The parking lot is usually the first thing a tenant, a customer, or a prospective buyer touches, and it is almost always the last thing to make it into a maintenance plan. It gets attention when something breaks. A pothole opens up, somebody complains about the striping, an inspection flags the ADA stalls, and then it becomes urgent and expensive on somebody else's timeline.
The alternative is not complicated. Pavement fails in predictable ways on a predictable timeline, and in this climate it fails for one reason above all others: water getting off the surface and into the base. Nearly every task below exists to stop that. Here is what belongs in the schedule for a commercial lot in Clark County, and when each piece has to happen given our weather.
Why a schedule beats reacting to problems
Pavement deterioration is not linear. A lot loses condition slowly for years and then falls off a cliff, because the failure modes compound. A crack lets water into the base. The saturated base stops supporting traffic. The asphalt above it fatigues into alligator cracking. The cracked surface loses pieces and becomes a pothole. Every step is cheaper than the one after it, and by a wide margin.
The practical consequence for a property manager is that timing beats spending. Money spent on crack filling in year two does more for the lot than several times that spent on patching in year six. That is the entire argument for a schedule.
What to inspect every spring
April is the most valuable walk of the year. Our wet season has just spent five months stress-testing the pavement, and anything weak has announced itself. Take twenty minutes with a notepad and look for:
- New cracks, and old cracks that have widened. Note whether they are straight lines or a connected web, because those mean very different things.
- Standing water a day after rain. Puddles mark low spots and drainage failures, which are a permanent water supply feeding the base.
- Catch basins and drains. Blocked drains turn the whole lot into a birdbath. Fir needles and leaf fall do this every winter here.
- Potholes and soft areas. Anything that moves under a vehicle is structural, not cosmetic.
- Striping visibility. If stalls and directional arrows are hard to read in the rain at dusk, they are due.
- Signs, wheel stops, and bollards. Faded, bent, missing, or knocked loose over the winter.
- ADA stalls specifically. Count them, check the van stall, and look at the condition of the surface in those stalls and their access aisles.
That last one is worth doing deliberately rather than by eye, since the requirements are specific and older layouts are often short. Our guide to ADA parking requirements in Washington has the count table and the Washington-specific stall dimensions.
What to do every year
The annual line is small, steady, and does most of the protective work.
- Sweeping. More than appearance. Grit sitting on asphalt holds moisture against the surface and grinds it under traffic, and debris washing into catch basins is what blocks them. Power sweeping on a regular interval, and at minimum after leaf fall, keeps both problems off the list.
- Drain and catch-basin clearing. Cheap, fast, and the difference between water leaving the lot and water sitting on it all winter.
- Crack filling as needed. Every crack sealed is water that never reaches the base. If one thing on this page gets done every year, make it this one.
- Pressure washing walkways and storefront concrete. Gum, oil, and the moss and algae that our climate grows on any damp north-facing surface. Commercial pressure washing is also a safety item, since a mossy walkway is genuinely slick in November.
- Spot repairs. Fix the two or three small failures rather than letting them become the reason for a bigger project later.
What to do every two to three years
This is the cyclical line, and the two items on it travel together because the sequence requires it.
Sealcoating. Every two to three years for most Clark County lots. The trigger is visual as much as it is calendar-driven: when black has gone grey and the surface texture is getting rough, the binder is oxidizing. A fresh seal coat blocks water, UV, and oil and resets that clock.
Restriping. Fresh striping and pavement markings go on after the seal coat has cured, never before, since sealer covers whatever was underneath it. Because the lines are coming off anyway, this is the natural moment to correct a layout: fix the ADA count, add the van stall you are short, re-space the stalls if the lot has always been awkward.
Signage and wheel stops belong in this cycle too. Signs fade and get bent, and wheel stops and bollards take a beating. Replacing them while the crew is already on site is cheaper than a separate visit.
What to check every five to seven years
On a longer horizon, step back from maintenance and look at the asset.
- Structural condition. How much of the lot is showing fatigue cracking, and is it spreading or holding? This is the number that eventually decides between continuing maintenance and planning an overlay.
- Patch performance. Patches that are failing at the edges a year or two in are telling you the base problem is larger than the patch was.
- Drainage design. If the same low spots keep coming back after correction, the grade itself is the problem.
- A full accessibility review. Standards and tenants both change. Slope is the item that cannot be fixed with paint, so it is worth measuring before you commit to another striping cycle.
If the structural picture is what you are trying to read, our guide on sealcoating versus patching versus repaving covers how to tell isolated failures from a lot that has run out of road.
A Clark County calendar, month by month
The reason a generic maintenance list does not work here is the weather. Sealcoating needs sustained warmth and a dry window, which our climate hands out for a limited stretch. Everything below is arranged around that constraint.
October through March: the wet season
Protective and reactive work only. Keep drains and catch basins clear, sweep after leaf fall, patch potholes as hazards appear, and replace damaged signs and wheel stops. Walk the lot after any significant storm. No sealcoating happens in this window, and crack filling wants a dry surface, so anything left undone in September generally waits.
April and May: inspect, budget, and book
Do the spring walk described above. Turn it into a scope, get quotes, and get on a schedule. This is the part that most often gets postponed and it is the part that determines whether you get a July date or a September maybe, since the good weeks fill before they arrive.
June through September: the work window
Everything heavy happens here, in this order: repairs and patching first, then crack filling, then sealcoating, then striping. Doing them out of order wastes the earlier step. July and August are the most reliable weeks, and the details of why are in our guide to the best time to sealcoat in the Pacific Northwest.
September: close out before the rain
Second walk of the year. Finish crack filling, clear the drains ahead of leaf fall, and confirm striping and signage are legible heading into the dark months. Anything not done now is a spring item.
What to put in the budget
Two lines rather than one, because they behave differently.
The annual line covers sweeping, drain clearing, crack filling, pressure washing, and small repairs. It is relatively flat year to year and it is the line that prevents the other one from growing.
The cyclical line covers sealcoating and restriping on a two-to-three-year rotation, signage and wheel stop replacement in the same cycle, and a longer-horizon allowance for larger repair or overlay work. Spreading the cyclical line across the years between events is what keeps it from arriving as a surprise.
We do not publish square-foot pricing, because a quote that means anything depends on the size of the lot, its condition, how much repair is in front of the seal coat, and how many coats it needs. What we will do is measure the property and put a written scope in front of you that you can actually build a budget around.
Getting started on a plan
If you manage a commercial property anywhere in Clark County, the useful first step is the spring walk, whether you do it yourself with the list above or have us do it with you. Most lots we look at need less than the owner feared: a few areas patched, cracks filled before another wet season gets into them, and a seal coat to hold the line. That is a maintenance conversation, and having it on schedule is what keeps it from becoming a capital one.
