Asphalt Repair in Loveland, CO

Asphalt repair targets the parts of a driveway or lot that have failed, so the rest of the pavement does not have to be replaced. Typical problems are potholes, crumbling edges, sunken areas over old trenches, and patches of alligator cracking where the base has given out. Caught early, these are small jobs. Left alone through a Loveland winter, water and freeze-thaw make them bigger every month.

Patching methods

HomeGuide describes four approaches. Cold patch, $2 to $4 per square foot, is a temporary fill out of a bag or a truck, useful in winter until a real repair can be made. Hot patch, $2 to $5, uses hot-mix asphalt in a cleaned hole. Saw-cut patching, $4 to $12, cuts a square around the failure, removes the bad material and rebuilds the base before paving. Infrared repair, $2 to $6, heats the existing asphalt and blends in new mix. For base failures we use saw-cut patches, because they fix the cause.

Why repairs fail

Most failed patches were filled without fixing what was under them. If the base is wet clay, a patch on top sinks again by spring. We dig until we find firm material, replace soft subgrade with compacted base, apply tack to the cut edges, and compact hot asphalt in lifts. Square, vertical edges give the patch something solid to bear against.

Edges and utility cuts

Driveway edges that hang over soil break off a piece at a time. We cut back to sound asphalt, rebuild the base under the edge, pave and backfill so the edge is supported. Utility trenches across driveways and lots often settle over time, leaving a dip that holds water. These are cut out and rebuilt the same way.

Repair or replace?

HomeGuide puts small crack and pothole repairs at $100 to $400 and major driveway repairs at $600 to $3,000, with minimum service fees of $100 to $250. When repairs would cover more than about a third of a driveway, or the whole surface is cracked, replacing or resurfacing is usually better value. We tell you which way the numbers lean.

Winter repairs

Hot-mix plants in Northern Colorado slow down or close in the cold months, and hot asphalt does not compact well on frozen ground. When a pothole cannot wait, a cold patch keeps it safe until spring, and we come back with a permanent repair once the weather allows.

Grouping repairs

Because small jobs carry a minimum charge, it usually pays to fix everything at once: the pothole by the mailbox, the broken edge by the garage and the settled trench across the middle. We list each repair separately in the quote so you can choose what to do now and what can wait a season.