Most asphalt damage in Jensen starts small. A hairline crack lets water in, January nights near 3°F freeze it, and by spring that crack has widened into a pothole or a patch of alligator cracking. Weeds like kochia and bindweed push up through the gaps and make it worse every summer.
Our asphalt repair work starts by figuring out what’s going on underneath. Some damage only needs a hot pour crack seal. Some needs the failed section cut out, the base rebuilt, and new hot mix compacted in place. We’ll show you what we find and recommend the repair that fits the damage and your plans for the property in Jensen. Catching it early almost always means a simpler, smaller job.
We know how cold winters, snowmelt, and river bottom soils break asphalt down around Jensen, so our repairs target the real cause.
Saws, compactors, crack sealing equipment, and hot mix let us handle a single pothole or a whole lane of damage.
If your driveway has reached the point where patching won't pay off, you'll hear that from us up front.
We sweep up loose stone and old asphalt, haul off debris, and leave your driveway cleaner than we found it.
The weather here is hard on pavement in a quiet, steady way. Jensen averages about 19 inches of snow a year, and the stretch from late fall to early spring brings plenty of nights well below freezing followed by sunny afternoons. Each time water in a crack freezes, it expands and pries the asphalt apart a little more.
Summer adds its own wear. Highs around 92°F soften older asphalt, and heavy trucks parked in one spot can leave ruts. Small problems grow fast if nobody deals with them, which is why a small repair now tends to save a much bigger bill later.
Not every damaged spot needs the same fix. Here’s how the main methods line up with the problems they solve:
Owners with a business or shop lot along US-40 can read more about our parking lot repair work, which follows the same approach on a bigger scale.
Out here, cracks don’t stay empty for long. Goatheads, kochia, bindweed, and spurge all find their way into gaps in older asphalt, and their roots widen the opening every season. Pulling the tops off doesn’t solve anything, because the root keeps growing underneath.
As part of asphalt repair, we clear vegetation out of the crack, clean it with compressed air, and seal it so there’s nothing left for seeds to take hold in. Driveways that border fields and ditch banks tend to see the most weed pressure, so those are worth checking every spring.
Many driveways and farm lanes in this area have no curb, so the asphalt edge is all that holds the pavement together. When tires ride off the side, the gravel shoulder wears away, the edge loses support, and pieces break off. Left alone, that crumbling creeps inward toward the wheel paths.
A proper fix here rebuilds the shoulder with compacted gravel, cuts back the broken edge to solid pavement, and patches it with hot mix. It isn’t glamorous work, but it stops a narrow lane from slowly getting narrower. Where the edge sits next to an irrigation ditch, we also look at whether water is soaking into the base from the side, since that’s often what started the crumbling.
Hot mix patches and crack sealant both bond best in warm, dry weather, so late spring through early fall is prime time for asphalt repair in Jensen. Fall is especially valuable, because sealing cracks before the first hard freeze keeps water out all winter.
If a pothole opens up in January, a temporary cold patch can keep it from getting worse until the weather warms. After repairs cure, asphalt sealcoating adds a protective layer over the whole surface and helps the patched areas blend in. Sealing also slows the next round of cracking, so you get more time between repairs.
There’s a point where patching stops making sense. If cracks cover a large share of the surface, potholes keep returning in new places, or the pavement has sunk in broad areas, the base is likely failing beneath it. More patches at that point just add up.
When the base is still mostly solid but the top is worn out, asphalt resurfacing puts down a new layer over the existing pavement. If the base is gone, new paving is the better long term answer. We’ll tell you which situation you’re in before you spend money on the wrong fix.
We walk the pavement with you, mark every crack and pothole, and look for drainage or base problems behind the damage.
Your written quote lists each repair area, the method we recommend for it, and what order we'd tackle the work in.
We clean and seal cracks, cut out failed sections, rebuild the base where needed, and compact fresh hot mix in place.
Together we review each repaired spot, and we share tips on catching new cracks before they grow into potholes.
