Paving and Asphalt in Lafayette, LA

This work covers laying and repairing asphalt for driveways and parking lots, sealcoating to protect the surface, and patching cracks and potholes before they spread. A real job means grading and compacting the base first, laying hot asphalt, and rolling it flat, because asphalt is only as good as the dirt underneath it. Sealcoating and crack filling are maintenance, not new pavement, and they buy you years if the surface is still sound.

Doing this in Acadiana

Acadiana is hard on asphalt in a specific way. The soil here is heavy clay that swells when it soaks up our rain and shrinks when it dries out, so it moves under the pavement and pulls it apart from below, which is why you see cracking and low spots even on driveways that were laid straight. We get a lot of standing water and long stretches of heat and humidity, and water sitting in a crack is what turns a hairline into a pothole. If you are near Youngsville, Broussard, or out toward Duson where the ground stays wet, drainage matters as much as the asphalt itself, and a good crew will look at where your water goes before they quote the paving.

How to tell where you stand

• Cracks you can lay a pencil into, or cracks branching in a pattern like alligator skin, which usually means the base is failing, not just the surface.
• Water pooling on the driveway a day after the rain has stopped, a sign the grade or the base has settled.
• Potholes or soft spots where the asphalt gives a little under your foot or a tire.
• The surface has gone gray and brittle and you can rub loose gravel off it with your shoe, meaning the binder is worn out and it is due for sealcoat.
• Edges that are crumbling away because there is nothing supporting them on the side.

What makes the job bigger or smaller

• The size and shape of the area, and whether it is a straight driveway or a lot with corners and turns.
• The condition of the base underneath, since a failed base has to be dug out and rebuilt, which is a much bigger job than a resurface.
• Whether you need full replacement, an overlay on top of the old surface, or just sealcoat and crack repair.
• Drainage and grading work, especially where water stands or the ground slopes wrong.
• Access for the trucks and equipment, and how far material has to be hauled to the site.

Yourself, or a pro

A homeowner can honestly handle the light maintenance. Filling cracks with a pourable filler and rolling on a sealcoat over a sound driveway are weekend jobs, and doing them on schedule is the single best thing you can do to make asphalt last. What you should not take on is anything involving the base or fresh asphalt. Hot mix has to go down and be compacted in a narrow window of time and temperature, it needs a roller to do right, and if the grading or base prep is wrong the whole thing fails within a couple of seasons. Laying new pavement or fixing a failing base is a crew-and-equipment job, not a rental job.

What to ask anybody quoting this, us included

• Are you repairing the base or just laying new asphalt over what is already there, and how did you decide?
• How will you handle drainage so water does not stand on the finished surface?
• How thick will the asphalt be after it is compacted, not before?
• Will you sealcoat or drive on it right away, and how long should I stay off it?
• What does the work include if a section fails or settles within the first year?