Commercial carparks have a tough job to do. They have to be strong enough to support the weight of large vehicles, resist the shearing force of massive trucks turning while stationary, and provide a warm, welcoming spot for your customers to touch down after a long journey. No pressure!
As a business owner, that means you’ve got a big choice to make before work begins on your carpark construction. To help you decide which is the right surface for your commercial carpark, we’re unpacking your carpark surface options.
We’ll provide an expert perspective on paved, asphalt, and concrete carpark construction, breaking down the considerations and benefits you should be aware of before beginning. Let’s start digging.
Your Top Three Carpark Surface Options
When it comes to carpark surface options, there are three heavy hitters to be aware of: asphalt, concrete, and pavers.
None of them is an immediate winner because every property has unique needs, including commercial properties. So, instead of declaring a winner outright, we’ll unpack the benefits of each choice below.
Asphalt carpark
You might have heard asphalt referred to as “blacktop” or even “tar-seal”. It’s technically bituminous concrete. Asphalt is made from a large amount of carefully graded aggregate (all pieces and particles are below a certain size), which is then bound together by a petroleum-based bitumen binder that acts like glue. We compact all of this into the carpark’s shape while it’s hot, creating that iconic black, shiny, flat surface.
Business owners love this carpark surface option for a few reasons:
- It’s cost-effective for medium to large-scale projects, as the cost works out well per square metre.
- Asphalt cools and sets quite quickly, sometimes curing within just 48 hours, so there’s minimal downtime for your business.
- The result is super seamless and quiet, with a shine that makes the entirety of your business look and feel even better. This shine holds up for many years with regular resealing.
However, keep in mind that the structure beneath the asphalt is what’s doing a lot of the work. If your parking lot handles many heavy delivery trucks or massive construction equipment, especially if they have to turn in tight circles, asphalt might not be the right choice for you.
Concrete carpark
Poured concrete, on the other hand, is perhaps the strongest choice on the list. Where asphalt is flexible, concrete carpark construction is rigid and heavily reinforced, with internal steel mesh that quickly strengthens any weak spots.
As a carpark surface option, concrete is well-loved for many reasons:
- It lasts for a very long time, often hanging on for up to 40 years with minimal degradation.
- It easily resists heavier loads than both asphalt and paving, which is why it’s such a strong choice for industrial sites in particular.
- Concrete needs very little in the way of maintenance; the occasional power wash and joint resealing will do fine.
All that said, the material and steel reinforcement grid, not to mention the longer installation timeframe, make concrete a more expensive choice upfront. It also takes longer to cure than asphalt, which can impact your business for at least 7 days while the concrete properly cures.
If you’re willing to hurdle those aspects, concrete will always serve you well for the decades to come.
Paved carpark
By ‘paved’ carpark, we mean literal, interlocking pavers. If you’re after an eye-catching carpark surface option that makes a real statement, pavers are a stunner when compared to single-pour solutions like asphalt and concrete. While they’re not the most common choice, many business owners love paved carparks because:
- They look beautiful, with a hint of character and texture that immediately gets your customers a bit more excited about visiting you.
- The pavers are modular, so you can remove the ones that aren’t working and replace them easily, rather than shutting the entire carpark down for repairs.
- When correctly vibrated into place with joint sand, the pavers lock together mechanically, distributing heavy loads across the entire surface.
But in exchange for these benefits, there are some drawbacks to a paved carpark. For one thing, they take a long time to install. All those pavers need to be perfectly aligned, after all! Mechanical laying machinery can speed things up, but detailed edging and trimming keep initial costs closer to concrete than asphalt. You might also have to deal with weeds growing between the joints of the pavers, and the joints themselves can fall out of alignment over the years as a result.
To choose between the carpark surface options on this list, the first thing we recommend doing is auditing who and what uses your carpark. Do you need it to support massive trucks or delivery vans, or are light passenger vehicles the only stressors on the books? That audit will immediately trim away the options that don’t work for you.
Once you’ve done that, book a quick assessment with us for some professional advice on which carpark surface options suit your business most.
Trust Asphalt & Civil for your paved, asphalt, or concrete carpark construction.
We are proud to specialise in commercial carpark construction across the entire Auckland area, providing top-notch work to all business owners. Expect professional communication, excellent turnaround times, and a result that will go the distance with your business.
Curious about what’s possible for your commercial carpark? Get in touch for an on-site assessment, and we’ll help you choose the best carpark surface option.