It will look nice! Sealcoating gives your property a uniformly black color that many people find very attractive. When you examine the surface, however, you will still be able to see areas that have been crack filled or patched due to the different texture of the asphalt. Worn asphalt that has been previously sealcoated has a much smoother appearance than new asphalt that is just sealcoated the first time.
We will use a cold pour crack fill to fill significant cracks. We define significant as cracks of roughly ½” or more wide. In general, if the asphalt has extensive alligatoring, you will still be able to see the random cracks through the sealcoat.
You should not be doing sealcoating of your surfaces too often unless it gets a lot of traffic or exposure to the weather. Typically a property should be sealcoated every 3 or 4 years or when it starts to look dry.
Sealcoating is a process similar to painting your house. The asphalt in your driveway can deteriorate due to exposure from the sun, heavy traffic or oil spills. The sealcoating process consists of applying an asphalt or coal tar emulsion to help protect the asphalt from weather elements.
Extreme temperatures make it difficult for the hydration process to take place. When it is too close to freezing, the hydration slows to a standstill and the concrete will not cure and gain strength. Typically the ground should be at least 50 degrees and rising. On the other extreme, when it is very hot, too much water is lost by evaporation and care must be taken to keep the concrete wet.
Concrete is a mixture of Portland cement, a fine aggregate (sand), a course aggregate (gravel), water and several chemical additives. The water causes the hardening of concrete through a process called hydration which binds the whole mixture together. In its finished state, concrete appears to be a solid slab, but is actually quite porous. As the excess water in the mix evaporates, it leaves capillaries throughout the slab much like a sponge.
When asphalt is mixed at the plant, it is super heated to in excess of 325° F. By the time it is put in a truck, shipped to the job site and installed on your project, it should still be a minimum of 250° to allow it to be properly compacted. Ambient air temperature and the temperature of the ground both play a significant role in how long the asphalt is ‘workable’ and can be properly compacted. This can range from several hours on a hot summer day to 10 minutes on a chilly fall morning.
We explain our customers that good drainage requires a minimum of 2% ‘fall’ for water to run off properly. What this means is that the grade (angle) of the driveway should have a ¼” decline for each foot of pavement. For example, a 10 foot wide section of asphalt should decline 2 ½” to have the water run off properly. Many driveways do not have this amount of grade and water ponds accordingly. There are a variety of solutions to this including drains, swales and curbs. In areas with less than 2% fall, ponding water is to be expected.
Red Clay Industries produces long lasting jobs, because we understand one critical aspect of producing a long lasting. This aspect is the achievement of the proper compaction of our client’s surfaces. The most ideal compaction is 90%. Sometimes the rollers leave ‘streaks’ or marks on the drive and we explain to our clients that these are temporary and over time will become less noticeable.
First you need to understand what asphalt is made of. Asphalt consists of roughly 95% aggregates of different variations and about 5% black asphalt cement. The appearance and characteristics of the mixes will vary. It is normal to expect a variation in the surface texture of the asphalt between loads and in different areas of a paved surface.
Tire scuffmarks are caused when you turn your car’s steering wheel while the car is stationary. If it is a hot day and the asphalt has not completely cured, the surface will get a blemish like grinding your heel into a soft substance. Over time, most of this will become less noticeable.
It all depends on temperature variations from night to day. Your new asphalt surface can take more than 30 days to cure. In general, however, you should be able to drive on the surface after two to three days after we have completed the job, but you have to be careful.
All asphalt is black. When stone is mixed together with hot asphalt cement, the mass of material becomes black. Over time, as the asphalt oxidizes, the coating on the aggregates breaks down and the color of the aggregate starts to show through.
Resurfacing is a structural repair that will extend the useful life of your asphalt surface. It involves patching and resurfacing of the entire surface with a new overlay of 1 ½” to 3″ of hot bituminous asphalt.
Sealcoating is not a structural repair. Think of like painting your house. The sealcoat protects and extends the life of your asphalt, but does nothing to correct structural flaws.
Between two options, sealcoating is substantially less expensive than resurfacing your drive.
Please give us a call at (704) 523-1018 and we will be glad to answer all questions and educated you on all aspects of what we do and how we can help you.
We are always open to accommodating our client’s schedules.