Creve Coeur Paving, a St. Louis based contractor recently added decorative edging to its line of services. The edges are intended to line the perimeter of asphalt driveways. Materials used are concrete paver bricks and granite cobblestone, also known as Belgian block. Decorative edges are chosen by the consumer to add beauty and aesthetics to home and driveway, but they also serve an important function: Protecting the asphalt driveway.
Summer of 2008… People associated with the asphalt industry know this time period very well. It was when the prices of asphalt rose unpredictably. In two months pricing went up a staggering 70%, causing major grief for the industry and its patrons. Oil producers are already creating major concerns for what this season will have in store for asphalt prices.
St. Louis Based Creve Coeur Paving has integrated online scheduling into its website. The new system will benefit customers by making schedules available 24 hours a day. This will alleviate problems and conflicts for property managers and private consumers.
Dealing with an asphalt paving contractor can be stressful. Once a customer has made it through all the hurdles of selecting a firm to contract with, they are then subjected to the anticipation of starting and completing that project. Proposed start dates are very hard to keep due to circumstantial issues such as: delays on jobs already in progress, inclement weather, material shortages, or even mechanical breakdowns. This is not only a problem for the patron, but the paving contractor as well. The last thing a reputable contractor wants is conflicts in scheduling.
Since early 2007, the climate has made a 180 degree change in the nation’s heartland. Instead of harsh summers producing droughts due to lack of precipitation, now it rains several times a week. Not only is raining more often, but the atmosphere is dropping larger volumes of rainfall. For the last two years it has been common place for it to rain up to 4 inches or more in a twenty four hour period. The St. Louis area had an all time record amount of rain in 2008 and is on a fast track to meet or beat that record for 2009.
What does this mean for the people that reside in these areas? Simply put, there’s a lot of water to deal with. Lots of water means lots of problems. People all over the region are experiencing flooding, leaking basements, erosion, sinkholes, drain backups, undermining, and a host of other drainage related problems. The level of grief can range from having landscaping washed out all the way to having an entire building get ruined from flash flooding. University City, a suburb of St. Louis has residents that have been impacted more than once already in the last month by flash floods.
Saint Louis based, Ez-Pavement Repair LLC , and Creve Coeur Paving Inc agrees to partnership in certain circumstances in order to provide patrons with a higher level of quality pavement services. Both companies have individual niches in the pavement industry; when combined will offer comprehensive benefits for the area.
It’s no secret that the last couple of years have left many citizens weary because of economic downfall, inflation, unemployment, and fluctuation in oil prices. With a new president being inaugurated, there is a great deal of conversation going around talking about another “New Deal”. This phrase is commonly associated with creating new jobs aimed at building transportation systems or upgrading existing ones. The last thing people want to think of is asphalt. However upgrading our crumbling infrastructure means relying on asphalt to get it done. Unfortunately asphalt itself has been victimized by the same types of problems we are all facing today. Asphalt is made from refining crude oil into gasoline. As everyone knows, the price of gasoline hasn’t been stable for the last couple of years. Neither have asphalt prices.
Choosing a Paving Contractor to Install Your Driveway.
January 16, 2009
Do you have an asphalt driveway that is in shambles? The global market forces unique challenges for consumers to spend wisely. Take some advice from an expert so that you will get the most for your money.
Paving an asphalt driveway may seem like a simple task to some people. Basically you just get a couple of companies out of the phone book to give you an estimate and then pick the cheapest one right? Well, not if you’re concerned about the craftsmanship or making sure you get what you pay for. This is the number one mistake people make when choosing a contractor. Before you call any company do some research first. Information is readily available 24 hours a day on the web. Stay away from people that knock on your door. You will never ever get a good job from someone telling you he has an extra load of asphalt from a job up the street. These people are called travelers and never deliver on what they promise. There is plenty of info on the web regarding these types of people.
Asphalt prices got you down? During the middle of the 2008 season, asphalt prices jumped to unexpected levels. Why is this happening? Well it's directly tied to crude oil. You may think that since fuel prices are lower now than they were in 2007 asphalt prices should follow that trend. Unfortunately this is not the case. We'll inform you on how asphalt is produced and how you should plan for your next pavement project.
Asphalt prices have taken a minor drop, but haven't even returned to the original prices we started with at the beginning of 2008. What we currently have as of the New Year is a surplus of liquid asphalt that plants have already purchased at a high price to make hot mix. Also with reformulation of some fuels, there is less asphalt left from the distillation process. This makes it hard to predict what the prices will do.
Where does asphalt come from, and how is it related to gasoline? When oil producers refine crude they are left with different types of petroleum products ranging from fuels to lubricants. After fractional distillation, residual oils are left over. In simple terms, that oil is asphalt. The surface you see on your roads, parking lots, and driveways is not actually asphalt alone. Rather it is the mixture of asphalt and different varieties of stones and aggregates. Asphalt is the glue or cement that holds the mix together. This mixture is what composes blacktop or pavement.
In a story, that is, unfortunately, all too common in the world of
residential construction and home improvement, a St. Louis doctor and
his wife had a very bad experience with a remodeling contractor. In
2004, they initiated a $200,000 room addition and kitchen remodeling
project, and trouble signs began to surface almost immediately. Click here to view article
St. Louis based, Creve Coeur Paving has implemented new procedures for sub-base installation for new asphalt surfaces. This new system provides many benefits compared to conventional sub-bases. Richard Dinkela II of Creve Coeur Paving developed this new system to combat redundant problems common with typical sub-base compositions.
The big boom in both commercial and residential new construction in the last ten years has taken its toll on blacktop surfaces in the St. Louis area. Parking lots and subdivision roads have been more prone to premature failure mostly due to undesirable soils, poor base construction, or improper design for intended load force. “We’ve just noticed that newer asphalt surfaces are falling apart much faster than they should. This region is comprised of a variety of soil conditions which should be accounted for when constructing a paved surface,” said Richard Dinkela II.
