Driveway Sealcoating Cape Cod

Sealcoating Cape Cod and Why it's a Vital Step To Preserve Your Driveway or Parking Lot

What is Asphalt Sealcoating?

Asphalt sealcoating is the best way to protect your parking lot or driveway over the long haul. Here’s what you should know about this money-saving process.

Like with any home or business improvement project you might be considering, it’s important to understand the basics of asphalt sealcoating when you’re looking to preserve your driveway or parking lot. You should always have at least a rudimentary knowledge of whatever project you’re hiring a company to do and an asphalt sealant job is no exception. Read on to find out everything you need to know about this important protective process.

Asphalt 101

First, you’ll need to know a few essential facts about asphalt itself. As you well know, asphalt is used in the construction and repair of many different types of roads, parking lots, driveways, and playgrounds. Broadly speaking, the material itself is a blend of aggregate and binder. Typically, the aggregate is made up of some mixture of stone, rock, and gravel, while the binder can be thought of as an asphalt cement.

For the purpose of a sealcoating job, the most important element of the asphalt is the binder that holds the aggregate together. Preserving the integrity of your asphalt depends largely on how the binding material stands up to the elements over time. Without protection, things like rain, sunlight, and certain chemicals will seep into your asphalt surfaces and wear down the binder material. The result of this degraded binder is a destabilization of the asphalt surface.

Under these conditions, the asphalt in your driveway or parking lot will become more and more brittle over time. In conjunction with the constant weight of vehicles driving over the surface, the increasing brittleness of the asphalt will cause it to crack and crumble. Eventually, your asphalt surface will become both an eyesore and a potential hazard to vehicles driving on it.

What Does Asphalt Sealcoating Entail?

There are two basic parts involved in the process of sealing your driveway or parking lot. The first part is the material used in the sealing process. Although the exact combination can vary from product to product, asphalt sealants are typically made up of a bituminous or acrylic emulsion mixed with silicone, water, polymer additives, and other fillers and sealants. The resultant formulation is a viscous liquid that’s applied to the surface of your asphalt to protect it against the damaging elements mentioned above.

The second part of asphalt sealcoating is the means by which the protective material is applied. Typically, a specialized brush, squeegee, or sprayer is used to apply the sealant to your asphalt. Again, this choice depends on who’s doing the work, but experience has taught us that a high-quality sprayer does the best job of coating the asphalt evenly and in a cost-effective manner.

The Benefits of Asphalt Sealcoating

Now that you have a better understanding of asphalt and the process used to protect it, you might be asking yourself why you should hire a company to do a sealcoating job for you. It’s a fair question, but it’s also one that’s easily answered when you consider the alternatives.

We’ve all seen roads, driveways, and parking lots in varying states of disrepair. The damage comes in a variety of forms, but you’ll usually see things like potholes, crumbling edges, bulges, and fissures in these neglected surfaces. So the short version of why you should get a professional seal coating job is that it will help your driveway or parking lot avoid this ugly fate.

When done correctly, with high-quality sealants that are professionally applied, regular sealcoating will prevent damaging elements like water, chemicals, and UV rays from being absorbed into your asphalt. The result is a smooth, hazard-free surface that endures for many years, even in the face of constant exposure to potentially damaging elements. In fact, with a professional sealcoating program, your asphalt surfaces will last more than twice as long as they would without protection. This will stave off the need for a complete repaving and save you thousands of dollars down the line.

Discover how to give your Cape Cod parking lot or driveway the durable protective sealcoating application it is missing to prolong its life and protect your investment today! Our Services included: Asphalt Crack Filling Offering Cold Pour and Hot Pour Methods, Asphalt Repair, Parking Lot Line Painting/Striping, Gravel, Stone and Seashell Driveways & Parking Lots, Drainage for parking lots and driveways.