Commercial paving contractors have been locked in an epic and never ending battle with a single element for decades. That one element is obviously water which is bolstered by heat and cold along with its own, rather unique properties. Commercial paving contractors have science and logic on their side.

You may see a puddle form on blacktop and think nothing of it, but there is a reason why it should, at the very least, concern you. If there is a puddle forming, there is something going on that you don’t want happening. In most cases, the asphalt is simply sagging where the ground beneath it has compressed. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but to a commercial paving contractor, it can mean that there could be a costly asphalt repair in the future. Believe it or not, water sitting on the surface of blacktop for repeated and extended time periods will actually weaken the asphalt. Before long, cracks will appear and that water will get under the asphalt, a place you really don’t want it to be. A single winter could completely destroy the asphalt that surrounds that spot.

Obviously, it is advisable to get a professional commercial paving contractor involved early to avoid a more costly asphalt repair. If you deal with a puddle early enough, it’s probably just a matter of laying a layer of blacktop down to fill in the low spot and feathering it out on the edges to avoid high spots. This option though can still be defeated if the ground beneath continues to compress for any reason. In isolated situations, it may be required to excavate the area, fix the ground beneath, and then re-pour. The downside of this is you may have a large and clearly obvious patch of new blacktop on an aging lot. Your commercial paving contractor could fix that easily enough with a fresh seal coat that would serve as another layer of protection from future water incursions, ie rain.