White Topping

In the past three years, three parking lots have had ultra-thin, white-topping used in place of conventional bituminous asphalt.  The parking lots were in need of resurfacing but rather then applying asphalt, a thin three inch (3”) layer of concrete was installed over the existing asphalt.  Most conventional concrete applications would require the removal of the asphalt and the installation of six inches or more of concrete necessary to withstand traffic loads.  Using ultra thin allowed us to use the asphalt already in place as a “base” for the concrete. 

There are many environmental benefits to ultra-thin white-topping.

• With existing paved surfaces, it eliminates the need to remove existing asphalt, thus reducing landfill waste.
• The concrete will last longer.  It is estimated in most cases to be twice the life of asphalt. This conserves both money and resources as the surface needs to be replaced less frequently.
• The white color has a high albedo.  In other words, it reflects rather than absorbs light.  The reflective quality of the concrete doubled the candle power in the parking lot.  This means more light with our existing lighting fixtures at no additional cost and a safer environment for faculty, staff and students. 
• The lighter surface color also helps reduce the heat island effect, which is often felt in parking lots with black/dark colors (temperatures can sometimes be 10 -12 degrees warmer because the dark color absorbs heat).


Before


Laying the concrete


Applying the white coating


You can see that it really is only 3 inches!