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Blog » Five years can be a long time…

Five years can be a long time…

…depending on the people you collect as family, friends and neighbors.

We’ve all had them and we’ve all made them. Crazy relatives and stupid mistakes, that is.

At Richfield Blacktop and Concrete, we strive to not only improve your property with a fantastic paved surface, whether it’s a driveway, sidewalk, patio or garage floor, but also are determined to help you keep it looking and performing beautifully over time.

Our specialty is driveways – the special place on your slice of paradise that is witness to many activities, events and emotions. The paved space between the street and your house gets driven on, walked on, parked on, played on, kissed on and cried good-bye on. It’s meant for practicality, expression (ex: sidewalk chalk artists) and initial invitation to friends and family.

Paved surfaces are abused in Minnesota. We have freeze/thaw winters and springs as well as summers with high temps in the 90’s – extremes that can be as abusive to outdoor paved surfaces as they can be to bare feet. Adding human behaviors to any environment also can take a toll – even if things happen innocently.

Below are three short scenarios illustrating everyday occurrences that could happen with your driveway. We can easily take care of these mishaps with a headache-free solution* depending on the level of “oops” in each case:

Scenario 1
You are enjoying the evening in the backyard – cooling down after a sweltering summer day. The normal neighborhood sounds of the kids in the sprinklers and your neighbor mowing the grass surround you as you and your honey relax. Then you hear it. What is that noise? Sounds like a DC-10 on your street. You both stroll to the front of the house to check out the commotion. You round the corner just in time to witness your over-the-road truck driver cousin pull into your brand spankin’ new driveway – the one you just widened last month for the kids’ cars, not a Peterbilt semi cab. He figured as long as he was close and just dropped off a load, he would make a surprise stop since he is rarely in town. You chose to live at the end of the street of a private street for a few reasons – turning around a semi cab wasn’t one of them.

Scenario 2
It’s at least 90 degrees, it’s a weekend and you’ve been dying for your friends to come see your new motorcycle and go for the ride you’ve been talking about for weeks. Some are experienced riders, some are novices. It doesn’t matter…it’s all for a day of fun. You said to “just come in for lunch” before the ride and didn’t direct parking, so your driveway was the obvious choice to some. What a surprise to find a few tipped over bikes after lunch. You newbie rider friends put their kick-stands for their 700# machines on your hot asphalt driveway.

Scenario 3
You have teenagers who are starting to drive which means they are at the age that some of their friends are doing the same. Some have their own cars – not off the dealer showroom, by the way. It doesn’t take too many visits of stopping by your house for pick-ups, drop-offs and staying to watch the game in order for you notice “evidence” left on your new driveway. Older cars leak, it’s that simple.

All of these driveway damage situations would be covered by our Asphalt Protection Plan for driveways up to 5 years after installation – provided the actual damage falls into the terms of the Plan.

*Note: At Richfield Blacktop, we do not claim that the visit from your cousin with the semi cab, having a newbie Harley rider in your pack or a family room full of teenagers will be headache-free.