Parking Seasonal Maintenance Tips

Whether you’re the owner or the managing operator of a parking facility, you know that your facility is not an operationwhere you can “set it and forget it.” The lot requires maintenance on a daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, yearly, and even multiyear basis in order to endure and avoid costly damage caused by nature. But beyond the obvious, like cleaning, where you do you start? How do you get the most value returned for your time and money without experiencing diminishing returns? Let’s break down to a few tips so you can start enjoying the best results from your efforts.

Ditch the salt and sand and switch to brine

Here’s a trio of eye-opening numbers: 80% of salt and sand gets thrown from road surfaces and wasted. It takes four timesless salt to prevent ice accumulation than to remove ice after it has formed. And solid salt is only effective to deice down to15 degrees Fahrenheit, while brine is effective all the way down to a bone-chilling -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Find a reputable brine supplier who can deploy the ice-preventing liquid effectively up to a WEEK before inclement weather arrives.

DON’T feed me, Seymour.

Plants are tenacious. They will find a way into the cracks and crevices of your lot. What starts out as a seemingly harmless single sprout will soon grow into a major hazard if left uncontrolled. Persistent weeds can BREAK asphalt and concrete, leading to pricey repairs, and even worse, lawsuit-worthy car accidents and pedestrian injuries. Err on the side of caution and employ a scorched earth campaign against vegetation, both in a preventative fashion in the spring, and on a monthly basis throughout your climate’s growing season. Don’t settle for a weed killer, go nuclear and deploy a product labelled as a“total vegetation killer.

Don’t throw money down the drain. Maintain plumbing.

Have you ever had a pipe in your home burst in winter? Imagine that on a massive scale. Unless you want to sell tickets to a pop-up ice skating rink, you must be conscientious of changes in the temperature and how it will affect your plumbing. A burst pipe may result in business closures and will definitely leave you with a massive repair bill. Coming up with an advance winter game plan, possibly in conjunction with a commercial plumbing service, will give you peace of mind all winter long that both water-supplying and drainage pipes will remain clear and intact.

Do more than skim your surfaces

Simple yearly pressure washing is not enough to maintain asphalt and concrete surfaces. Choose a pressure washing service to come in after the spring thaw and before the winter freeze to accomplish three goals: remove any excess salt, clear away compacted dirt build-up and remove oil stains in an environmentally friendly fashion. If surfaces are not treated at least twice a year, they will rapidly deteriorate