Asphalt Repair in Arkansas

A surface patch replaces the top layer of asphalt over a base that is still sound. A full depth patch cuts through the pavement, takes out the failed stone and soil underneath, rebuilds and compacts the base, then repaves the hole in lifts. The failure tells you which one you need. Line cracking, raveling and shallow surface loss usually sit over solid ground. Alligator cracking, a section that visibly moves when a loaded truck rolls across it, and a pothole that returns in the same square foot are base problems, and a surface patch will not fix any of them.

The patch was never the weak part. Asphalt does not carry a load by itself; it spreads weight into the stone base and the soil below, and it depends on that support staying firm. Lay new asphalt over a base that has gone soft and the patch deflects under every axle that crosses it. Fatigue cracking shows up around the edges, water finds the same route back in, and the hole reopens. Whatever is moving under it has to come out and be rebuilt, or you are paying to repair the same square yard twice.

Water. A crack or a raveled patch is an opening into the base, and once water sits in that stone it loses bearing strength. Traffic then pumps the fines out with every pass, the asphalt above loses its support, and it breaks into pieces that tires throw clear of the hole. Freezing nights speed all of it up, because trapped water expands and pries the material apart. That is why potholes show up after wet weather and keep coming back in the same spots. The hole is the symptom. The wet, moving base under it is the failure.

Depth first. A surface patch moves the top layer; a full depth patch moves the base too, which means saw cutting, excavation, hauling the failed material off and bringing stone back in. After that it is square footage, how many separate areas there are, and access. Ten scattered patches cost more than one area of the same total size, because each one is its own cut, haul and compaction. Tight corners a paver cannot reach force hand work and hand compaction, and traffic control on an occupied lot adds time that has nothing to do with the size of the repair.

Watch the share of the lot that is failing, not the number of holes. Once patched and distressed area reaches roughly a quarter to a third of the surface, or the alligator cracking has spread out of isolated spots into connected areas across the drive lanes, you are paying patch prices over and over on a pavement that is failing as a whole. An overlay takes its life from the structure underneath it, so widespread base failure has to be fixed either way. Isolated failures on a sound lot are repair work. A surface breaking down everywhere is a resurfacing decision.