How the Winter Season Affects Your Asphalt Driveway

New Jersey winters are not the harshest in the country, but they may be some of the hardest on pavement. Instead of staying frozen from December to March, our weather swings back and forth across the freezing mark. A bright 45-degree afternoon is followed by a night in the low 20s, then a nor’easter, then a thaw. That back-and-forth is exactly what wears out driveways. Here is what is going on beneath your car each winter.

The freeze-thaw cycle

Water expands when it freezes. If water has found its way into a crack in your driveway or soaked into the base along an edge, it expands overnight and pushes the asphalt apart a tiny bit. In the afternoon it thaws, settles deeper and refills the gap. Repeat that dozens of times between late fall and early spring and a hairline crack turns into an open one, and an open crack becomes a loose chunk.

This is why winter damage almost always starts where water gets in: cracks, worn edges, low spots and areas next to downspouts.

Frost heave

When the soil under a driveway holds a lot of moisture, it can freeze and lift. Areas with clay-heavy or poorly draining soil, which you find in parts of inland Monmouth and southern Middlesex County, are more prone to this. The driveway rises in places during a cold spell and drops back when it thaws. Over several winters, that movement causes cracking and uneven sections. Near the shore, sandy soils drain better, but low-lying properties with a high water table can still see problems.

Cold makes asphalt stiffer

Asphalt is flexible in warm weather and stiffer in the cold. An older driveway that has dried out and oxidized from years of sun loses even more of its flexibility. When a cold, brittle surface is loaded by a heavy vehicle or flexed by frost, it is more likely to crack than it would be in summer.

Plows, shovels and snowblowers

Metal plow blades and shovels can catch raised edges and seams and tear them up. Plow trucks that drop their blade onto the apron or scrape along the sides of the driveway can chip the edges, which then lets more water in. Setting the blade slightly high and using a plastic shovel go a long way.

Salt and ice melt

Road salt tracked in from the street does not dissolve asphalt the way it can damage some other surfaces, but heavy use of rock salt adds to the freeze-thaw problem by causing repeated melting and refreezing. It is also tough on lawns along the driveway edge, and dead turf means less support for those edges. If you need an ice melt, calcium chloride products used sparingly are generally the better choice for asphalt.

What spring usually reveals

When the snow is gone, homeowners often find:

• Cracks that were barely visible in the fall are now wider and longer.
• Holes where a crack or weak spot finally broke apart.
• Crumbling along the edges and at the apron where it meets the street.
• New dips or raised areas from frost movement.

The sooner these are dealt with, the better. Fixing drainage and edges stops them from growing, and a worn surface can be milled and repaved, but left alone through another summer and winter, the damage spreads. Our post on three tell-tale signs it is time to repair your asphalt driveway helps you judge the timing.

Get ahead of next winter

Most winter damage can be limited by keeping water off and away from the driveway and fixing problems before the cold arrives. Our guide on how to keep your asphalt intact this winter lays out a simple plan. If your driveway has been through too many winters and the base is giving out, our asphalt driveway paving service rebuilds it from the ground up so it is ready for the next one.