As a small business owner and operator, you have a great many responsibilities that you need to take care of on a regular basis. And when your business's parking lot begins to suffer damage and needs to be replaced, you may find yourself wondering what you should use to repave your parking lot. Before you make any decisions, get to know some of the best paving material options for your small business parking lot. Then you can be sure that you choose the perfect material for you parking lot and get your project completed as soon as possible.

Asphalt

Asphalt is one of the most commonly used materials for parking lots and other paving projects. This paving material is relatively inexpensive compared to other paving options and is quite durable in nature.

Asphalt, in general, does require more maintenance than other types of paving. However, asphalt is also easy to repair using patches and other simple spot repairs. Additionally, asphalt is a flexible paving material, meaning that it expands and shrinks with the weather. It is also not prone to staining and will therefore continue to look nice and new for a long time.

Because asphalt is a petroleum based substance, it is not the most eco-friendly paving material around. However, you can use recycled asphalt products to make your paving project more sustainable if this is a concern for you.

Porous Concrete

If you are looking to make an environmentally friendly paving option for your small business parking lot, you may want to consider a paving material that is porous (or pervious). Porous concrete is one such option.

This paving material is made up of cement, water, and a course aggregate. Standard concrete also has fine aggregate as a component. However, as opposed to porous concrete, the fine aggregate in standard concrete is meant to fill in the microscopic spaces in between particles, making the concrete more solid and harder.

This blocks water from being able to seep through these microscopic spaces, denying the ground underneath it the nutrients and moisture that it needs. This also causes more runoff that accumulates debris and contaminants that get into the water supply as a result. Pervious (porous) concrete does away with this problem leaving the microscopic spaces open which allows water to seep through.

With these ideas in mind, you can better choose the right parking lot paving material for you and your business and get started as soon as possible. Consider discussing your plans with a commercial paving service to see what your options are and what's best for your business.