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Asphalt Repair and Patching in Stillwater

Asphalt Repair and Patching in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Pothole, patch and sinkhole repair for commercial lots in Stillwater. Saw-cut square, the failed base dug out and rebuilt, the patch compacted flush and the joint sealed.

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4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About an hour and a half west of Eau Claire on I-94 and north on Highway 36. The estimate is free.

A Bobcat skid steer beside two saw-cut sections of asphalt on a commercial parking lot, work area coned off while cars stay parked around it.
4.7 Google ratingFrom 21 reviews
7 days Sinkhole to finishedFrom a 2026 review
Full Depth patchingNot a skim over the top

Working in Stillwater

Downtown Stillwater has roughly 760 surface parking spaces, most of them along the river, and those are the oldest surfaces in the city. A pothole there starts where it starts everywhere, with water in an open crack that freezes and lifts. The repair is saw-cut back to sound asphalt, the failed base dug out and rebuilt in lifts, hot mix rolled in flush and the joint sealed. Out on 36 the failures are in the delivery lanes behind the retail rather than in the customer parking.

From our jobs

Job Photos

Two fresh asphalt patches laid in a worn parking lot, cones still around them
Full-depth patches laid and coned off
A crew member kneeling at a stall line working patch material by hand
Hand work at the stall lines
A fresh full-depth asphalt patch coned off in a commercial lot outside an industrial building with dock doors
A full-depth patch outside the dock doors

All job photos

Filled vs. repaired

The pothole that comes back every spring is being filled rather than repaired. Cold patch is a temporary measure and an honest one when it's sold as that: it's loose material tamped into a hole, with no bond to the sides and nothing done about the failed base underneath. It gets you through a winter. A real repair means cutting a clean square back to material that's still sound, taking out everything soft below it, putting the base back and compacting it in lifts, then laying hot asphalt and rolling it. The patch ends up stronger than what is around it, which is why the failure doesn't come back through the middle of it.

Filled

The quick version

  • Cold patch tamped into the hole as found
  • Ragged edges, so there's nothing to key against
  • Failed base left in place
  • Back within a season, usually wider

Repaired

What we do

  • Saw cut to clean vertical edges, back to sound asphalt
  • Soft material dug out until the bottom is firm
  • Base replaced and compacted in lifts
  • Hot mix laid, rolled, and the joint sealed

Cold patch has its place: it's the right call in February when nothing else can be done. It's the wrong call in July.

Repair or repave?

Most lots that get deferred don't need repaving.

What we look at before quoting either one.

  • Two or three potholes, the rest of the surface is soundStraightforward patching. Nowhere near needing an overlay.
  • The garage apron has sunk where it meets the concreteCommon and fixable. Usually settlement under the transition, cut out and rebuilt.
  • Cracked into squares in a few areas, sound elsewhereCut those areas out full depth, patch, then seal the whole surface.
  • That squared cracking across most of the lotThe base has gone broadly. Patching it becomes a rolling cost with no end. An overlay or a rebuild is the answer.
  • Water sits in the same spot after every rainGrade or drainage, and it has to be solved before any surface work, or the new surface fails in exactly the same place.

Photos of the worst two areas are usually enough for us to tell you which it is.

What Decides the Price in Stillwater

Repairs are priced by area and by how deep the trouble goes, and the depth isn't knowable until it's open. These are the bands most jobs land in.

Single pothole

Up to a few square feet

Measured on site

  • Saw cut, dig out, base, hot mix, compact
  • Cheaper alongside other work

Failed area or apron

Roughly 50 to 300 sq ft

Measured on site

  • The common commercial repair, and the garage apron at home
  • Priced per square foot once the area is measured

Sinkhole or subgrade failure

Depth unknown until opened

Measured on site

  • Often a drainage or utility problem underneath
  • Assessed and quoted before the machine moves

Several repairs on one visit come down substantially per repair, because getting the machine and the crew on site is most of the cost of a small one. If you have three, have them all looked at.

How the Work Goes in Stillwater

Same method on a driveway apron and on a loading dock approach.

Find the edge of the failure

The visible hole is smaller than the damage. We sound out where the surface is still supported and cut outside that, not around the hole.

