Asphalt Repair & Patching in Wichita, KS

Asphalt repair and patching covers the damage that shows up between full repavings: potholes, soft or sunken areas, crumbling edges and patches of alligator cracking. In Wichita, much of that damage appears after winter, when water that got into cracks has frozen and thawed many times and the base below has softened. A patch lasts when it fixes that base, not when it simply fills a hole.

Types of patch

• Cold patch: bagged mix tamped into a pothole. Quick and cheap, but usually temporary.
• Hot-mix patch: the hole is cleaned, edges squared and hot asphalt compacted in. Longer lasting.
• Saw-cut, full-depth repair: the failed area is cut out with straight edges, soft base removed and replaced, then repaved. This is the right fix for base failures.
• Infrared repair: the existing surface is heated and reworked with new material, best for surface defects on sound base.

We choose the method based on how deep the problem goes.

Why potholes come back

A pothole is usually the last stage of a process that started with a crack. Water reaches the base, freeze-thaw cycles break it up, and traffic punches through the weakened surface. Filling the hole without fixing the wet, broken base underneath gives you a patch that sinks or pops out by next spring. On Sedgwick County clay, which drains slowly, the base below a pothole is often saturated, so we dig until we reach firm material.

Edges and sunken areas

Asphalt edges without support crumble into the lawn, especially where cars cut corners or where water runs off the side. Sunken areas near downspouts or low spots usually mean water is reaching the subgrade. We repair the edge with proper base under it and look at where the water is coming from, because a patch over a drainage problem will not last.

Repair or replace?

Repair makes sense when the damage is limited to a few areas and the rest of the pavement is sound. Once patches make up much of the pavement, or cracking runs across most of it, the money is usually better spent on an overlay or replacement. We tell you which side of that line your pavement is on.

Commercial repairs

In parking lots, failures cluster at dumpster pads, entrances and drive lanes. Potholes in a lot are also a trip hazard and a source of vehicle damage, so we can isolate the area, repair it, and reopen it the same day in many cases.

After the repair

New patches can be sealed once they cure, and crack sealing around the repair keeps water from getting under its edges. For lots, patches are usually followed by sealcoating and restriping.