Winter weather can wreak havoc on asphalt; poor snow-clearing habits can do the same. Let’s look at 5 snow-clearing mistakes, their consequences, and how to avoid those mistakes!
Take Time To Assess Your Pavement Each Season
The mistake: Not assessing your pavement before winter strikes.
The result: Potholes, cracks, and even structural problems in the spring.
The solution: Take time to assess your asphalt each season.
Asphalt is impermeable when it’s in good condition; this means that water will roll right off of it. Water resistance is one of the things that make asphalt such an attractive paving material. Unfortunately, when asphalt is in poor condition, water can get underneath the surface to the concrete or gravel substrate, where it can wreak havoc.
Water can also get into small cracks and dents in your asphalt, where it will freeze and expand, causing the cracks and holes to expand along with it. We’ll talk more about that in the next section when we address freeze and thaw damage.
The core point here is that damaged asphalt breeds more damaged asphalt – in other words, minor damage in your asphalt can become much more severe over the course of the winter. Winter is also the worst time to complete asphalt repairs; though repairs are possible in the winter, the cold and snow make them difficult.
That’s why the solution to all of these problems is to conduct a thorough assessment of your asphalt before winter strikes. Should you find any flaws in your asphalt – cracks, holes, drainage problems, and the like – you can call a professional asphalt repair company to patch things up before winter makes them worse.
Prevent Freeze / Thaw Damage
The mistake: Letting snow melt, freeze, thaw, and melt again.
The result: Crack and pothole-ridden asphalt in the spring; angry drivers.
The solution: Clear snow and use de-icers to prevent freeze/thaw damage.
To fully understand the damage that snow and ice can cause to your asphalt, you need to understand one of water’s strangest properties: It expands when it freezes.
Other liquids get smaller when they freeze; water expands by about 9%. You can see this yourself when you put water in an ice cube tray; the water will expand as it freezes, pushing against the sides of the tray.
This exact same process happens with the snow that lands on your asphalt. Some of that snow will melt, and when it does, water will flow along your asphalt – remember, asphalt is impervious to water. Ideally, it would flow off the sides of your asphalt into some type of drainage, but if your asphalt has small cracks and holes, it will flow into those and become trapped.
Once the water becomes trapped in those potholes and cracks, it will freeze again – and just like the tray of ice cubes, the sides of the pothole or crack will expand along with the ice. This expansion means that there’s more room for water, which will flow in and freeze, expanding the cracks and holes further. It’s a vicious cycle.
The solution is simple: Clear snow off your asphalt as quickly as possible. Once that snow is cleared, apply de-icer; this lowers the freezing temperature of water, which stops it from turning into ice and expanding before it has time to evaporate (evaporation happens even in the dead of winter).
Salt The Asphalt, Not Your Greenery
The mistake: Getting a little too generous with the salt.
The result: Dead grass and plants in the spring.
The solution: Only salt your asphalt.
You may have heard the phrase “salting the earth” (not to be confused with salt of the earth). The technique was used in ancient warfare to ensure that no plants would grow on a conquered enemy’s land.
As much as getting rid of snow and ice might feel like a battle against Mother Nature herself, you do not want to salt your own earth – it really does stop plants from growing. When salt concentration is too high in soil, plants will actually push water into the soil, instead of absorbing it through their roots; this kills plant life very quickly.
The concentrations of salt that will end up on your soil as spillover from de-icing with traditional rock salt are probably not enough to stop all plant life from growing; they are, however, enough to replace vital nutrients like potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Plants may still grow, but they’ll be less hardy, and in Calgary’s brutal winters, hardiness is an absolute must.
The solution here is simple: Only salt your asphalt. The best way of ensuring that only your asphalt gets salted is to use specialized asphalt salting machines; just another reason that it makes sense to hire professionals for ice and snow removal.
Don’t Ignore A Pile-Up
The mistake: Letting mountains of snow pile up so high on your property that, from a distance, people think your business is where the Rockies begin.
The result: Damage from freeze-thaw cycles and damage from the weight of the snow.
The solution: Get snow piles off your property.
The bigger your property is, the more snow you have to clear. The question is: Where are you going to put it all? For many business owners, “some unused section of my parking lot” or “on some dead lawn along my property” is the answer – unfortunately, it’s an answer with a lot of problems.
We’ve already talked about the freeze-thaw cycle wreaking havoc, so we won’t belabour the point. Remember, though, that snow can melt even when it’s cold out – especially under a warm, insulating layer of other snow. This means the snow at the bottom of the pile will slowly melt, then freeze; you know the drill.
These problems are compounded by the weight of the snow. Over the course of the season, snow accumulation can lead to literal tons of snow in one pile, exerting extraordinary pressure on the asphalt below. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem – asphalt is designed to withstand tons of pressure, or semis couldn’t drive on it. The problem is that this pressure is constant, and if there are holes or cracks under the pile of snow, that constant pressure might cause more cracks.
The solution to this problem is to get those huge piles of snow off your property. In Calgary, you must keep snow on your property or transport it to a commercial snow dump – and to get access to a commercial snow dump, you need permission from the owners. This is another great reason to hire professionals for snow clearing. The team at Infinity Asphalt has access to a snow dump, so we can get all of that snow off your property!
Hire Professionals
The mistake: Trying to clear your property of snow yourself.
The result: Overspending on snow clearing for subpar results; damaged asphalt, damaged lawns, and more expenses in the long run.
The solution: Hire a professional snow-clearing company.
What is your time worth? How about the time of your employees? Can you afford to lose someone because they tweaked their back trying to shovel all the snow from your massive parking lot?
We’ve been alluding to the benefits of commercial snow clearing services this whole time. There are two points we haven’t touched on: Economies of scale and experience.
The first point is one of the most important: Commercial snow clearing companies can afford state-of-the-art snow removal and de-icing equipment because they’ll use that equipment for several clients each day. For a company that isn’t invested in snow removal as its primary economic driver, those investments don’t make sense. A professional snow removal company can clear snow and ice more efficiently than you can because they have tools you don’t have – it’s as simple as that.
The second point is similar. You’ve cleared snow – you live in Calgary, after all – so you know what you’re doing. Snow removal professionals, on the other hand, clear snow for a living. They can do the work more efficiently, with less risk of damage to your property.
Professional snow removal can help you avoid the need for costly repairs; it can also be less expensive than paying your own employees to clear it themselves. Your time is valuable; don’t spend it clearing snow!
Get A Quote Today
All of the mistakes we’ve listed here can be solved in the same way: Schedule regular snow removal with the professionals at Infinity Asphalt. We’ll remove snow from your property, apply ice melt, and keep everything clear for pedestrian and vehicle traffic. We can even inspect your asphalt before the season begins! From snow removal to repair and installation of asphalt Calgary businesses can trust, we’ve got you covered.
Ready to start? Get a quote from us today!