New York City is often called “the concrete jungle” thanks to the thousands of square miles of pavement of all descriptions that cover the city, but New Jersey has its own acres and acres of concrete, and caring for all that is a huge job—with condos and HOAs bearing much of the responsibility of keeping the pavement outside their front doors in good shape.

Negligence can not only result in injuries to residents and passers-by, but that in turn can bring down costly, drawn-out litigation onto the building itself.

Concrete is Not Cement…

But it Can Be Asphalt

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) is a nonprofit technical and educational society organized in 1904, and one of the world's leading authorities on concrete technology. According to ACI’s official dictionary of terminology, concrete is a “mixture of hydraulic cement, aggregates, and water, with or without admixtures, fibers, or other cementitious materials.”

By contrast, cement is “a binding material that sets and hardens by chemical reaction with water and is capable of doing so underwater.” Examples include portland and slag cement.

Simply put, cement is used to make concrete, just like eggs are used to make cake.

The two words are often used interchangeably in both casual conversation and in the media, but members of the industry find the latter particularly irksome.

The term “asphalt” is technically shorthand for asphalt concrete, a mixture in which viscous, petroleum-based asphalt is used as the bonding agent, rather than cement.

As far as applications go, according to Andrew Amorosi, a principal with The Falcon Group LLC, an engineering firm based in Bridgewater, there's very little distinction between the pavement on your driveway versus that of the average New Jersey sidewalk. “It's typically the same mix,” he says. “Your surface mix for a road, driveway or a parking lot is basically the same, though you'll have different thicknesses based on the use. For instance, if you have good soil underneath, you might be able to get away with 3 inches of asphalt for a driveway, where on a road, you're probably going to have upwards of 6 inches, just based on truck traffic and things like that.”

According to Thomas Eosso, vice president of Eosso Brothers Paving in Hazlet, “Ninety percent of the driveways in this area are installed in blacktop asphalt. Concrete looks great when it's installed, and lasts a little longer unless you get salt damage, but after about 5 or 6 years it starts discoloring and turning yellow. Asphalt paving is cheaper, and a lot easier to maintain. Sidewalks and curbs are the best application for concrete.”

Low-Maintenance – But Not Indestructible

If concrete is properly poured and dried, it holds up very well. When concrete cracks, it’s generally because it wasn’t installed properly to begin with—there’s a flaw in the frame, or the material beneath the surface, or the water content of the mixture.

Sometimes traffic and weight are to blame for a surface crazed with cracks and fissures, says Eosso. “For example,” he says, “I recommend installing a concrete slab in front of garbage enclosures [rather than asphalt pavement] because it's heavier duty and will hold up to the weight of garbage trucks, which can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. I often see failed areas where no matter how thick the blacktop is, it cracks under all that weight.”

The ground underneath the concrete plays a role in its expected life span as well, Eosso continues. “If you have a sandy soil like they have in South Jersey for example, concrete will last longer because when water hits the sand, it drains away. If you have a clay sub-base, that expands and contracts during the winter. It actually swells, and that's what creates cracks in pavement and blacktop.”

In addition to endless traffic and inhospitable substrates, “The big enemy of pavement is sunlight and water,” says Amorosi. “Sunlight oxidizes the pavement, which makes it brittle, and then water gets in the voids in the pavement, as well as any cracks. And throughout the winter freeze-thaw cycles, those cracks will widen, until they develop into larger failures—potholes, things like that.”

Another external factor that will hasten the breakdown of concrete is salt. This is an especially important concern in the winter, when building supers and staff members are typically charged with keeping the sidewalk clear of ice and snow. Rock salt wreaks havoc on sidewalks by penetrating the surface of the concrete, weakening it, and starting a process called ‘spalling’ wherein cracks in the concrete spread out across the surface.

