Asphalt seal coating is one of the most effective preventive and maintenance measures for your driveway. It fulfills its purpose when the proper type of pavement sealer is applied, at the right time and interval.
But like everything else, the process of applying a sealer is not magic. It can be beneficial to your asphalt driveway in many ways, but too often, contactors oversell its capabilities to customers who don’t know any better.
Here’s the truth: seal coating services provide nothing more than cosmetic enhancement and protection for your driveway. And, with the right application, it might just extend the driveway’s lifespan by 20 years.
Here’s What Seal Coating Will Do:
- Add aesthetic appeal to the pavement
- Protect your driveway from gas and oil spillage, oxidation from the sun, and deterioration from de-icing chemicals
- Seal small cracks
- Help melt snow and ice faster because of its deep black color, which retains heat from the sun
- Create a smooth surface that makes sweeping and cleaning the pavement so much easier
- Extend the life of a driveway by 20 years if used as part of a preventive maintenance program
Here’s What Seal Coating Will NOT Do:
- Provide structural value for an asphalt driveway that’s been neglected for 10 years, eroded, and covered with cracks
- Level or repair low spots
- Add many years of life to a deteriorating, neglected asphalt driveway
- Resurface asphalt
- Protect the asphalt with only one coat of spray
Why Seal Coating is Still a Worthy Investment
Even by realistic standards, seal coating is still a worthy investment.
It provides protection against asphalt’s three biggest enemies: water, sun’s UV rays, and vehicle oil. These three things shorten asphalt longevity.
Oxidation from the sun, rain, and snow, as well as freeze and thaw cycles, all contribute to the deterioration of the driveway. They cause the binders to crumble and chip away, exposing the next layer of binders, only to repeat the process all over again.
Without treatment or a seal coating, the asphalt surface deteriorates until it fails completely.
Seal coating, if done right, can slow down this process and prolong the life of an asphalt driveway. What’s more, it can seal small surface cracks and renew old asphalt surfaces that have dried and weakened with age.
For you, this means saving thousands of dollars from replacement costs.
It’s worth noting that seal coating provides a stunning black surface ideal for painting lines and markers on your driveway. Because of its dark color, it attracts more heat from the run. The hotter it gets, the more pliable and crack-resistant it becomes during traffic.
It’s also worth emphasizing that seal coating is only as good as its application. This is where an experienced and competent contractor comes in. You can do the job yourself if your driveway is in fairly decent shape and you are willing to go through the trouble of buying the right materials and following the suggested guidelines.
Remember that there’s more to seal coating than rolling a layer of sealer. If you don’t have the commitment or the basic knowledge of seal application, best turn to the professionals.
To make the most of your money and get the best results, find the right people to do it.
