Commercial Parking Lot Asphalt Maintenance Services

Here at Love’s Enterprises LLC we have the ability to handle all of your large parking lot asphalt maintenance needs.  With the capability to seal coat up to 200,000 square feet per day, we can complete all of your large parking lot needs in a timely manner. We also provide asphalt pothole repair and can spot treat areas with the infrared asphalt patching process. If you are looking to keep the water from seeping through the cracks of your parking lot and creating costly repair projects, we also offer hot rubberized crack fill repair. Crack sealing can significantly protect your parking lot from the harsh Colorado weather, lengthening your parking lot’s life and saving thousands of dollars. We complete your freshly seal coated pavement with restriping your commercial lot back to it’s existing layout. If changes or a new layout is required we can make that happen. Restriping your asphalt can be an inexpensive way to add some curb appeal and a fresh look to your commercial parking lot. In summary, we offer the following asphalt maintenance services: asphalt seal coating, crack filling, infrared patching, and striping. If you are located in Denver or any of the surrounding areas, give us a call today for a free bid on your asphalt maintenance needs.

Asphalt Rejuvenators for Seal Coating Treatment

There are a number of methods being used for asphalt driveway and parking lot preservation.  These include asphalt pavement rejuvenators, asphalt emulsions, and slurry seals.  Many homeowners, property managers, and agencies have turned to asphalt seal coating rejuvenators over other options to make the most of their budgets.  This is a great alternative to help restore brittle aging asphalt. Seal coating rejuvenators provide the restoration of oils and binders that penetrate into the top layer of asphalt.  Asphalt pavement rejuvenators have a proven track record of restoring old asphalt and extending the life of aging pavement many years, prolonging the need for serious rehabilitation and replacement.  This results in thousands of dollars of savings by avoiding asphalt replacement costs.

Denver Asphalt Maintenance Experts

If you have a parking lot or driveway in need of asphalt maintenance in Denver or the surrounding areas contact Love’s Enterprises LLC today to receive a free detailed estimate. 303-816-9090

Asphalt Seal Coating Rejuvenators

One of the first asphalt seal coating rejuvenators available which is still used today is Reclamite.  Reclamite is a lube oil base derivative that provides the asphalt the necessary maltenes to help keep the binder healthy.  The major drawback to Reclamite is that in most cases it is necessary to sand the product heavily to prevent tracking.

Another of the first products to come available was Gilsonite.  Gilsonite was a blend of Gilsonite ore and select asphalts blended together with a fast drying petroleum cutter stock.  Gilsonite has proven to provide the binder with the maltenes necessary to enhance their binding ability and as an added bonus Gilsonite contains a high carbon content that provides excellent UV protection from the sun. Gilsonite dries dry and requires no sanding.

Another product that was developed approximately 20 years ago is the DISSCO RS-90.  DISSCO RS-90 is a product made to meet today’s demands for a penetrating sealer and binder for existing asphalt pavement.  RS-90 was engineered to penetrate the pavement surface and rejuvenate the surface by replacing the oils and binders (maltines and polar compounds) that the sun and weather bake out of the pavement through time.  These maltines and polar compounds are necessary to keep your asphalt pavement in good repair by binding the surface together.  RS-90 keeps the pavement flexible thus preventing the surface from deteriorating and becoming brittle.  Keeping eh pavement flexible helps prevent the pavement from cracking thereby keeping water from entering and softening the base course which can result in pavement breakup and costly repairs.

RS-90 can be used on old asphalt, new asphalt, shoulders, curbs, chuckhole patches, and also as tack coat.  It may also be used to black out pavement markings, any asphalt markings, and in any asphalt maintenance program requiring superior sealing and binding characteristics at low cost.

RS-90 is a liquefied bitumen consisting of selct grade asphalt binders and plasticizers blended with a fast drying petroleum cutter stock.  RS-90 contains antioxidants, adhesives, and chemicals not present in highly refined crude oil base asphalts.  Properly applied, RS-90 seals out water to protect the base; eliminates water stripping; seals in resins and oils necessary for pavement flexibility; adds antioxidants; binders; and a tough, durable surface to modern, highly refined asphalts.  RS-90 formulations are designed to replace and preserve the chemicals beneficial to pavement life.  AS an integral part of the pavement mat, RS-90 adds many years of serviceable life to asphaltic concretes.

DISSCO RS-90 along with other rejuvenators are generally very cost effective and easy to apply.  Application of RS-90 asphalt seal coat can be achieved using almost any positive pressure spray applicator utilizing a hand wand or using any standard asphalt distributor truck with computer controlled rate controls.

Asphalt Seal Coatings

Now some people will tell you that rejuvenation is snake oil and is a waste of money and that a good seal coating is the way to go. Now let’s take a serious look at some of the seal coating systems available for pavement maintenance.  Seal coating systems are designed to seal off the surface of the asphalt mat filling in the voids of the pavement so as to provide a tough wearing surface that will prevent any water from penetrating the mat.  By keeping the surface sealed, a seal coating is keeping the damaging ultra violet of the sun and the elements of the weather off the pavement, while also keeping sealed into the asphalt mat the necessary oils that are required to keep the asphalt mat flexible and healthy.  The drawback to a seal coating system is that once it begins to wear off the surface it no longer provides any protection from the elements in the areas where it has worn off the surface of the asphalt pavement.

Most seal coating systems are mineral filled and rarely have more than 20% bitumen content which is normally only enough bitumen to bind the mineral to the pavement and cover the pavement surface.  This low bitumen content in conjunction with the absence of any light oils or maltines prevents a seal coating from providing any rejuvenation to the asphalt pavement.

