Seal coat driveway or skip it?

About that time to seal coat my drive. 4 years old. Some guys are saying they don’t bother and doesn’t make that much a difference. I’m under the impression it’s a must. What are the thoughts?

Has it started to alligator at all or any cracks? If no cracks, you could possibly get away with a fog seal. That adds some oil back to the surface. A slurry seal really fills in the small cracks and pores. I like the slurry just because it makes it look brand new again.

Every 2-3 years for me. My asphalt driveway is 22 years old. It helps.
I mainly do it because it looks nice.

You going to do it yourself or hire Erickson? Mine needs to be done again also. Not sure I will commit to this year or not. I have cracks that need attention.

I’m in SE Wisconsin…. they’ve changed the laws in what materials can be applied. I have a 30+ year old drive…. the new coatings sucks and actually started to wash off after just five months…. nothing like the coal based materials available before this last year.

I was going to hire Erickson they put it in and did a good job. At our old house in elk river we did it ourselves and after having to go and get more and more buckets of the stuff we didn’t save anything versus having it done.

My asphalt is 30 yrs old. I’ve never touched it. The few cracks that are in there have been there for the last 20 years.

To me it doesn’t seem much better than paint. If you want it shiny and black then coat it. If you don’t mind it looking like asphalt then you can just leave it.

Is ripping it out and putting in concrete an option?

owned our house since 05. I poured almost 20 buckets to seal it the first year we bought it, and our driveway is maybe 100′. I do it every other year now and am down to 4 buckets. I love the black over concrete. just like real wood over the fake composite crap these days. take care of it and will last and it does make a difference unless your driveway is crumbling. your choice, kind of like applying sunscreen, etc.

18 year old blacktop drive, had a friend in the road business tell me I didn’t need to seal it. He said “they don’t seal roads do they”. Well my neighbor (had his done by the same company at the same time) sealed his and his looks much better than mine. now they are chip sealing roads. not sure about the “black paint” sealers they sell now, but I believe you can still have a “pro” seal it with the original coal tar, or something like it. you just cant buy it at the home center. I wish I would have sealed mine. Still 18 years is pretty good for blacktop

I’ve sealed my 15 year old drive way once and that was last year.

The only reason I did last year is because I had several cracks in it. Once cracked, the freezing and thawing in the spring and fall takes a toll quickly. Cracks filled and all sealed.

We’ll see how it holds up.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I’ve sealed my 15 year old drive way once and that was last year.

The only reason I did last year is because I had several cracks in it. Once cracked, the freezing and thawing in the spring and fall takes a toll quickly. Cracks filled and all sealed.

We’ll see how it holds up.

Yes, I believe that if you have cracks or other deterioration, a new seal can be a decent temporary fix so that the problem doesn’t continue to get worse. I got a brand new tar driveway in September 2018 and the installer foreman told me that it should be done about every 3-5 years. He said that when you notice about half of it has faded in color from the original “jet black”, its time to re-seal.

Take this with a grain of salt, he also seals driveways too so he may just be trying to drum up future business.

If you intend to sell your house, I believe it adds a nice touch of curb appeal.

Fix cracks but the sealer is just for looks does nothing for longevity of driveway.

We need ours done, guessing it’s been 20-30 years. Anyone have recommendations for a company to use in the SW metro?

Driveways are very different from roads. The asphalt itself is the same but roads get a very different mix to handle the traffic load. Driveways are pretty wimpy in comparison and seem to crack easier given the load they carry. They do seal coat residential streets but not higher speed heavier traffic roads.

This reminds me I have another thing to get a few bids on.

blackbay wrote:

Driveways are very different from roads. The asphalt itself is the same but roads get a very different mix to handle the traffic load. Driveways are pretty wimpy in comparison and seem to crack easier given the load they carry. They do seal coat residential streets but not higher speed heavier traffic roads.

This reminds me I have another thing to get a few bids on.

They have been chip sealing almost all of the county roads (hiways) in st Louis county for several years