What You Should Know
One completely true and unavoidable fact of asphalt paving is this; 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.
To those whose might be, or are selling a home or commercial site remember that enhancing, protecting, restoring, or renewing your asphalt can increase the curb appeal and overall appearance of your property and the value substantially. In fact it can be one of the cheapest curb appeal enhancements that you can make.
Resists Fuel and Oil Penetration
Resists chemical, gas, oil, and salt penetration. Asphalt is a porous petroleum derivative, soluble by petroleum distillates such as diesel, gas and oil drillings and spills. Seal coating prevents this damage.
Why to Sealcoat
Resists Water Penetration
The intrusion of moisture into asphalt is one of the biggest accelerators to its deterioration and overall pavement distress. A-1’s sealing of well cured asphalt prevents the seepage of moisture from snow and rain into the pavement and its base, thus preventing damage from freeze – thaw cycles.
Stops Oxidation
Sunlight oxidizes the asphalt oils in the pavement, causing brittleness and resulting in the loss aggregates which may rob up to 50% of the original pavement surface thickness in just 5 years. . A-1’s sealing of the pavement will resist oxidative deterioration and retain its value.
Protection
A-1 uses Brewer Coat, a premier and 65 year old, brand product. We only use the premixed Brewer Poly-coat sealer, not he concentrated Brewercoat form that needs to be watered down. This done however the contractor wants-usually in the 60 to 70% water vs. sealer range. This polycoating has additives that make it a flexible and durable coating that protects the pavement from the damaging elements of gas, other petrochemicals, salt, water, and weather
Appearance
The dark charcoal to black color of newly applied pavement sealer improves the appearance of new and old asphalt. Unprotected asphalt pavements gradually lose their rich black color due to oxidation and weathering. A-1 can preserve the smoothness and resilience of asphalt surfaces and help hide rough spots, small cracks (under 3/16 of an inch), patches, and some slight surface depressions. Pavements coated by us look cleaner because rain fall washes the dirt and debris easily from the smoothed, non-porous surface. In the winter frost, ice, light snowfalls, and snowplowing left over’s melt faster on the dark surface than on light colored weathered pavement. Traffic lines are more visible on the refreshed pavement.
Before any pavement is sealed it recommended that the “alligatored” areas, cracks, and potholes are repaired. When you properly paint the exterior of your property you don’t paint over chipping, peeling, or new wood without preparing it. So why would you not properly prepare your pavement before you seal it? Once these repairs are made, if the asphalt is sealed yearly then this additional expense is either eliminated or greatly reduced. Surface imperfections form due to aggregate base issues, contractor installation issues, vegetation issues, water issues, or weight load vs. thickness issues. In order to eliminate future reoccurrences then the causing issue needs to be resolved.
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 vehical traffic that it is subjected to on a daily basis.