Seal Coating and Its Limits

As we all know, seal coating has loads of benefits and it is considered as one of the most essential preventive maintenance treatment for your parking lot or driveway. One crucial factor that affects the effectivity of such preventive maintenance program would be proper application at the most suited time and interval.

To avoid any problems, be sure to contact professional and experienced seal contractors to make sure that you are getting your money’s worth. There are instances when inexperienced contractors would influence unsuspicious property owners.

It is a fact that asphalt emulsion or petroleum based emulsion will protect an asphalt parking lot from gas & oil spillage, oxidation from the sun, deterioration from de-icing chemicals, waterproof the surface offering protection to extreme weather conditions and will beautify the pavement. Ideally, seal coating is reapplied every two or three years. If applied accordingly, it has the ability to  extend the life of an asphalt parking lot by 20 years on average if completed in conjunction with a Preventative Maintenance Plan to include hot rubberized crack sealing and inspection of the parking lot on an annual basis to cure issues right away.

However, when an asphalt parking lot is neglected for 10-15 years, is covered with cracks, alligator cracked areas, erosion of the fines from the asphalt leaving behind a rough surface with exposed stone, seal coating will provide no structural value and will only be cosmetic.

For a deteriorated parking lot that has not been maintained, seal coating will only add a few years of life to the asphalt at best and will not be able to level or fix low spots.

When seal coating is done on asphalt where all the fines have eroded and stone is now rough and protruding, application will quickly wear off of the top of the stones in high traffic areas.

When it comes to applying pavement sealer, it would be advisable to go for two thin coats rather than one thick coat.