Saw cut square, clean vertical faces

A patch cut tight against a clean edge stays. A patch feathered against a ragged one fails at the joint, which is why so many patches fail in a ring.

Dig out to something firm

Everything soft comes out. If the bottom is wet, that's a drainage problem and the best patch in the world won't last sitting on water.

Base back in, compacted in lifts

Compacted in layers rather than dumped and rolled once. This is the invisible step that decides whether the repair lasts two years or twenty.

Hot mix, rolled, joint sealed

Laid to the surrounding grade so water still runs where it's supposed to, compacted, and the perimeter joint sealed against the next freeze.

Booking the last of the sealcoating season now · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Stillwater

What Stillwater calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far is it from Eau Claire, and do you come this far for a lot?
About 74 miles and an hour and a half: I-94 west, then north on Highway 36. For commercial lots we come out. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
Does county work have to go out as a formal bid?
Yes, and it comes back in that form. You get a written scope with the quantities measured and a fixed number, which is what a county board or a facilities committee needs in front of it.
How much does pothole repair cost?
Square footage and depth, mostly. A pothole that stops at the surface is a different job from one where the base underneath has gone, and you cannot tell which you have until it is opened. What we can tell you before that: several repairs done on one visit come down substantially per repair, because the trip and the mobilisation are already paid for. The assessment is free.
Why does my patch keep failing?
Almost always because it was filled rather than repaired: no clean cut, no removal of the failed base, and nothing bonding it to the asphalt around it. The failure was underneath and it's still there.
Can you repair a sinkhole in a driveway or lot?
Yes, and quickly. Our newest review is a sinkhole repaired within seven days. A sinkhole means material is being washed out from underneath, usually by drainage or a failed pipe, so the repair includes finding out why.
Is it cheaper to repair the asphalt or repave it?
Repair, until roughly a quarter to a third of the surface has failed. Past that you're patching patches and an overlay becomes better value. The estimate measures how much of your surface has actually failed.
How soon can we drive on a new asphalt patch?
Hot mix takes traffic as soon as it has cooled, usually a few hours. That's the material rather than a schedule: what a specific repair means for your lot is one of the things the estimate works out.

The Lots and Surfaces in Stillwater

Stillwater is the Washington County seat, on the St. Croix River, about 19,000 people and roughly 74 miles from Eau Claire: I-94 west and then north on Highway 36. Highways 36, 95 and 96 all run through it. The old downtown is down on the river and the newer commercial ground is out west along 36.

The county holds the biggest institutional ground in town. The Washington County Government Center on 62nd Street North is the main campus for county government, and the courthouse carries community corrections and the Tenth Judicial District courts. Lakeview Hospital is on Churchill Street West and City Hall is on 4th Street North.

The retail is on Highway 36. Stillwater Marketplace on Market Drive runs 13.6 acres and about 100,922 square feet of retail anchored by Cub Foods and Target, built in phases between 1996 and 2000, and Valley Ridge Center on 36 is another 82,289 square feet on 8.32 acres. West Stillwater has a business park area along Curve Crest Boulevard and Tower Drive, zoned business park office with Highway 36 access. Downtown is a parking question more than a retail corridor: the city runs a paid ramp of 248 spaces a block west of Main Street plus roughly 760 surface spaces, most of them along the river.

Where we work in Stillwater

  • Curve Crest Boulevard
  • Tower Drive
  • Market Drive
  • The Highway 36 corridor
  • Downtown Main Street

Around Stillwater: The Stillwater Lift Bridge, Lowell Park on the riverfront, The Washington County Government Center on 62nd Street North, Lakeview Hospital on Churchill Street West, The Warden's House Museum.

19,386 people, 2024 Census estimate.

The ground around here is sandy glacial outwash, excessively drained, sand and sandy loam textures. MnDOT has wanted 30 to 36 inches of frost-free material under asphalt since 1995, and it rates silt as the worst soil there is for frost heave.

Get a Free Estimate in Stillwater

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on commercial lots and properties in Stillwater
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

Get an estimate

Send the form and we'll call you back. The estimate is free.

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