Asphalt is an affordable way to redo your driveway or to add pavement to it overall. Much like many pavement surfaces, however, asphalt can be susceptible to water damage which can leave your brand-new asphalt driveway covered in cracks after a long winter. To help protect your newly poured asphalt driveway from some extreme damage, there are a few things that you can do. 

Avoid Too Much Salt or Ice

When you live in a part of the country that gets nailed with a lot of snow or ice, then you know just how scary it can be to walk on your driveway. By pouring some rock salt or ice melt directly onto the ice on your driveway, you can help the ice melt quickly so that you don't get hurt. Although this may seem like magic, the tricky thing with this type of rock salt is that if you put too much of it on a surface like asphalt, it can actually erode away at it and cause further damage to your sealcoating and the asphalt. 

When you are pouring rock salt onto the driveway, just make sure that you only pour a small layer so that it doesn't cause any extreme damage. 

Have It Sealcoated

As soon as your asphalt is laid and you are given the go-ahead, have it professionally seal coated. Sealcoating is a layer of protective coating that is applied directly over the top of asphalt to help shield it from any type of water damage. When applied right after you have your asphalt laid, it's going to be more effective because it will not have had any sort of water exposure yet. 

Depending on the type of sealcoating that is used on your driveway, you may need to have it reapplied every few years to really keep the moisture off of it, but you may be able to get away with a longer period of time in-between applications. 

Have Good Drainage

The longer that you have water, ice, or snow sitting on your asphalt driveway for, the more likely you are to experience damage. Before you have your asphalt poured on our driveway, talk to a contractor about ensuring that your driveway has enough drainage so that during a big rainstorm everything naturally drains on its own without puddling in the middle of it. 

Having a few steps in place when you are trying to avoid having a water damaged asphalt driveway is a must. To learn more about sealcoating and other services, reach out to a company near you today.