During the winter, potholes pop up everywhere. These mar the appearance of roads and create risks for cars. If someone drives over a pothole too quickly, their car could even get damaged. As such, it’s important for people to take care of potholes in a timely manner in order to create a safe environment.
But can you fix potholes in the winter? Or is your best bet to put a caution sign in them so that drivers and pedestrians know to avoid them until you can repair them come spring and summer?
The answer to this question is tricky. Here’s what you need to know about if you can fix potholes in the winter.
What Causes Potholes?
Before we get into if you can fix potholes in the winter, it’s helpful to know what causes potholes. Potholes occur when you have depressions in the road due to moisture and impact. The surface can then crack. If you don’t repair these cracks when it’s warm and dry out, they can then grow into potholes.
Why It’s Important To Fix Potholes
First of all, potholes mar the appearance of your business. They tell clients and customers that you don’t really care about maintaining your property. A parking lot with potholes in it can even drive potential customers away, because it looks run-down and neglected.
Most importantly, potholes can cause damage and injury. They can cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles. They can damage tires, dislodge wheel weights, break suspension parts, and more. They also create tripping hazards and can cause injury if there is ice around them and someone were to slip and fall.
If you neglect your responsibility to prevent potholes or to fix them as they occur, you could be held liable for any damage or injury that occurs because of the potholes.
Can You Fix Potholes In The Winter?
So, clearly, it’s crucial that you take care of potholes in a timely manner. However, most companies don’t do any asphalt paving or repair during the winter months. This is due to how cold weather impacts asphalt. As such, can you even fix potholes in the winter? What are your options if there are potholes on your property?
Factors Involved In Winter Pothole Repair
In short, you can indeed fix potholes in the winter, but it’s usually a temporary fix. This is because in order to do asphalt repairs, you need the ground to be dry and above-freezing temperatures. If the ground is wet, this can cause the freeze-thaw process to continue, resulting in further damage. Cold weather makes it take much longer for asphalt to set and harden.
As such, most people fill potholes with loose gravel or do a cold weather patch to temporarily keep it covered until they can get their potholes properly prepared in the warmer months.
However, there are types of asphalt repair products specifically engineered for cold weather use. Cold patches work to prevent the potholes from worsening and help to even out the surface of your asphalt. This creates a safer environment.
However, you will need to ensure that you have your potholes properly taken care of when it’s warm enough to do so. After all, patches are just that – a patch, not a fix. They’re not meant to last forever.
Preventing Potholes In The Winter
Of course, the best way to prevent potholes is to have your asphalt repaired in the summer, before the weather starts cooling down. You’ll want to have cracks, holes, and any other damages taken care of. This will help you avoid potholes in the winter months.
Do You Need To Fix Potholes?
Precision Asphalt Maintenance provides professional asphalt repair services, including pothole repair. We can fix potholes in the winter, as well as almost any other time throughout the year. We are only closed about 15 days out of the year, aside from weekends and holidays.
Contact us today to learn more about our asphalt services or to receive a quote.
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