“Without a doubt,” says Amorosi, “the best thing for an HOA or condo to do is to seal the cracks with an asphalt-type crack sealing material prior to winter. That keeps the water out and prevents further damage. Seal coating is also a good option to prevent oxidation. It also seals the smaller voids that you can't see in a pavement, which keeps the water out, but the main benefit is that it keeps out the sunlight. And that's usually done every 4 or 5 years or so,” he says.

A Solid Industry?

The trending topic among concrete industry insiders right now—as it is with just about everybody—is of course the economy. Concrete production and work is an enormous segment of the overall economy, employing some two million workers in the U.S. But with the recession bringing new construction projects to a near standstill, jobs have disappeared.

“Construction is a business where you borrow money to build a building,” says Bev Garnant, the executive director of the American Society of Concrete Contractors. Needless to say, banks have been reluctant to part with capital. “The contractor industry has been hit very hard,” she says, “and obviously concrete is part of that.”

In this climate, with condo and HOA boards keeping an eye on the bottom line more carefully than ever, the decision to accept the lowest bid on every project can be extremely tempting. This can, in the end, wind up costing you. “As we like to say,” says Garnant, “‘Buying low dollar can be high risk.’Boards and managers need to be very careful and selective of who they’re putting on the bid list. Don’t go shopping just for the low number.”

Another tip: check for certifications. ACI offers them in a variety of areas of expertise, including aggregate base testing, flatwork, and concrete field testing. “There are certifications you can get through ACI,” Garnant says.

Concrete Advice

So when do you know it's time to bring in a concrete professional to assess your pavement and make the necessary maintenance and repairs?

According to the professionals, springtime is a great time to conduct a walk-through of your property and make note of any changes to pavement and concrete surfaces since last season. A professional contractor can also inspect your pavement for any wear-and-tear the untrained eye might miss.

“During a routine maintenance check, we look for major failures that would have to be repaired,” says Amorosi. “That could be settlement, or frost heave, or a pothole. We also look for subsurface drainage issues, if there's seepage of water through the pavement. Those need to be repaired, because again, in the winter, that seepage will start to freeze and then cause failures. But those are the obvious things that they would look for.”

“When I install a new pavement, I create a pavement management plan,” says Eosso. “It's sort of a blueprint or timeline for how to extend the life of the pavement. The second year after the pavement's installed, apply your first protective coating and a seal coat, and then every three to four years after that, a new sealer. In between that there's annual crack filling, because every winter you're going to experience new cracks. And then patching is important if an area fails. It's a lot cheaper to get it while it's small than to let it extend and fail on a larger scale.”

Typical annual maintenance includes both structural and aesthetic touch-ups, according to Amorosi. “The cracks are cleaned out and filled, and we remove any organics or weeds growing through them, blow them out and fill them up with sealer.”

Eosso cautions against overzealous sealing however, and urges HOAs and condo building administrators to be mindful of maintenance schedules for their paved surfaces. “I see a lot of homeowners over-seal their driveways,” he says. “They seal them every year and they crack because there are too many coatings on top. It's better to make sure that you know the proper timeline for maintenance, and not over-maintain or under-maintain your surfaces.”

If damage to your pavement is extensive or severe, it may be time to bite the bullet and actually replace the surface in question. “The useful life that we typically give pavements in the North Jersey and New York areas is 15 years,” says Amorosi. “When you start to see what we call 'alligatoring' failures, like cracks or larger potholes, or the aggregate or stone in the pavement is starting to come loose, those are signs that the pavement is reaching the end of its useful life. And at that point, an association should start to consider reconstructing or overlaying the pavement. It's based on age, but conditions will reveal that as well.”

Hiring a concrete contractor is not much different from bringing in a painter, or any other kind of vendor or service provider. They should be vetted and referenced just as thoroughly and perhaps even more so, since their work is used constantly and meant to last so long. Repairing a subpar hallway paint job is one thing: tearing out and re-pouring even a section of sidewalk is a much bigger deal, and one that can cost a building dearly if it's not handled promptly and properly.

Greg Olear is a freelance writer and author living in New Jersey.