Asphalt Driveway Sealer Suggestions

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I have a 24 year old asphalt driveway. It has never been sealed or coated with anything. Just last year it started to show a few cracks. Is there a correct way to seal and fix these cracks? Water based, oil based, roll it, brush it, etc. I can roll it myself.
 
Not water base. They tried to go cheap at work and have some of our guys apply it. They did a bunch of prep work and it still all just flaked off and washed away. YMMV in Va compared to Az. Dino juice applied hot will give many years.
 
A pro would use a hot rubber crack filler. A $25k machine. None of the pour-on crack fillers from a gallon container will do squat. There are some crack fillers you stuff into cracks and heat with a propane torch that might work.

Coal tar driveway sealer is the best from a sealer perspective but is banned in many states. The dust gets into your house and ponds and is not environmentally friendly.

Latex has gotten better over the years and is now close to coal tar sealer.

I will be trying an epoxy based sealer this year.

My SIL does sealing of commercial parking areas. He has a 10,000 tank of sealer in his work location.
 
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Keep in mind if you use a coal tar sealer and have a light colored linoleum type floor it will most likely discolor [permanently] in high traffic areas of the floor. Coal tar doesn't play nice with certain carpets or linoleum type floors.
 
Originally Posted By: NormanBuntz
The fly-by-night gypsies and other home improvement scammers in NC seal driveways with used motor oil and charge a small fortune.


Ours here tend to come out of WVA
 
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Gebo said:
I have a 24 year old asphalt driveway. It has never been sealed or coated with anything. Just last year it started to show a few cracks. Is there a correct way to seal and fix these cracks? Water based, oil based, roll it, brush it, etc. I can roll it myself. [/quote

How long is the driveway and how many sq feet do you need to cover? What is your budget?

Up here in Canada the guys that seal it don't have the stuff that lasts a long time. Maybe 2 years then it starts to fade. I usually use the pails of sealer and apply it with a squeegee and brush. That will last about 2 years before it washes/fades away.

Any pics of what you are dealing with?
 
The best I have spec'd for large parking lots and such was a seal coat with a latex extender fro the emulsion. Have one boat ramp parking area now 15 years in, and it has not lost anything. Even with people scrubbing tires at slow speed while trying to back their boats ...

Came out of Reed & Graham in San Jose CA. They put up a great product. Maybe there is something similar to you locally ...
 
We have a pretty large/long 25ish year old asphalt driveway. Got it sealed maybe two or three years ago. Much of it is flaking off.

Not worth it, IMO. Im just not seeing what it does...
 
At 24 yrs a lot of damage has probably been done with water getting under the asphalt. At least in Virginia you don't have a ridiculous winter freeze/thaw cycle like much of the Northern US has. Most driveways should probably be sealed by their first 5-10 yrs. Keeping water from freezing under your asphalt is why you seal it. While you're only going to get a max of 1-3 years out of any big box store "airport" grade sealer - it's better than nothing. I concur with getting the cracks filled with the stuff your highway dept's use. That will hold up...potentially for 5-10 yrs if you don't shovel or plow much.

The only other solution is to demo the old driveway and start new. My driveway is between 30-55 years old...not really sure. Now I'm on the seal it every 1-2 yr cycle just to keep it from getting worse. I've gone the do-it-yourself crack filling method several times and the cracks spit that cheap stuff out within 6-9 months in New England. But I figure I keep 80% of the winter rain/freeze cycle from draining through the cracks. That means it will last 5X longer than if I did nothing.
 
I used to seal my driveway about every 3 years with coal tar driveway sealer available at big box stores like Lowes and Home cheapo. I generally bought the middle price grade and applied it with a long handle brush sold for driveway sealing. NEVER buy a sealer without anti skid additive or the driveway will be a death trap in rainy or icy weather.

The driveway was installed in 1980 and still looked good in 2009 when I sold the house. I think regular applications are the key here, kinda like changing your oil
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Originally Posted By: JHZR2
We have a pretty large/long 25ish year old asphalt driveway. Got it sealed maybe two or three years ago. Much of it is flaking off.

Not worth it, IMO. Im just not seeing what it does...

Think of it as a sacrificial layer. It's peeling off instead of the asphalt washing out.
 
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
Originally Posted By: Gebo
What is “Dino juice”?


I always thought dino juice was gasoline.


Anything made from conventional (non-synthetic) crude oil stock. Gas is dino juice, but dino juice is not gasoline, if you get my drift.

So-called because the jungle / swamp / forrest that, millions of years ago, is the basic building block of crude oil, and dinosaur bones tended to also be found in said vegetation when exploring or exploiting oil finds. It was so common that, at one time, it was believed that crude oil came from dinosaur carcasses, not vegetation.
 
You seal crack in the asphalt use some asphalt based foundation sealer. It is solvent based and will dry in a day or two. Be sure to clean and if necessary do to dirt, prime the old asphalt with some used oil first.

Most top coat sealers are use to protect the oil in the asphalt from oxidation caused by sunlight. Same reason they put granules on shingles or gravel road chips on tar roads.
 
In my climate, if you don't seal coat your asphalt driveway every 2yrs, it will crumble apart in short order. I don't like the rubberized or latex type sealers because of peeling. In my experience coal tar type emulsions keep it clean and tight the longest and can be re-coated more consistently and reliably.

Sealing cracks can be a lot of effort with no reward. Cracks will form in areas that will repeatedly move.. and they WILL repeatedly move. Best you can do for most of them is apply some filler and keep it sealed best you can so nothing crumbles apart.

This is what has worked for me for the past 25yrs or so. Again, my freeze-thaw-freeze thaw climate will be different from some.
 
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