Hammond Indiana Concrete Parking Lots in Winter

The lots stay packed from the first week of classes through the last exam. Plows run the rows again and again. When the pavement looks slick, salt goes down. Then the temperature swings overnight, and the surface starts to break up. That is the wear we keep seeing on Concrete Parking Lots in Hammond once the snow is gone. Purdue University Northwest’s Hammond campus keeps cars on those slabs all winter.

Students and staff drive in from towns across North West Indiana. So the stalls rarely sit empty long enough to dry. Water sits in the low spots between the wheel paths. When a freeze hits, that water turns hard inside the joints and the cracks. We have pulled up slabs that looked solid in fall and were flaking by spring. After the thaw, the salt film is still on the surface when we walk the lot.

Class days add to the wear. Because a full lot means the plows cannot always scrape to bare pavement. They leave a skim of snow. Then salt melts that skim, and the brine runs to the low side of each panel. So we have seen that brine line stain the same joints on lots like these.

Salt and Freeze-Thaw on Concrete Parking Lots in Hammond

We can point to two effects of the salt on a walk-through. The surface stays wet longer, because brine stays liquid after plain water would have frozen. The brine also stays in the paste at the top of the slab. After enough freeze-thaw cycles, that top paste lets go. You get a rough, sandy patch. So the patch holds more water the next time it snows.

The next damage shows up at the joints. A plow blade catches a joint that has opened. Then a chunk of the edge pops out. We see that more in the drive aisles than in the far stalls. Because the plows make more passes on the aisles. Where water stands, we see another round of damage. A low panel holds meltwater through the day. After dark, that same panel freezes again.

We do not trust a look from the driver’s seat. So we get out and check the joints. We also check the spots where water sits, and the curb face where the plow rides. For example, spalling shows up as shallow pits. Cracks show up where a panel has flexed. Cars keep crossing those spots, and the pits get wider.

How We Repair Concrete Parking Lots in Hammond

People call us about Concrete Parking Lots in Hammond after salt scales the aisles. Joints open up in the same stretch of weather. After we map the scaling and the broken joints, the repair follows the damage. We saw-cut around the bad panels. Then we haul the broken concrete off and pour back to the grade already there.

A single joint sometimes needs only a partial-depth patch. But a drive lane that has lost its edge on both sides needs a tear out and replace. Because a thin overlay will not hold under daily car traffic. On a commercial concrete lot, we handle removal and replacement. We also reset curbs the plows have chipped. For example, a curb that has lost its face will not hold the stall line straight.

A campus lot job often picks up the walks between the stalls and the doors. Those walks take the same salt. They also take plow spray off the aisle. So when we are already on site, we can pour the service walks in the same visit. We source our products so we know they are the best available for the pour. When the scope includes a building entry, we can look at the adjacent flatwork too.

Scope of Work on Concrete Parking Lots in Hammond

Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company. We have been doing this work since 2006. We cover North West Indiana and the Tri-State area. So Hammond, Indiana is regular ground for us. Our goal is to get in and out as quickly as we can and still leave a professional job. Our crew has years of field experience behind the saw and the screed. We talk through the scope before we cut anything.

We mark the panels that have to come out. Heavy scaling puts a panel on that list. Movement under a truck does the same. You can look at finished pours in our Photo Gallery. The crew behind the work is on our About Us page. We handle concrete parking lots the same way we handle a warehouse slab. We cut clean and pour back to the existing grade. After the pour on a Hammond lot, we line the new joints up with the joints on the panels we leave.