Signs Your Driveway Needs Repaving

Straight answer for Shreveport-area homeowners planning asphalt work. No sales-y bloat — just what we’d tell a friend.

The Watch-For Signs

In rough order of “get a walk-through soon” severity: (1) surface color has faded from black to gray or tan — you’re past sealcoat but not necessarily past overlay; (2) hairline cracks that have opened to 1/8" or wider — sealing window is closing; (3) potholes forming — base-course failure has started; (4) alligator cracking — sub-grade failure signature, patch-only fixes won’t hold; (5) edge crumbling or slumping — edge failure that will eat inward if not addressed; (6) standing water after rain that didn’t used to pond — grade has shifted, structural issue underneath.

One or two hairlines is normal maintenance territory. Multiple items from this list on the same surface is a strong signal that patch-and-seal is no longer the right economics and either an overlay or full replacement is the honest answer.

The 20% Rule

The straightforward decision rule we use on walk-throughs: once patched area covers roughly 20% of the total surface, the annualized cost of continued patching approaches the annualized cost of a mill-and-overlay, and the smart-money move is to overlay. Below 20%, patching is genuinely cheaper. Above 20%, patching is spending good money after bad.

For a 1,000 sqft residential driveway that’s roughly 200 sqft of accumulated patch area. If your driveway looks like a quilt of patches, you’re past the threshold. See the overlay page for the mid-life reset option.

The Sub-Grade Test

Not visible from the surface: rocking. Get in a mid-size vehicle, drive slowly across the pavement, and feel for the surface flexing under the wheel. A driveway that visibly bows down under vehicle weight has a compromised base course. Overlay won’t fix that — you’re looking at full replacement. This is the diagnosis that most surprises homeowners who assumed an overlay would do the job.