Your commercial parking lot provides a first impression to customers and vendors and it should be exceptionally maintained. In addition to appearance, the condition of your parking lot lends to the safety of your customers and visitors and is a big liability if you don't keep up its condition. Here are some recommendations to help you take care of your commercial parking lot.

Keep It Cleaned and Swept

Just like any other pavement area on your personal property, your commercial parking lot is going to be subject to debris and dirt collection over its surface. Over time, your parking lot will collect leaves, dirt, twigs, trash, and vehicle fluids that can cause damage to the pavement. So it is important that you keep it clean with regular sweeping and power washing.

You can hire a street sweeper to come through your parking lot to clean off the surface debris and remove surface stains. This is a great way to remove the dirt and debris that can cover up cracks and make them difficult to inspect. Another great option is to pressure wash your parking area with pressurized water spray to remove buildup within cracks so you can complete repairs. A surface cleaning treatment is a great way for you to clean off oil, grease, gasoline, and other types of vehicle fluid stains that can permanently damage your asphalt parking lot.

Check Drainage

It is also a good practice to check your parking lot's drainage, especially after a storm when there may be standing water in certain areas of the lot. Walk through the parking area and check storm drains for any debris that may clog them during heavy rainfall. Storm drains that are clogged will allow water to pool out over the parking lot and seep down into the pavement, resulting in erosion to the base layers.

Also, look for sunken spots in your pavement's surface, which indicate the foundation layers have settled, are collapsed, or are eroding away due to an underlying problem. It may be that your pavement was installed with an improperly installed base layer. Sunken spots should be repaired in a proper manner so the foundation material can be replaced and compacted to provide a solid base that won't promote sinking.

Complete Repairs

When you find repairs necessary to your asphalt parking lot, it is important to take care of them as soon as possible. This not only keeps your lot in good physical condition for a visual improvement, but it protects it against deterioration and failure. And this type of damage will cost you more in the end as you have to replace the entire surface rather than patching and filling damage. To learn more, contact a commercial parking lot maintenance service.