Frequently Asked Questions

Asphalt is porous and needs sealcoating to ensure that it has a much longer life than that of unsealed pavement. Even on weak pavement, sealcoating will prevent water and oxidizing effects of the sun, salts, and vehicle fluid damage. This high-quality coating preserves the pavement surface, and the asphalt and aggregate layers will remain protected and moist for flexibility. 

WRONG plan. There are all kinds of grades of sealer, so you get what you pay for here. We only use a premixed sealer from the Brewer Co. a premiere manufacturer. We don’t add water to keep the cost down. There are contractors that dilute premixed with 100% water making a 50/50 watered down mix. Of course, there are the traveling “Gypsies” from out of state who mix used motor oil with kerosene, and by the time the first rain comes and it washes off they are who knows where with your money. You want a local contractor with lettered vehicles, professional equipment, and charging a fair price.

Easy answer here would be --The hassle involved to get the tools, materials (which is really just an OK homeowner grade), and time vs. having us come do it correctly with the professional grade materials and tools.

For the longer answer, or those who feel the need to be handy, let’s look at the expense. Since the sealer is not of professional quality (yea I know the bucket says it is, but then why don’t more contractors get it there then?) you need to do two coats. 1 gallon will cover +/- 70 sq.ft. (again I know the bucket says 100 --- NOT) so the average drive needs 20 gallons for the 2 coats and it will take a whole weekend if it’s hot to do it (1 day for crack filling and first coat to dry, and 1 for second coat) and the material will be $100-175 depending on grade or store, plus tools for $20 and $30 or so for crack filler so that is $150-225. Do you have a powerful enough blower to get rid of the dirt and dust? Not unless you have a push behind the model. On top of it all--- you spend a lot of your weekend in the sun doing the work.    Now on the other hand we would charge around $200 or less and do it in a day with professional materials which will last longer and provide better protection.

YES. Spraying is the best way because it gives the thickest coating. It is used by few contractors though because of the investment that is needed to buy the equipment. It’s not just a $40 4’ brush or $100 6’ squeegee and $50 tote, oh no, spraying trailers are expensive because they provide an expert level of application.  Brushing takes more time and is uneven and is used by under-equipped contractors because it is cheap to get into business. Squeegee is used by contractors concerned with profit not quality, because they are barely leaving any material behind covering the area 6’ at a time and still charging quite a bit. They are working under the “Make it black and Don’t look back” philosophy. That’s why in 6-11 months you can see the big sweep marks on the asphalt. Squeegee, not an acceptable method as it barely coats the surface. You use a squeegee when you’re trying to get water off of a surface, so why would you want someone to use it to spread a protective coating?

Think about it this way, if you’re doing painting with a spray can it’s very easy to put too much on and get runs but not with a brush. With a brush you can get what’s left behind because it is pulling all of the material along and leaving behind what goes thru the bristles. And trying to paint something by dumping paint in a spot and using shower wall squeegee to spread it around, well that’s more like a Stooges rerun.

First, just sealing over cracks does nothing, and a person could trip or fall because of them, and now your named in injury lawsuit. Unfortunately case law shows you will lose because of negligence, that crack or pothole didn’t happen overnight.

Second, if you don’t, you are inviting trouble over the cold winter months. Very costly repairs or even replacements will be needed because the cracks and holes let water seep into the aggregate foundation under the pavement. In the cold months during the freezes, the water turns to ice and expands the cracks and holes. Fixing these cracks and holes now along with sealing the pavement, will preserve your investment. The money spent on repairs before the sealing is nothing compared to the thousands for patching or replacement.

NO, the sealer will fill in small imperfections less than 1/16th of an inch or the thickness of a dime, but a liquid crack filler is used on cracks up to ½” or roughly your pinky. Heated filler must be used on bigger the bigger cracks and “alligatored” areas are treated with mastic that is applied with a squeegee to spread it out.

If there is rain in the forecast, we hold off because the sealer is an asphalt/ polymer mix that is water-soluble, so rain will spot it up and can even wash it away. The temperature also needs to be above 50 for timely drying. In the fall, it can be applied until the nights reach freezing since it is water soluble.

Once laid the pavement starts to degrade right then, and that is sped up due to rain, sun, and traffic. Winter snowplowing and salting is especially hard on the pavement. One completely true and unavoidable fact of asphalt paving is that; if a small amount isn’t spent each year, then in 5-7, maybe 10 years if you’re lucky, a huge amount has to be spent.

New asphalt pavement can be sealed 90 days after installation. Striping can be done once the sealer is completely dry.

Coating of the surface should be done yearly or bi-yearly based on the traffic to prevent costly major repairs.

Sealcoating needs to be thought of as “waterproofing” and just as you seal or waterproof wood decks yearly, the same should be done for asphalt surfaces. As a matter of fact, more attention should be paid to asphalt paving than wood decks because of the chemicals, snow removal operations and vehicle traffic that it is subjected to on a daily basis.

The average to have residential drive cracks done on an annual bases can start are $0 on new drives and be $25 yearly if kept up with it. Ignoring it though or using a contractor that uses sealer to fill the cracks will result is hundreds of dollars to do it right. At some point it so bad it has to be removed and replaced. This worse case scenario is around $5.50 to $7.50 a sq.ft. So that is like 30 times the cost of the coating and crack repairs. It seems like a pretty easy call to make on what to do. SEALCOAT REGULARLY.