Parking Lot Curb Repairs: Fixing Damaged Concrete Curbs

When the snow melts in parking lots, what’s often revealed is cracked and broken curbs. Curb repairs ensure your customers’ safety and the longevity of your parking lot—the place where customers form their first impression of your business. What do you need to know about having cement or concrete curbs repaired and this early step in general parking lot maintenance?

What causes curb repair damage?

Parking lot curb damage is usually caused by snow removal equipment, vehicles and trees. Over the course of winter across the Thompson-Okanagan, snow removal equipment can sometimes miss avoiding a curb when it’s buried after heavy snowfalls.

Delivery trucks making their way through parking lot passages that are not designed for larger trucks can also hit curbs, and that repetitive contact can break up the concrete over time. Even customer vehicles can cause significant curb damage, especially over winter as curbs are buried and drivers sometimes take shortcuts through parking lots.

Another major cause of curb damage is trees: As many trees mature, their strong root system can eventually cause a curb to crack open.

How do you know if your curb damage needs to be repaired?

Curb damage can range from chunks at the edge missing to cracks in the middle to having a curb completely physically dislodged from its original area.

At GRM, we perform on-site inspections early on every spring for our 4 season property maintenance clients. During that inspection, we closely inspect and make note of any curb damage that may have occurred over winter—and we’ll make recommendations for repairs to help ensure parking lot safety and longevity.

How are damaged parking lot curbs repaired?

Parking lot curb maintenance usually follows these steps:

1. Removal of broken curb remnants
2. Pouring new curbing to match the existing design, including enhanced reinforcement to help prevent future cracks and breaks or
3. If the repairs are minor, we’ll push the curb back in place, pin to the ground and patch any cracks

If a certain area of parking lot curbing is consistently seeing significant damage from trucks driving over it, sometimes our property maintenance experts will make recommendations about how to permanently cut a curb island back and repair it to a smaller size to help improve traffic flow-through and reduce the need for repairs.

If one of the causes is tree roots breaking up the concrete and we also provide your landscaping services, we can also make recommendations about plants and trees that might better suit the area or another part of the land that’s further away from rigid surfaces.

What’s the risk of not fixing curb repairs & what are the benefits pf concrete curb repairs?

What happens if you leave cracked or broken open curbs in your parking lot? There are several risks, some significant enough that it’s always worth repairing as soon as possible.

Broken, cracked and dislodged curbs:

• Are a trip hazard and a potential liability risk if a customer is injured
• Can cause damage to customers’ vehicles and create a liability risk. If the curb impacts as a speed bump, it can actually knock out a vehicle’s alignment, which can be expensive and dangerous
• Can no longer hold landscaping (dirt, shrubs and plants) in place, and these can spill into the parking lot during storms
• Are unsightly and obvious to guests entering your parking lot

When curbs are repaired to a smooth and stable finish that allows a curb to do its job, it:

• Enhances the aesthetics and first impressions of your business in your parking lot
• Improves the safety of pedestrians and drivers
• Functions as a barrier to keep beautiful greenery in place
• Furthers your reputation as a successful, lasting business that cares

What’s the best timing for curb repairs?

As soon as the snow melts, the need for concrete or cement curb repairs becomes obvious and necessary. To avoid the risk of liability, loss of landscaping and customer concerns, it’s best to have concrete or cement curb repairs performed early in the spring.

As long as it’s not raining, concrete can be poured, so cooler April or May temperatures are fine. At GRM, we tend to do parking lot curb repairs first thing in the morning and simply leave a cone in the stall where a repair was done so customers can still easily access your parking lot through the business day.

If you’re looking for several ways to make your parking lot look new, curb repairs can take place early on, before or after lot sweeping, but before line painting.

What does it cost to do curb repairs?

Every parking lot’s curb maintenance needs will be a little different. If you’re wondering what to expect, call us to book an on-site inspection so our property maintenance experts can do a thorough review and documentation of your needs, and prepare a comprehensive quote.

Looking for reliable, lasting commercial curb repairs in the Okanagan? GRM is the trusted property maintenance team with decades of experience serving Kelowna, West Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, Kamloops and Merritt. Contact us today and get your inspection and service booked.