04/05/2023
Did you know?
Asphalt sealer has curing limits set in place by temperature, moisture, and sun exposure.
That being said, in our travels in Door County over the last week we have noticed driveways that have been recently sealed, "professionally". I'd like to take a moment and share some insight, as anyone sealing this time of year is most likely stealing your money
ALL modern day asphalt sealers on the market require Temps to be "50 degrees and rising" over the span of 24 hours to allow proper adhesion. Some sealers even require 48 hours. So if Temps drop below 50 degrees at any time between 1-2 days, your sealer will fail to stick long term.
Sealer is absorbed into the pavement (unless you get buckets from a retail store, which is another fiasco) so at this time of year (Spring) we still have heavily saturated ground and damp cracks galore. The top of the pavement may appear dry, but below is most likely maxed out with absorbed water. The sealer, thus, CANNOT properly absorb into the asphalt and rejuvenate the pavement properly. Also, affects adhesion as its hard to seal a wet surface successfully. Hot rubber crack fill also will not stick to moisture, so damp cracks rapidly cool the rubber making it able to be blown out even by a handheld leaf blower.
The sun's rays are not strong enough this time of year (or late fall for that matter) to properly dry and cure sealer. Sunlight is a very important factor for sealing, almost as much as the Temps. Improperly cured sealer will peel off and flake off considerably.
So PLEASE, we ask that any "professional" company trying to push your driveway to get sealed in the coming weeks, check the list above and make sure you're not paying for something that will fail. Some companies warranties only extend as far as you can see their tail lights, and we don't want anyone in our local communities getting scammed.
We typically start late May/early June, as weather conditions do not allow us to provide our best quality work sooner than that. Please be mindful of the weather, nobody should be sealing anything until all the snows gone 👍