Parking areas

Continuation

Most parking lots and garages are built on concrete or asphalt. These materials
are prone to deterioration below is a discussion of these materials.
1. CONCRETE
 Concrete is a simple building material formed by a somewhat chemical
process.
 Concrete is basically being a mixture of paste and aggregates, paste is
composed of cement, water and entrapped air, cement combines slowly with
water to form a hard solid mass.
Continuation

The strength of concrete depends largely on the amount of mixing water per
pound of cement, commonly known as water-cement ratio, that is the less the
water the better the concrete quality.
With no joints the concrete tries to absorb these movements by pulling and
pushing whenever the concrete is attracted to these tensile strength of concrete
is fairly low when the limit of the strength is reached the concrete cracks.
There are three common types of concrete joints;
 Control joints.
 Isolation joints.
 Construction joints.
Continuation

Concrete deterioration
 Concrete deterioration includes crazing, leaching; freeze and thaw cycle
cracking, potholes, pop-outs and scaling and spalling. Most are controlled or
reduced by periodic application of high quality protective sealant
 Crazing; Refers to the fine hairline cracks that form a map like pattern on the
surface of the concrete mostly on troweled surfaces.
 Leaching; caused by frequent water migration through a cement floor or
through the cracks of the floor.
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 Deterioration from freeze and thaw cycles; uneven thawing causes the
surface to crack hence allowing spring rains to penetrate the concrete ,
when freezing temperature return these cracks are widened because the
moisture in in the cracks freezes and expands , repeated freeze and th.aw
action causes the cracks to continually grow wider finally the surface area
breaks free of the underlying material beneath the weakened material,
break loose under the movement of traffic and a pothole is formed.
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 Scaling is the peeling off of a concrete slap surface caused by freezing and
thawing of the slap in a damp or water saturated environment,

 Spalling of reinforced concrete; reinforced concrete contains embedded bars

wires or strands made of steel and other materials, corrosion of the
embedded reinforcement can have led to a dish shaped cavities called spalls.
Repairing concrete

 Repairs to deteriorated concrete ranges in complexity from simple cleaning

and sealing to complete reconstruction, it is always advisable to have repairs
made by experienced contractors these repairs involves patching isolated
spalls and potholes, applying surface overlays and repairing water leaks in
foundation
2. ASPHALT

Asphalt is a dark brown or black thermoplastic material refined from petroleum.

Asphalt is valued because of its strong, durable, waterproof and resistant to action of
acids and salts
Asphalt concrete is asphalt cement combined with an aggregate to make a dense
paving material. The asphalt cement and aggregate must be heated before they are
combined,
The asphalt cement is heated to make fluid the aggregate to make it hot and dry to
keep the asphalt cement fluid while it is coating the aggregate particles.
Repairing asphalt

 Crack repair
 Cleaning
 Pulling out plant growths
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 Pothole repair; it’s the same as repairing potholes in concrete, first the
edges should be squared vertically and all damaged material should be
removed from the hole then a take coat should be applied to the sides and
the bottom of the hole.
 Skin patches; are generally used to re-level asphalt areas that have settled.
Again the edges of the area to be patched should be squared vertically and
the area sprayed with the tack coat to make asphalt mix stick to the existing
pavement.
Parking lots

Structural features of a ground-level parking lot include;

 sub grade,- prepared and compacted to support surface course
 sub base –layer of sand and placed over the sub grade
 surface course.- concrete or asphalt that provides a wearing surface for
vehicles to drive on
Continuation

When determining the surface of a parking lot the following estimates have to be
used by the designer;
 The types of vehicles that will use the parking lot.
 The number of vehicles of each type
 Typical vehicle loads
 The number of vehicles expected in the parking lot each day
These estimates and traffic studies for similar types of facilities can help a
designer establish structural design requirements
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 Surface cleaning; periodically

 Security inspection; surface parking lot security involves lightning, access
control and observation.
 Drainage inspection; all drainage outlet it should be inspected monthly
 Parking control inspection-paintings
 Waterproofing- applying sealants
 Minor repairs on surface cracks
 Snow ice removal
Parking garages

Constructed with reinforced concrete, press trussed concrete or concrete

surfaces over steel frame structures.
A parking garage is composed of
 Drainage structures
 Underground drainage systems
 Exhaust and ventilation fans
 Lights,
 Traffic control markings
 Guard rails
 Access ramps
Maintenance

 Regular cleaning, inspections and maintenance activities

 evaluate the effectiveness of the maintenance program.
 Areas of parking garages that should be swept and mopped daily include:
lobbies, restrooms, cashier booths, offices, elevators and entrance and exit
lanes.
 Stairways should be checked daily for trash and swept at least weekly
 Handrails should be cleaned each time stairways are swept. Windows in
cashier booths and lobbies should be washed daily.
 Floors and curbs should be swept as needed or at least weekly.
Safety checks

 Carbon monoxide monitors should be checked daily for functionality.

 Ventilation and exhaust units should be cleaved regularly
 Metal handrails and guardrails at edges of parking floors should be checked if
they are stable and if they can serve the intended purpose.
 All signs should be checked daily to ensure that they are clearly visible to
drivers.
 Illuminated signs should be checked to ensure that the light bulbs are working
and the sign faces are intact
 All special emergency lights should be checked for proper operation.
 Fire safety equipment should be checked regularly.
Accessibility requirements of parking
areas
 Accessible parking spaces must be located on the shortest accessible route of
travel from adjacent parking to an accessible entrance reserved by a sign
showing a symbol of accessibility.
 Signs designating parking spaces for disabled people should be at the front of
accessible parking spaces and mounted high enough above the ground so they
can readily be seen from the drivers’ seat.
 Signs must be located so they cannot be obscured by a vehicle parked in the
space.
 Accessible parking spaces must be wide enough to allow a wheelchair user to
open the vehicle door, transfer to a wheelchair and easily exit the walkway.