subject: Commercial Asphalt Paving Tops Over Concrete Paving: How True Is It? [print this page] If you are bird-dogged to pave your parking lot, driveway or road, and unable to decide between asphalt paving and concrete paving, take a time out to go through this write-up and find herein a concrete solution.
Previous to a decade or two, paving parking lots, roads, or driveway was usually done with concrete paving materials. These days, a shift to that usual choice has come with the thundering advent of asphalt paving. To facilitate you understand better, this write-up is intended to discuss and analyze the issue.
Concrete is processed from the crushed rock, cement, water and sand aggregate. With allowing the mixture dry, the cement binds the concrete, thereby helping hold the aggregate together. As it sets, the mixture becomes stiff and unforgiving solid substance. Anyway, concrete still remains as being prone to cracking and breaking if the surface beneath the concrete has not been made seamlessly smooth.
On the other hand, aggregate ingredients are also used to make asphalt. Anyway, in place of using cement as a binder, a sticky and dark substance named bitumen (which is derived from crude oil) is used. Hot asphalt is poured on to the surface layer of heavier aggregate in order to make a parking lot or driveway. For pressing it, steamroller is used. On becoming cool, asphalt turns solid. It becomes so strong that it can withstand automobile traffic with ease. Asphalt being extremely hard and durable offers enough flexibility to accommodate imperfections in underlying surfaces. Honestly speaking, concrete paving does not have this feature. For this reason, commercial asphalt paving is quite popular.
There are several other benefits that you can expect to get from asphalt paving over concrete paving. One of the benefits is that you can remove and replace damaged asphalt part in relatively easier way than the way undertaken for concrete paving while doing these. Again, if you want to recycle, asphalt is much better than the other. For this reason only, asphalt is seldom sent to the landfill.
Amidst lots of benefits, the benefit of constructing concrete asphalt driveway, road or parking lot is that they can be finely finished. Being so, the traffic system can be smooth and faster. In compared to concrete construction projects, asphalt paving can be performed with a lot less expenses. Added to these benefits, repair and maintenance of an asphalt pavement has been quicker, easier and costs less than that of concrete pavement. To be honest, mending minor cracks on asphalt roads or driveways or parking lots is very easy. It is said that any inexpert person can also repair crack issue without having to hire professionals services. Yes, when it is minor. And, you must agree that building a simple and inexpensive concrete asphalt driveway or walkway would increase the longevity of their surface significantly.
If something more than repairing asphalt crack is required, there is easier solution that can be achieved only from asphalt paving and never from concrete paving. Thus doing, you can save both time and money.
