Asphalt Repair and Patching in Tomah
Asphalt Repair and Patching in Tomah, Wisconsin.
Pothole, patch and sinkhole repair for commercial lots in Tomah. Saw-cut square, the failed base dug out and rebuilt, the patch compacted flush and the joint sealed.
About an hour and fifteen minutes southeast of Eau Claire on I-94 and I-90. The estimate is free.

Working in Tomah
The city says outright that freight companies locate here because I-90 and I-94 divide in town, and truck traffic is what sets the repair list on this end of the corridor. Dock approaches, the apron where a trailer swings in, and the lane just inside a gate are where the base gives out. Those get saw cut back to sound asphalt, the base dug out and rebuilt to something that compacts, then hot mix rolled in flush with what's around it. Cold patch holds it through February and no longer.
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. Repairable
- The garage apron has sunk where it meets the concreteCommon and fixable. Usually settlement under the transition, cut out and rebuilt. Repairable
- Cracked into squares in a few areas, sound elsewhereCut those areas out full depth, patch, then seal the whole surface. Repairable
- 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. Needs replacement
- 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. Depends, send a photo
Photos of the worst two areas are usually enough for us to tell you which it is.
What Decides the Price in Tomah
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 Tomah
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.
How far southeast do you come?
Our yard takes semis all day. Is sealer even worth it out there?
How much does pothole repair cost?
Why does my patch keep failing?
Can you repair a sinkhole in a driveway or lot?
Is it cheaper to repair the asphalt or repave it?
How soon can we drive on a new asphalt patch?
The Lots and Surfaces in Tomah
Tomah is in Monroe County, a city of about 9,600 at the point where I-90 and I-94 divide, and that split is most of the reason the town looks the way it does. It's 81 miles from Eau Claire, about an hour and fifteen minutes, and 40 miles east of La Crosse. Exit 43 off I-90 is US 12 and Highway 16, and Highways 21 and 131 come through as well.
Freight is why the lots here are big. The city names Cardinal IG and Cardinal TG, Toro, Exopack, USEMCO, Meca Sportswear, Mars Pet Care and a Walmart distribution center among its employers, along with local and statewide trucking firms, and says outright that distribution companies locate in Tomah because the two interstates divide there. Ocean Spray's plant runs three lines and turns out 31 million pounds of sweetened dried cranberries and concentrate a year. Monroe County lists three business properties in the city, I-90 Corridor Land, Meadows Park and Forward Tomah Land, most of them inside tax increment districts.
The largest single campus is the Tomah VA Medical Center on East Veterans Street, 174 acres and 266 beds serving veterans across 16 counties in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Tomah Health, Gundersen and a Mayo clinic are also in town, the Walmart Supercenter is on West McCoy Boulevard a minute off the interstate, and the school district runs eight elementary schools, a middle school and the high school on Lincoln Avenue. Western Technical College has a campus on East Milwaukee Street, and Tomah sits between Fort McCoy and Volk Field.
Where we work in Tomah
- I-90 Corridor Land
- Meadows Park
- Forward Tomah Land
- West McCoy Boulevard
- The I-90 and I-94 split
Around Tomah: Tomah VA Medical Center on East Veterans Street, Lake Tomah, The point where I-90 and I-94 divide, The Tomah Amtrak stop, The old Tomah Post Office.
9,574 people, 2024 Census estimate.
Monroe County is on the Driftless side of the state, the part the glaciers went around.
Get a Free Estimate in Tomah
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 Tomah
- 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.
Other Work We Do in Tomah
- Sealcoating in Tomah
- Crack Filling and Sealing in Tomah
- Catch Basin Repair in Tomah
- Parking Lot Striping in Tomah
- Track and Athletic Surfaces in Tomah
- Concrete in Tomah
- Asphalt Paving in Tomah
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Everything about asphalt repair and patching, including how the work goes and what changes the price