One of the most popular seal coating systems across the country is Coal Tar Pitch Emulsified Seal Coating.  Coal Tar Pitch is generally emulsified with water and mixed with a mineral aggregate and/or sand to give the product body and wear-ability.  The major benefits of coal tar is that the product is fuel resistant and generally will provide superior abrasion resistance therefore it will wear and look cosmetically appealing for a longer period of time.  How ever, Coal Tar Seal Coating does normally begin to wear within a year of application and once it begins to wear off the surface it provides no protection to the asphalt mat in the areas where it has worn off.

Coal tar pitch is a by-product of the coking process of coal used in steel mills.  Like petroleum crude it is refined through a distillation process to produce products like xylene, benzene, creosote, and several other types of products, but like asphalt it is the black sheep of the coal tar pitch industry.  Unlike asphalt, coal tar pitch is in no way chemically or otherwise compatible with any type of petroleum product including asphalt.  Due to this reason coal tar pitch cannot provide any rejuvenation at all to an asphalt pavement.  In order to get coal tar to properly adherer to asphalt pavement generally a polymer additive needs to be added by the applicator prior to application to prevent the sealer from delaminating from the pavement surface.  So, the question is why put a product that is not compatible with a petroleum product on a petroleum product such as an asphalt mat.  The answer is a coal tar is generally more cost effective.

Coal tar also has other drawbacks.  Coal tar contains benzene along with several other listed cancer causing compounds.  In addition, the main issue with coal tar is the fact that the vapor of the product is carcinogenic and can cause serious health problems with continues use.  Some of the early signs are burning of the skin similar to what happens when one lets gasoline dry on the skin.  It has been documented by the National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in report No. NIOSH-78-107 that states: “Vapors can cause serious lung problems resulting in cancer.”  This hazard will remain present as long as the product gives off a vapor that one can smell.

Due to obvious health and environmental concerns the use of coal tar pitch has been restricted is some states such as the state of New Jersey and the state of New York.  It has been banned in the state of California and the city of Austin, Texas just to name a few.

An alternative to coal tar pitch is asphalt based emulsified seal coat.  Asphalt based emulsified seal coatings are similar to coal tar in the fact that most are mineral filled and are applied and perform in the same fashion; however, asphalt is used as the binder.  Asphalt based emulsified seal coatings do not have the  health hazards associated with coal tar.  However, asphalt based seal coatings tend not to wear quite as well as coal tar and if fuel resistance is desired a vinyl latex must be added to the product which results in increased cost per gallon.

-Todd M.

Call Love’s Enterprises LLC today for Denver asphalt maintenance services – 303-816-9090

Asphalt Maintenance Through Rejuvenation – Denver Colorado

Proper asphalt maintenance is essential if maximum pavement life is to be expected.

The concept of rejuvenation is to introduce into a healthy asphalt pavement a property that is not already present to enhance and prolong the life of the asphalt binder therefore extending the life of the asphalt pavement.

Rejuvenators are designed to penetrate deep into the top surface of asphalt pavement introducing into the asphalt the binder, the required maltenes, and polar compounds necessary to keep the fines and the small aggregate on the surface of the pavement bonded together so as to prevent raveling of the top of the asphalt pavement. Rejuvenation keeps the asphalt binder healthy and results in longer pavement life by keeping the fines in place and not allowing the course aggregate to become exposed.

With today’s high yield refining processes such as the hydro-treater and the catalytic cracker, the quality of available asphalt’s are not what they use to be.  The problem is that these efficient refining processes are taking too many of the light ends or maltenes out of the asphalt, which are necessary for proper binder performance.  It is getting increasingly more difficult to acquire good quality asphalt base stocks to produce quality asphalt pavements.

Asphalt is basically the black sheep of the petroleum industry.  It is a low yield byproduct from the manufacture of high end products such as styrene, polymer’s, gasoline, fuels and lube stocks, which are high end, high profit products.  Therefore it is natural to assume that a refiner would develop more efficient process’s to produce more of the high profit products per barrel of crude oil.  One would figure this is “good business.”  However, this “good business” practice has resulted in lowering the quality of today’s asphalt base stocks.  This is why proper pavement maintenance through rejuvenation is essential in today’s asphalt paving industry.

Pavement Rejuvenation is not a new concept.  It has been around for about forty years.  There has been several products introduced into the industry over the years and several have gone the way of the Dodo.

Asphalt pavement is like the human body.  It is easier to keep it in good shape, rather then to let it go to heck and then try to rebuild it.

The proper way to begin pavement maintenance through rejuvenation is to start with a healthy asphalt pavement and keep it that way.  it is generally recommended to apply a rejuvenator sometime between 3 to 6 months after the new asphalt pavement has been laid.  This introduces into the new asphalt mat the additional binders necessary to keep the fines in place thus protecting the base aggregate in the mat and helps keep the mat flexible.  Then after about three to four years apply another application of the rejuvenator to reintroduce the compounds necessary to help maintain the life of the pavement.  Continue to reapply a rejuvenator about every four years through the life of the pavement.

Utilizing this method, it has been proven that with proper pavement maintenance through rejuvenation in conjunction with a properly designed crack sealing program it is possible to extend the life of primary and secondary roads up to three to five years.

In parking lot and driveway applications asphalt life has been extended up to ten years or more in some cases.

Todd M-

If you have a parking lot or driveway in or around Denver in need of asphalt maintenance Contact Love’s Enterprises LLC today for a free estimate.