Care and Safety of Asphalt Driveways During the Extreme Heat of Summer

It’s no secret that the heat wave hitting the USA is causing people to overheat and requiring everyone to take extra care of themselves. If you have an Asphalt Driveway in your front yard, you may have felt the heat radiating from the surface and realize you probably could fry an egg on the driveway during this heat wave!

In this Driveway Guide article, we want to share some precautions you can take to make sure nobody gets hurt in your driveway during the heat. We’ll also share some tips on cooling your driveway off, and preventing damages from the asphalt getting soft in the hot sun!

Be Careful – That Driveway’s Hot!

Asphalt gets hot for several reasons. First and foremost, it’s black. The sun is more attracted to dark colors and they absorb the heat. With asphalt, it actually stores the heat as well.Secondly, it’s oil based and when the oil products heat up, they have fantastic thermal capabilities and keep it hot for longer periods of time!

You should never walk barefoot on an asphalt driveway when its hot outside, you could burn the bottom of your feet and require medical attention. Also try to keep small children from playing on the driveway with their sidewalk chalks and other toys that may allow their skin to contact the hot surface.

Preventing Heat Related Damages to the Asphalt Driveway

Along with a hot surface, your asphalt driveway can become soft when it gets hot outside. The constant beating of the sunlight can make the surface easy to scratch, scruff and chip away. Never use automotive jacks or jack-stands during the hottest part of the day, they will dig in and may even sink into the surface of the drive!

If you want to prevent damage from driving on the driveway, it never hurts to turn a sprinkler onto the surface mid-day, to cool it off and prevent the driveway from getting too soft.

One thing to note about hot driveways – now is the PERFECT time to seal coat your asphalt driveway! The heat will allow the sealer to bond better to the surface, and because it will run thinner, will get deeper into the small cracks and bond much better.