Driveway & Residential Road Asphalt Repair In Richmond, VA

When you look outside your home, do you see a driveway constructed out of asphalt? Was it once beautiful, smooth, and shiny, but now it’s cracked, wavy, faded, or holding standing water? Asphalt is the most popular material used on driveways. It’s easy to install, durable, and has a long lifespan if installed properly and well maintained. Luckily, if you’re seeing some driveway wear and tear, you came to the right website. Richard’s Paving does more than install new driveways, we perform maintenance and repair asphalt driveways and other residential roadways. We use the latest equipment and driveway repair practices but what has kept us in business for more than 15 years is our exemplary customer service. You always know your driveway repair and maintenance will be completed with the same care as a new installation. If you need help with your driveway feel free to use our contact page. In further sections on this page, we will go over the problems that can arise with an asphalt driveway, and how we can help you fix those problems.

How To Tell Your Driveway Needs Repair Or Maintenance

1. Standing Water & Depressions: It’s almost ALWAYS a bad sign when you see sunken asphalt where water pools, especially after long periods of rain. If your driveway is new, it means the contractor that laid the asphalt did not account for how long it would take to compress. Or, the driveway was used too early. Either way, if water is able to sit in recesses for long periods of time, it can seep and compromise the integrity of the asphalt.

   

2. Large Potholes: Potholes can be confused with the depressions listed in number one. But potholes are usually the result of the standing water and depressions going unresolved, then chunks of asphalt begin to break off. At this point, you run the risk of damaging your vehicle’s tires due to broken asphalt.
3. Upheaval: Upheaval is when the asphalt starts to bow upward. When water gets under the driveway, into the ground, and freezes, it starts to expand. This underground expansion pushes on your asphalt resulting in little hills.
4. Surface Raveling: When the asphalt particles break down and crumble, they break off from the rest of the driveway. Raveling is easy to spot because the driveway has an uneven and chunky texture.
5. Cracking: There are five types of asphalt cracks you can find on your driveway. Edge cracks, block cracks, crescent cracks, fatigue cracks, and reflective cracks.
   1. Edge Cracking: Cracks that develop at the driveways edges due to heavy traffic loads.
   2. Crescent Cracking: These are crescent shaped cracks that appear on the surface of the driveway. They are usually the result of an asphalt contractor using lower quality bonding materials.
   3. Fatigue Cracking: Also called “alligator cracks”, these make the driveway look scaly. If you have a weak-sub grade plus heavy traffic, then these cracks are likely to form.
   4. Block Cracking: Large rectangular or square cracks. This occurs when contractors cut corners and use old and dried-out asphalt during the installation.
   5. Reflective Cracking: If your old, cracked driveway was resurfaced, these are cracks that mirror the cracked pavement underneath. This means simply paving over cracks and other asphalt problems isn’t necessarily a fix.

An asphalt driveway should last 20 or more years. But, due to weathering, traffic, and age, the asphalt will show wear. That’s why it’s important to catch problems when they happen because it will save you money in the long run. In the next section, we will go over the different types of asphalt repair services we offer. It’s our goal to be sure your driveway lasts its full lifespan and keeps providing your home value for years to come.

The Driveway & Asphalt Repair Services Offered By Richard’s Paving