As a commercial property owner or manager, you have many responsibilities. One critical aspect of the position is ensuring that your parking lots and driveways have the longest possible serviceable life. One often overlooked aspect of long term pavement care is the removal of loose aggregates.

Loose Aggregates Defined

An aggregate is loosely defined as a whole formed by combining several disparate elements. In roads and parking lot construction, aggregate specifically refers to the particles of sand, gravel or crushed stone used in combination with a cementing material such as concrete or asphalt to form a paved surface. As time passes and a paved surface is used, some of these small stones break away and are present on the surface of roads and parking lots. These are loose aggregates.

Why Are Loose Aggregates Undesirable?

There are a number of reasons why these loose aggregates are undesirable. In significant quantities, they can present a slipping hazard for vehicles or pedestrians. In driveways and parking lots they can be picked up and thrown by vehicle tires which can cause chips in painted surfaces. These are legitimate liability concerns.

In addition, the presence of loose aggregates on the surface of your parking lot acts like sandpaper on your paved surface, wearing it away as vehicles pass over. This results in a less attractive paved surface with a much shorter life span. The presence of these aggregates on your paved surfaces damages your line striping and continually creates more loose aggregates. This can quickly result in a vicious cycle of lack of maintenance that wears away your pavement more quickly over time and creates an urgent need for costly repairs and pavement replacement years before a well maintained paved surface would need to be replaced.

The Power Sweeping Solution

Power sweeping removes these loose aggregates before they can accumulate in significant enough amounts to damage to your parking lot and subsequently become a safety hazard. Sweeping is an integral critical part of a larger comprehensive pavement maintenance program that includes filling cracks, regular seal coating, and the touch up and re application of line striping.

A regular sweeping schedule with Atlantic Sweeping & Cleaning ensures these loose aggregates are continually swept away so that your paved surfaces achieve their maximum serviceable life. This insures you get the best possible return on your pavement investment.