When Is The Right Time For A Seal Coating Procedure To Be Conducted?

By Ines Flores


After installing your asphalt pavements, you need to inspect them regularly to detect any defects that may be developing. Asphalt is a common material used when constructing pavements. Like many other paving materials, asphalt undergoes degradation with time. In order to preserve its quality, you should coat it with a sealant material. A seal coating procedure is intended to prolong the lifespan of your pavement.

A coal tar emulsion is applied over asphalt to prevent damaging effects caused by UV light, moisture, and gasoline products. A sealcoat provides the same effects as sunscreen on skin or wood varnish on wood since it slows down the destruction of the surface. The sealant material will also make your pavement look like new. Ultraviolet light acts on asphalt making it to harden and become frail. With constant exposure to UV light, the pavements will begin to unravel.

You can recondition it using a sealant material. The sealcoat will make your pavements to be flexible and look like new. Due to effects of UV light, pavements will crack. The first tiny hairline cracks may not be a problem and they can be corrected easily with use of a sealcoat. However, when you leave the blacktop unprotected, the fine cracks will worsen and develop to bigger cracks.

However, if they are left unchecked, they can grow bigger and cause more cracking. A sealcoat is not intended to offer repairs but it is only a preservation procedure. Water is another element that causes a lot of damage. The moisture penetrating inside pavements will settle on the sub grade layer and during the freeze thaw cycle, the cracks will enlarge.

Water that has settled in cracks within the sub grade layer will freeze during the winter and melt thereafter. During the freeze thaw cycle, your pavements will be left with big potholes as the voids are filled with the blacktop material. When the frozen water melts, it leaves empty cracks, which cause the material on top to come down crumbing and fill the spaces.

Another sign you should look for is development of small fine hairline cracks. These are usually not easily visible and do not cause a lot of trouble. But if they are not restored, they will pave way for bigger cracks. The small fine hairlines cracking can be corrected using a sealant. But sealcoats are not meant to serve as repair materials. Sealcoats are designed to preserve pavements.

Sealcoats should only be applied when asphalt has dried and cured properly. In the first driveway or parking lot installation, it will take time for the asphalt to cure. You may have to wait for about one year before you apply a sealant. After the first sealcoating, you will also need to apply other coats with time.

It will take about two to five years before you apply a sealcoat material but this is largely determined by the rate at which the existing sealant wears out. Proper timing is required so that sealcoats are applied in time. When consulting with contractors to sealcoat pavements, ensure they use quality materials that do not wear out fast. This way, the coats will last for long and offer the protection needed for the pavements.




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