. Cold mix needs a clean surface to grab onto. Pour the material into the hole, leaving it mounded up about an inch higher than the surrounding pavement because it is going to compress. Grab a hand tamper or the flat end of a 4x4 post and pack the material down firmly. Compaction is very important here. If you do not pack it down tight, your car tires will just pull it right back out.
When to Call a Pro
There is a hard limit to what cold mix and a hand tamper can do. If you have deep potholes that reach all the way down to the dirt, tree roots lifting your asphalt from underneath, or a failing edge along your garage apron, stop right there. That requires hot mix asphalt, a proper plate compactor, and sometimes completely digging out and rebuilding the base rock. Ace Asphalt Paving uses commercial equipment that gets much hotter and packs much tighter than anything you can rent or buy at the retail level. If your driveway is over twenty years old and falling apart in multiple spots, patching is just wasting money. For Kirkland homes, Ace Asphalt Paving is here for all your Asphalt Paving needs.
After the Patch: Maintenance Matters
Once you have finished your patch or had a crew come out, give the material time to cure. Cold mix can take 2 to 4 weeks to fully harden up under traffic, so do not go spinning your tires on it right away. Keep an eye on the edges where the new patch meets the old driveway. That seam is always the first place water tries to sneak back in. Sealcoating your driveway every few years keeps the moisture out and prevents those small surface cracks from turning into full-blown patches in the first place. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way toward keeping your Kirkland property looking sharp.