When it comes to asphalt, here are the words to live by: The first year you pave it, the second year you seal it. Sealcoating improves the look and function of your parking lot or driveway and increases its longevity. Here’s why sealcoating is so important.
Sealcoat Before Asphalt Turns Gray
Protection from the sun. The sun is the enemy. It’s beating down on the asphalt and stealing the oil, making the surface less flexible and more susceptible to cracks. People will have asphalt laid, wait until it turns gray and say, “Maybe we should get the blacktop sealcoated. It’s really getting gray.” By the time that happens, it’s too late.
Parking Lots Age Over Time
Here’s a good example of the sequence of events that occurs without proper sealcoating. Imagine you’re standing in your parking lot looking at the catch basin, where the water drains. In the first year, a layer of sand will be visible around the catch basin. You might be puzzled and say, “I don’t know where the sand came from. We never use sand on the parking lot in the winter, only salt.” Here’s the catch: That sand you see – well, that is your parking lot.
Blacktop Loses Its Flexibility
After a parking lot is paved, the sun immediately starts to oxidize the surface, and the fine sand at the surface lets go because there’s not enough oil to keep it together. Every time it rains, that sand slowly works its way to the catch basin. If you let the parking lot go another year without sealcoating, little stones will start popping out. If you let it go three or four years, now the blacktop has lost its flexibility altogether and becomes brittle. You’ll see cracks, and half-inch stones come out. The blacktop looks like craters on the moon, with little holes where the bigger stones have let go.
Sealcoating for Asphalt Parking Lots
Routine parking lot maintenance includes sealcoating in order to maintain the longevity of surface. The sealcoating liquid fills and seals the hairline cracks and tiny holes that form because of oxidation.
Request a Sealcoating Bid Today
Is your parking lot or driveway in need of sealcoating? Call AC Asphalt at 920-865-7279 or request a bid today.
About Us: “Specialists by Reputation,” AC Asphalt is a locally owned and family operated asphalt maintenance and installation company. We have been serving residential and commercial customers in Northeast Wisconsin since 1988.
