Asphalt vs Concrete Driveway Paving: Which Is Better?

Your driveway is only as good as the material that’s underneath. When paving or refinishing any driveway, your two choices are concrete or asphalt. Both provide a smooth surface, both are popular options, but making the choice depends on several factors including climate, aesthetics, maintenance, and cost.

Asphalt Driveways Are Quicker to Install and Faster to Use

Asphalt can be laid in one or two days and is ready to use quickly. Concrete takes three or four days to lay, and even longer to set before you can use it. Depending on the season, concrete can take up to a week to cure, whereas asphalt is usually ready in two days.

Consider Climate When Choosing Between Concrete and Blacktop Paving

By default, asphalt is a rich black color. Hence the nickname blacktop. This dark color draws in and retains the sun’s heat, which allows snow and ice to melt faster than it would on concrete. This provides safety in residential settings and commercial properties, and makes property maintenance easier.

Driveway Material Durability

After it is installed and used regularly, concrete is subject to flaking at the surface over time. This is generally due to several factors including alterations in the cement mixture, the use of salts to melt snow and ice, and poor installation.

Asphalt has flexibility in the structure itself, which prevents flaking or cracking over time.  Of course, blacktop can eventually crack, but it is much less often and less frequent than concrete cracking.

Asphalt Driveways Have Lower Maintenance Costs

Blacktop is basically maintenance free, and necessary repairs are simple. Because concrete can’t be heated and repaired the same way as blacktop, it is much more difficult to repair simple cracks or flaking at the surface. Repairing concrete requires you to remove the damaged areas completely and install new cement.

Blacktop repairs are much easier and inexpensive to repair. A sealcoating regimen on a regular basis extends the life of your blacktop driveway to more than twenty years.

Advantages Of Asphalt Driveways Over Concrete Paving

As you can see there are many advantages of asphalt driveway paving vs concrete paving. If you’re in need of paving services of any kind, we are here to help. PSI Paving provides free estimates and expertise from industry professionals. We are the number one choice in paving in and around Louisville, KY. Give us a call for a free estimate today!