Sealcoat and Maintenance for Michigan USA

The Benefits of Sealcoating vs. Costly Asphalt Repairs

Sealcoating your driveway or parking lot

There are many benefits to sealcoating the asphalt to your driveway or parking lot.

Think of sealcoating more of as a preventative maintenance for your diveway or parking lot, similar to how you paint your home to keep the weather from deteriorating the wood.

New sealcoating can preserve the resilience of asphalt surfaces and help hide small cracks, patches and rough spots as well as making traffic lines on parking lots more visible. Sealcoat that is applied correctly makes your asphalt driveway look cleaner because rain washes dirt and debris easily away from the smooth, non-porous surface.

Another benefit of sealcoating, is that it helps protect the asphalt from the sun as well as the harmful effects of chemical spills such as oil and gasoline, both which are all too common on a driveway or parkinglot. Asphalt sealcoating fills surface voids, which reduces exposure to oxygen and UV rays and reduces the depth to which oil or gas can penetrate the asphalt.

Sealcoating acts as a waterproofing agent, minimizing the rate at which water enters the asphalt. Sealcoating asphalt prevents the seepage of water and moisture from rain and snow, thus preventing damage from freeze thaw cycles which is a common reason your driveway or parking lot begins forming cracks or even worse, alligator cracks.
Sealcoating provides an attractive black surface that is ideal for painting lines and other markers on parking lots. Sealcoat is a dark, black colored matarial and when applied to asphalt, it helps attract more heat from the sun. The hotter the sealcoating on the asphalt gets, the more pliable it becomes, which helps it to withstand traffic without cracking.
Sealcoating leaves a smooth, clean surface ideal for sweeping, which lowers cleaning costs and for a driveway and gives your entrance a fresh and new look, similar to painting your home or business. Sealcoating fills surface voids, which reduces exposure to oxygen and UV rays and reduces the depth to which oil or gas can penetrate the asphalt. It acts as a waterproofing agent, minimizing the rate at which water enters the asphalt of your driveway or parking lot.
Sealcoating costs pennies per square foot compared to the dollars needed to repair or replace damaged asphalt. The intrusion of moisture into asphalt accelerates its deterioration and is strongly related to asphalt distress.
Sealcoating seals the asphalt pavement, preventing the oxidation and erosion of the top layer and replaces fine particles lost from the asphalt surface due to oxidation on older pavements. It also resists gas, diesel fuel, oil, salt and chemical penetration which will break down the bond between the aggregate and the liquid asphalt.

The price of asphalt will always be affected by crude oil prices, which fluctuate when supplies vary. Sealcoating preserves asphalt for pennies per square foot, verses costly asphalt repairs.