Thoughts on Sealcoating?

[Diggin It]

My blacktop driveway has been down 12 years. I coated it myself from buckets 2 years later. It's holding up well, but I'm wondering about coating it again. Neighbor had theirs spray coated a few years back, but it's already faded again.

Thoughts on bucket and brush versus hot/spray coating?

I know the bucket method costs less, but I'm ten years older than I was then.

 

[oosik]

One of my friends works for a company the does "line striping" and seal coating. They are a contractor that does highway jobs for the county( low bid). The seal coating is to repair the small cracks that will develop, with time, in the highway asphalt. I've never heard them say that the seal coating was done because the surface was fading.

You want to re-seal coat because the surface is fading. That's like me re-painting my outbuildings because the paint has faded.

I would guess that a professional hot seal coating would be better than what you can do with a bucket and roller/brush.

It's going to cost more but you can sit in the shade, with your favorite beverage, and just watch.

Age is funny that way........

 

[Streetcar]

Fading is from cheap material with dyes in it. You are paying for material with your labor or someone else. Good contractors can get high quality materials that will last longer

 

[Ford850]

Most of the sealers are more like a thin watery paint. They do help seal out moisture and fill some cracks temporarily, but the older the drive, the easier they wear off after application. I've only seen the "soap and water" clean up stuff or years.
So, comparing that to painting a house or barn... surface prep means a lot. Clean and dry will make for a longer lasting top coat. Some sealer comes with sand added to fill gaps. Some people sweep sand over the drive first to fill gaps and give the sealer something to hold it in those areas. Spray application gives you a fast and thin coat. Brush application floods the surface to fill thin cracks, but uses more material and takes longer to apply and dry. In my opinion there's no right or wrong decision, other than poor surface prep. Just pick the one that fits your expectations or needs.

 

[RNeumann]

Your job lasted 10 years- that pretty good! I’d just hit it again- especially if it’s only 10 gallons.

The contractors have two processes- one is a fog or spray seal. It’s thin and is sprayed on like paint. The second is a slurry seal. It is a bit thicker and is spread out with squeegee type device. The stuff you buy from the store typically a little better than the spray seal but not up to a slurry seal. Most asphalt contractors would tell you to seal a driveway every 2-3 years because of the tires turning on the surface. Like I said above- just coat it again or hire a kid to help you- that method held up well for you!

 

[Diggin It]

I've seen the spray coat and other than being hot, it doesn't appear to be much better than hot paint. The company that did it used something else to fill the cracks first, but that hasn't held up either. I don't care about the color, fading was referring to surface wear.


At least doing it by bucket and brush I can scrub it in to the worse spots and crevices, even pour some into wider cracks if needed where a filler didn't seat well. I've only got a little over 200 linear feet instead of their nearly 1/4 mile.


I just wasn't sure of there was any advantage to the hot material.

I think I used six or seven 5 gallon buckets at around $25/each. I'd be hoping to use less this time since the new blacktop seemed to almost soak it in the first time.

 

[snymat68]

I just (2 weeks ago) finished sealing my own driveway. It's about 2000 sqft. It had been 6+ years since it was last done and it was starting to develop cracks and was very "pitted" due to the tar eroding over time and leaving the aggregate.

I spent 2 weeks worth of evenings pressure washing the driveway very thoroughly.
I would wet it down, go over it with one of the spinning surface cleaner attachments to break the dirt loose, then spray it off again with a regular fan tip.
I also spent extra time thoroughly spraying out every crack.
After doing all that, I cleaned it all again with the pressure washer and a gallon of driveway cleaner concentrate.

Then I spent several evenings filling cracks with a couple gallons of asphalt crack filler and patching a couple holes with cold patch.
That took a few days to cure properly.

Then I spread 75 gallons (15 5gal buckets) of BlackJack 700 driveway sealer. (The black bucket with the red lid from Lowes.) It's their mid-grade sealer.
I cut in around the garage, etc with a large brush, then went to town with the squeegee.
I did 2 coats (with an extra day to dry in between) because I wanted to fill in the "pitting" in the surface.
The squeegee made it a fast process. Pour some out of the bucket, spread it with the squeegee, and take a final light "smoothing pass" with the squeegee at 90degrees to get rid of any striping.
Then repeat until finished. The key is to keep a wet edge (like painting a car) or you will get striping when it dries.
A brush is only to be used to add texture as the final step. A squeegee (mine was 18" on an 8' extension pole) is the proper tool for spreading the sealer.

Mine turned out great and looks almost brand new. Got a lot of compliments from the neighbors. Even cause a neighbor 2 houses up to do his because he didn't like how bad it looked compared to mine now. :laughing:

I did a lot of research before doing my drive.
What I found was, any of the stuff you buy in buckets at the stores is all water (latex) based, and all holds up about the same.
The key to a good final product, and longevity, is good surface prep (much like painting a car).
You have to be careful with sealing too often, as the thickness can build up and begin to peel and flake off.

The only hot, oil-based option (from what I read) is actually called asphalt "rejuvenator" and must be applied by a pro.
It actually softens and absorbs into the base material to fortify it. If applied incorrectly, it can weaken the base material.
I also read that this can not be done once a driveway has been sealed with a water-based product, because that product will not permit the rejuvenator to penetrate the surface.

Your mileage may vary. I am happy to have done mine myself, and mine turned out nice. But yes, it was a lot of work. We will see how it holds up.
If you're just looking to get the black color back, and don't have any structural issues (cracks, etc) I would probably opt to hire someone to do a quick spray coat.
It's thinner, faster, and will probably hold it's color about as long as the bucket stuff.

I did my driveway for protection and longevity purposes. The aesthetics are nice, but let's face it, I already have dirty tractor tire marks on it.

Here's a clip I took showing how I spread it and kept a wet edge going. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Sealing Asphalt Driveway - YouTube

 

[RalphVa]

I've heard pro and con for seal coating but don't recall the details for either. I just use it, actually different kinds of crack filler, in areas that need it. My driveway when they redid it about 10 years ago started cracking badly along the sides. The heavy crack filler into bigger cracks and lighter weight stuff that you pour on and smear around with a squeegee is all I used. Stopped the cracking. Driveway is fine.

Ralph

 

[GeneV]

It costs me 250 bux to get my 2000+ sq ft blacktop sealcoated. They're in and out in 30 minutes and the driveway looks great for a couple years. Money well spent and I get to spend my time on other things...lord knows I have enough to do around here already.

 

[Alan W.]

We are in the process of getting our church parking lot ready to seal. A lot of cracks needed to be filled so I made this little tool to make it a whole lot faster. Someone goes ahead pouring crack sealer while you come along squeegeeing the filler into the crack. Works really well. Used a scrap piece of belting on some 2x2 blocks and an old broom handle.