• Post author:admin
• Post published:March 19, 2021
• Post category:Scorpion Construction LLC Blog

FacebookLinkedInTwitter

Most property owners debate whether asphalt or concrete is the best material for paving robust, efficient, and top-quality surfaces. While both materials bring huge advantages, each has its fair share of drawbacks too.

Therefore, you need to decide which material’s flaws/shortcomings you can embrace and which one you want to let go of. However, before you make up your mind, ensure to read the following blog post to understand the factors you need to consider before choosing any paving material.

1. The Climate of Your Location

The first essential factor is the climate of the area of your project. Temperature affects the material you choose in different ways.

• Hot Summers

Concrete can bear extreme heat and does not crack easily in hot summers. While on the other hand, asphalt becomes gooey and sticky in hot temperatures, making it an unsuitable material for paving.

• Cold Winters

Asphalt is best for colder regions as harsh cold weather does not affect its installation or performance. In contrast, concrete is prone to frost heaves, which causes and premature pavement deterioration.  

2. Environmental-friendliness  

Asphalt is a recyclable material. You can reuse the existing asphalt pavement material to form recycled asphalt. The process consumes less time and is performed in an environmental-friendly way. However, if you plan on producing virgin asphalt, the materials and the products are not so ecological.

On the other hand, once installed, concrete cannot be recycled or reused. You need to haul away and dispose of concrete in an environmental-friendly way if you want to replace the existing surface. So, pick your paving material wisely!

3. Life Span

If properly installed and cared for, concrete will last you up to 40 plus years, whereas asphalt will give you 20 to 25 years of use max. Plus, asphalt requires maintenance every 5 to 8 years, but concrete can last longer.

Now, talking about maintenance and repair, asphalt usually just requires minor repairing. On the other hand, if a part of your concrete pavement breaks, the entire slab usually requires replacement.

4. Duration for Construction

You can allow traffic onto asphalt pavement right after installation is complete. However, this is not the case with concrete. It takes a minimum of 7 days before it has completely dried and can be driven over.

5. Price: Cheap Vs. Expensive

The prices of both the paving materials differ from state to state and project size. But usually, concrete costs more than asphalt.

Asphalt is not so pricey as compared to concrete. However, when it comes to maintenance and repair, the price of maintaining asphalt is almost double that of concrete, as it requires mandatory repair and maintenance every ten years. Concrete maintenance is not as costly as asphalt, but repairing concrete is quite expensive.

Selecting the material which best-suits your paving project is critical, but considering the locality, climate, and other factors side by side is also essential. Need more guidance? Contact us at Scorpion Construction LLC in St Pete, FL. We excel in providing quality asphalt paving and concrete paving services at budget-friendly rates!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »