July 16th, 2010
Finding a Quality Paving Contractor in 5 Steps
It can be very difficult to find a good paving contractor in Orange County. With the advent of the internet it is easier than ever to look like legitimate company and not be one. The sad truth is that there are many who have no problems stealing your hard earned dollars however, this guide may help you avoid making that mistake. With a little advice and due diligence I think you’ll agree it’s easy to find quality paving contractors.
Step #1 Verify they have a paving contractor’s license:
This is by far the easiest step to do. Simply go to the California state license board (or whatever state you’re in). California state license board is located at www.cslb.gov.
- Once there simply plug in the license number, company name or business owners name to verify the company. Use ours if you want to give it a try. 940698
- Look to see that the license is active and in good standing.
- Lastly open the license and verify license number, trade, insurances, workers compensation and all other things are current.
Step #2 Get two or more paving contractor references:
Call the company and ask them to send you at least 2 references of paving work they have done in the last thirty days. Most paving contractors should have no problem providing this service to you. Make sure to get at least the company name, a phone number and a contact to ask for.
Step #3 Find out how long they have been in business:
If they are a newer contractor make sure that you ask them about their experience level. By example at Empire Parking Lot Services we are a newer paving company, however we have many years experience in the industry. If they are an older company asks them what type of paving they specialize in. Do they specialize in new construction? Or do they specialize in patch and repair? Are they a road paving contractor, do they specialize in concrete only? You get the idea I’m sure.
Step #4 Get at least three bids that are apples to apples:
This really is a great habit to get into when getting jobs. First thing you will want to do is call one company and ask them for a bid for whatever paving contract you need. Then take their work description and call two other companies with it. Sometimes one company may not understand another companies description. When this happens just go with the bid of the contractor that gives you the most piece of mind. Use his information and have the bidders all bid his work descriptions. It is very important to not shop numbers. This is a terrible habit that will result in getting you a terrible job done. When numbers are shopped the only one that will lose is going to be you. Trust us on this one. Remember the point of this is to get three apples to apples bids not grind down contractors.
Step #5 Ask industry friends & co workers for their recommendations:
One of the best ways to find good people is to ask people you know and trust about who they use. This isn’t a guarantee that the paving contractor will be a good one, however, it greatly improves your chances of avoiding the bonehead contractors out there that are nightmare waiting to happen.
About Empire Parking Lot Services
When it comes to hiring a quality paving contractor in Orange County California, nobody beats Empire Parking Lot Services. For years now we have been installing asphalt and concrete throughout the Southern California area. Whether your project is located in Orange County, Los Angeles, or any other county in the So Cal area we have you covered. We are Southern California’s easiest paving contractor to deal with. We offer a multitude of paving maintenance services, for example asphalt patching, seal coating, parking lot striping, concrete repair plus many others.. Just let one of our estimators know what you need and we will get you a fast and free estimate for your project. Call us toll free at 877-760-2757 or check us out online at www.empirepls.com
Tags: California, OC, Orange County, Paving Contractor, Paving Contractors
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June 28th, 2010
New Speed Bumps for Private Driveway in Murrieta California
This month Empire received a call from the owner of a private residents in Murrieta California. They had a long asphalt driveway in need of seal, as well as needing some new asphalt speed bumps installed. They called several asphalt contractors and apparently Empire Parking Lot Services was the only company that called them back. They hadn’t told us that until after the project was finished, but it really wouldn’t have made a difference to us. Thats because Empire-PLS offers the same great service and price each and every time. The owners needed to slow vehicles down because they were using his road not realizing it was a private driveway. On several occasions cars even went off the road causing damage to their property. Speed bumps where the perfect cure for this situation.
First New Speed Bumps, and Then New Sealcoating
So the first thing Empire did was to install the new asphalt speed bumps. That part of the project actually happened about 6 months ago so that the seal coat would not lift or peel once sealed. As any good asphalt contractor knows, asphalt needs time to cure and dry well before you apply sealcoat to it. With the asphalt fully cured, we showed up this week to apply the sealcoat and stripe the new speed bumps. We used a good thick coat of seal on the driveway and once dry, our striping crews showed up and applied the striping to the speed bumps. If you were not aware speed bumps actually go by a half a dozen names. These names include speed bumps, speed humps, speed berms, speed retardants, speed abatement and speed tables. There are probably more than that so speak up I missed one. Speed Bumps can be installed in several different ways. There are the most permanent choices of asphalt & concrete, than there are newer less permanent options in rubber or plastic.
About Empire Parking Lot Services
Empire-PLS is one of Southern California best asphalt contractors. When it comes to speed bump construction, repair, or maintenance Empire is the best choice. We are located in Orange County and service the entire Southern California area including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, and Riverside. Please call Empire today to discuss your project. Empire offers asphalt repair, concrete repair, seal coating, line painting and many other parking lot maintenance related services to Southern California. Empire can be reached toll free at 877-760-2757
or you can visit our main website at
www.empirepls.com.
Tags: Asphalt Contractor, Asphalt Contractors, Paving Contractors
Posted in Asphalt Contractor, Paving Contractors | No Comments »
June 1st, 2010
Description of the Roller Tracking Problem
Today I wanted to bring up a problem we have seen a lot in the last few years. Roller tracking is something that typically happens during the compaction process, whether you use a vibratory static steel wheel or pneumatic tire type roller, longitudinal line marks or creases can be left in the surface of the hot mix. Once the hot mix has started to cool to a temperature range of about 70C to 60C (160F to 140F), these marks are typically removed by the finish roller. Roller marks are indentations that remain in the surface of the mix after rolling has been completed. Roller marks may also exist in the asphalt surface when any roller is parked on the hot mat for a period of time or when a vibratory roller is vibrated in place. Particularly when used in the breakdown position, pneumatic tire rollers can leave visible longitudinal marks that can still be seen after the finish rolling has been completed. Vibratory washboard marks may be visible if that roller is operated at an improper vibratory amplitude, speed, or frequency setting by a poorly experienced paving contractors as shown in the picture below.
Roller Mark Causes
Roller marks can be an indicator that the proper number of passes have not been made over the hot mix. If the compaction process is stopped before the required amount of compaction rolling has been finished or if the hot mix cools before the compaction process has been finished, the marks or creases made by the rolling process will remain in the surface of the mix. Roller marks left in an asphalt layer also may indicate of a tender mix. The roller operator will normally be unable to remove all the marks left by the compaction equipment if the mix is tender or unstable. A tender mix usually will not support the weight of the finish roller until it has cooled to the point at which the viscosity of the asphalt cement has increased enough to stiffen the mix. By the time the mix has decreased in temperature to this point, however, the required level of density can generally no longer be achieved because the mix has lost its workability. For this reason, the roller marks or indentations left during the breakdown and intermediate roller passes usually cannot be removed during the finish rolling process. All of the asphalt cement, aggregate, and mix properties that contribute to the formation of a tender mix, as discussed above, also contribute to the in-ability of the finish roller to eliminate roller marks. Hasty paving contractors are typically the cause for this type of mistake.
Solutions For Roller Marks
If the cause of roller marks is in fact inadequate compaction, more roller passes should be made with the break-down, intermediate, or finish rollers to properly compact the mix. The solutions for poor compaction related to mix design deficiencies all involve changes to the mix design and to the production of the mix at your asphalt plant. Asphalt cement quality and content, aggregate properties, and characteristics, as well as mix temperature, all play a significant role in the workability and long term stability of the asphalt materials under the compaction roller equipment. Roller marks normally cannot be removed from a tender mix until the mix temperature has lowered to a relatively low level usually less than 70C (160F). Sometimes it is possible, depending on environmental conditions and the properties of the mix, to remove roller crease marks left in the hot mix by using pneumatic tire rollers. If the surface of the mix is hot enough ie 60C (140F) or more, many passes with a pneumatic tire roller can be made to “iron out” the surface of the pavement. Finally, roughness or wash boarding caused by incorrect operation of a vibratory roller should be eliminated by using proper operating techniques with this equipment.
Effects on Performance
Roller marks are normally an indication that the proper level of compaction has not been achieved. In terms of ultimate pavement durability, the air void content or density of the mix is the single most important characteristic that governs the performance of the asphalt mixture under traffic. If the air void content of a dense graded mix is high — the density is too low–the pavement generally will not perform well under traffic.
About Empire Parking Lot Services
Empire-PLS is one of Southern California best asphalt contractors. We are located in Orange County and service the entire Southern California area. Please call Empire today to discuss your project. Empire offers asphalt repair, concrete repair, seal coating, line painting and many other parking lot maintenance related services to Southern California. Empire can be reached toll free at 877-760-2757 or you can visit our main website at www.empirepls.com information from this blog has been paraphrased by the us army corp of engineers. Please feel free to discuss this and any subject that you have in relation to asphalt repair and maintenance.
Tags: Paving Contractors
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May 19th, 2010
New Seal Coating & Striping In Anaheim Ca.
This week Empire Parking Lot Seal Coating had a project start in Anaheim California. Empire Parking Lot Services was contracted to seal & stripe the parking lots of The Anaheim Public Golf Course. Anaheim is one of the largest cities in the county of Orange. If your not familiar with Anaheim its located between Garden Grove, & The City of Orange, as well as Brea, & Fullerton. This was a straight forward project that consisted of several of our most popular services. The first thing that we did was to clean and sweep their parking lot areas so that all the loose gravel, trash, and leaves where clear and free for the seal coating application. Once the parking lot was clear our seal coating crews started laying down the fresh new black seal. We installed 2 coats of seal using hand squeegees and our seal coating machine. The biggest challenge we faced on this project was just keeping the hundreds of golfers that use the facility properly warned about the wet seal coat. For this we staffed people on both sides of the parking lot to communicate that to them. Empire Parking Lot Services has been the preferred paving contractor for all Anaheim Public Golf Course for 6 years now.
Oil Spots Being Treated Before Seal Coating of the Lot.
Seal Coat & Striping Scope of Work
The pavement maintenance project in Anaheim was a pretty simple project really. With a total parking space count of about 70,000 sf our crews made pretty quick work of it. The parking lot has a combined parking area of about 100 parking stalls including the handicap parking spaces. The parking lot striping portion of the project was next up. Parts of the project received 2 coats of seal because we where unhappy about the way the first coat looked. The customer thought it looked good but we did not.
Seal Coat Cut in on Anaheim California Parking Lot.
Parking Lot Striping Up Next
Once the parking lot seal coating was completed, we turned our attention to the parking lot striping. With about 100 parking stalls, and 5 handicap stalls, as well as a dozen stencils including arrows. The crew laid out the project and striped it in about 2 hours. The parking lot painting portion of the project also went with out a hitch and the customer was happy there as well. Our crew loaded up their equipment and headed home. Its nice to get to work near home this time. Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed and insured paving contractor.
Sealcoat Applied by Machine in Anaheim California.
About Empire Parking Lot Services
Empire Parking Lot Services is a Southern California paving contractor that specializes in parking lot and warehouse maintenance. Every day we help our property management customers, contractors, facility maintenance technicians, as well as our direct owners with many of their parking lot maintenance needs including Seal Coating. Empire Parking Lot Services offers top notch parking lot repair and warehouse maintenance services to the entire Southern California area. Our service area includes Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego, as well as parts of Ventura. Contact us today if you have any questions about any project you may have upcoming. Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed & fully bonded asphalt contractor company.
Call us at: 877-760-2757
Or look us up on the web at www.Empirepls.com
1080 Batavia Unit N
Orange, Ca. 92867
Tags: Paving, Paving Contractors
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