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Six kinds of work on a metro Atlanta lot
Choosing among them is really a question of which layer of the pavement has stopped doing its job.
A parking lot is built in layers. The asphalt you see is the wearing surface, a few inches of it, there to shed water and take tire contact. Below it, compacted stone spreads each wheel load across a wider area, and below that sits the native ground, which around Atlanta is usually weathered Piedmont clay that softens badly whenever it stays wet.
Each page below starts from the same question: which of those layers is failing, and what put it under stress. In this climate the usual culprits are rainwater getting through the surface and into the base, summer heat softening asphalt where heavy vehicles stop and turn, and years of strong sun drying the binder until the surface turns brittle. The right work depends on which of those you are looking at.
New parking lots and full rebuilds on Piedmont red clay
A new parking lot in metro Atlanta is mostly decided in places nobody will see once it opens. The black surface is the last few inches of a structure that starts in the red clay, and the quality of that clay, the stone laid over it and the path the rainwater takes afterward will set the life of the lot far more than the brand of asphalt or the neatness of the striping.
Triage for an occupied parking lot, from walk to plan
Most parking lot repair in metro Atlanta is decided by whoever complained last. A lot that is walked on purpose, with each defect sorted by what it threatens, can be repaired in a sensible order while people keep parking on it, and the budget stops being spent on the loudest problem instead of the most important one.
Reading pavement failure in a hot, wet climate
Every failure on a parking lot leaves evidence of what caused it. Across metro Atlanta the causes come down to a short list: summer heat working on a loaded surface, rainwater reaching the red clay underneath, sun aging the binder, and tree roots or open edges taking support away. Read the pattern correctly and the right repair method follows from it.
Sealcoating and crack sealing where the sun does the damage
A fresh black sealcoat makes any parking lot look renewed, which is exactly why it gets bought for the wrong reasons. Under Atlanta sun, a coating does real and useful work on the top of the pavement. It does nothing for what lies below, and it only earns its keep when cracks are sealed first and the weather cooperates.
Milling and resurfacing: taking pavement off before putting it back
A worn parking lot can be resurfaced three ways, and the cheapest-looking one often causes problems that show up years later at the curb line, the building entrance and the storm inlets. Milling is the step that decides whether a new surface fits the site it sits on or slowly buries it.
Parking lot striping: plan the layout before repainting the lines
Pavement markings are the cheapest part of a parking lot and the part people read every time they drive in. Striping done well tells drivers where to go, where to park and where not to stop. Done by tracing old lines, it can repeat a layout that stopped working years ago.
If you manage the property rather than own it, read the pages with next year's budget in mind: what has to happen now to stop a small defect from turning into a structural one, and what can wait a season without the delay costing more than the work.
Talk through your site
Start with the address, roughly how many square feet, and photographs of the worst areas and anywhere water sits after a storm.