When it comes to your home, one of the first areas that visitors notice is your pavement. After all, this is found directly outside your property, drawing immediate attention. That’s why it is so important that you take good care of the pavement outside your home. Check out some ways to better preserve and maintain the appearance of your pavement below:

Wash and Put Down Sealer When Needed

To keep pavement from wearing out, it is crucial that you clean your concrete regularly. Of course, this includes putting down a new coat of sealer on it. However, as far as how often you take these actions, that is reliant on both the weather conditions your pavement is faced with and how much traffic runs through your driveway. For instance, if you’ve had a harsh winter or are constantly having cars drive up and down your driveway, you should reseal your pavement roughly every two years. Remember, though, if your driveway is showing wear, you should reapply the sealer sooner than that. You can find high-quality sealers from most hardware stores. If this becomes a large project, contact a professional company instead. This will be most beneficial to you in the long run.

Get Rid of Stains Right Away

When you lay down a coat of sealer on your pavement, you’re actually protecting it from stain absorption. However, most sealers are usually not enough to prevent any stains from occurring, so you should also eliminate oil, grease, gasoline, and any other residue as soon as you notice it. If you see that the pavement is starting to discolor, don’t be alarmed. You can use pressure washing and a variety of cleaning chemicals to get rid of these stains.

Steer Clear of Deicing Chemicals

During the winter, many people tend to opt for using deicers on their concrete driveway. This should be avoided at all costs, as deicing chemicals are known for causing surface damage, such as scaling and spalling. That’s because these deicers actually thaw out the moisture in your pavement and then refreeze it. In particular, any products that are made of ammonium nitrates and ammonium sulfates will cause the most damage to your pavement. This is due to the fact that they tear down the concrete chemically. Rock salt will have a similar effect as those chemicals, but will do less damage overall. However, they can destroy both vegetation and corrode metal. Keep in mind that deicing chemicals are most harmful when used during the first winter right after putting in a new driveway. That’s in large part thanks to concrete being much more susceptible to any negative effects brought on by salt. Instead of salt, you can use sand to create the same sort of traction.

Use the Proper Care

Obviously, pavement is super durable, as it’s used for cars to drive on and off of. However, not all materials used to make driveways are reliable permeable pavement. In fact, a lot of paving materials can’t fully support heavy automobiles, like your average moving vans. That’s why, if possible, these vehicles should not be placed onto your driveway. Besides this, you should also be extremely careful when you’re shoveling and plowing your driveway. Specifically, you should never use metal blades anywhere near your driveway, as this could scratch and scrape the surface.

Your driveway is an important part of your home. That is why it’s so vital that you employ the proper maintenance to it at all times. By simply taking the right precautions, you’ll end up with a pavement that not only serves its purpose but also looks amazing over time.