Driveway Sealing

jams · #1 (**permalink**) 06-30-2008, 07:14 PM

I am starting to question the DIY Home depot driveway sealers. I have not been happy with the results for the past few years. I am sure the northeast climate has something to do with it as well.

Is there an advantage to going with those "roaming tar nomads" that invade our neighborhoods each summer?

Roscoe · #2 (**permalink**) 06-30-2008, 10:37 PM

They're Gypsys or Irish Travelers and usually coat your driveway with oil....or worse.

http://www.google.com/search?q=gypsy...L_enUS243US243

Ron61 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 02:22 AM

Jams,

Our weather is a lot different from yours, but I just pay the extra and have one of the paving companies do mine. I only have to have it done about every 4 to 6 years. They do a good job and use a type of melted stuff that will flow down into any wide cracks if there are any before they start with the regular sealer. They let it set up for about 15 minutes and then put a real nice seal coat over everything. I last had mine done two years ago and it still looks new. I never use the ones that come calling with a trailer behind a pickup.

Ron

trularin · #4 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 07:55 AM

We used to have a blacktop drive, sealed it with the filler version of the coatings and it worked out fine. I filled a crack with sand and tar before I did the surface.

Guy across the street paid to have his done and in 6 months it was worse than before. He thought the guys used diesel or used oil. He was pi$$ed.

I think it is in what you use to apply the coating.

So why are you asking???

392cobra · #5 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 08:16 AM

These crooks showed up at my folks house a couple of times,about a year in between.I happened to be there and answered the door.Otherwise my folks never open the door unless they know the person.

Same guy,light complexion,with the same story...he was doing a job in the neighborhood an had over estimated the amount of asphalt for the job.He said he happened to drive by and noticed a few cracks in the drive.He would give me a great deal if I "helped him out".

The first time I was polite but firm.He was very persistant.

The second time I was not in the least polite.I made sure he felt his health was in danger.
He has never returned that I know of.

1ntCobra · #6 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 10:36 AM

I actually had some luck with repaving (NOT sealcoating) the driveway at my old house with a company that had some extra asphalt from a bigger job. They were doing a driveway that was about 400 feet long a couple of blocks away and I had an 80 foot driveway of 1 car width. The company had really serious looking equipment with the company name painted on the sides of their trucks and had about 6 people on the crew. I think I paid them $600 to get my driveway repaved with about 2 inches of asphalt on top of the old driveway. My next door neighbor got the same deal. The price seemed pretty reasonable and they did a good job.

A couple of years ago, my parents picked a company out of the phonebook to have their driveway seal-coated. My dad was away on a business trip. When the company showed up, they started ripping up the driveway for re-paving and my mom went out there and yelled at them because they were supposed to be coating the driveway, not repaving it. They re-paved it and sent my parents a bill for something like $4500. When my dad got back, he argued with them and ended up paying about $3000. And this was for what I consider a small driveway, 2 cars wide and 2 cars deep.

So the companies you find in the phonebook can be even more trouble than a re-paving company guy driving around the neighborhood looking for extra work.

Ron61 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 11:28 AM

I had my driveway poured by a friend that I grew up with and he took over his Father's paving business. Then he told me which company to use to have it sealed. I do know of one of those fly by night sealing companies that used to be here used gasoline in their tank, as a friend of mine that now just runs his garage used to sell gas and he told me they would stop by every morning and fill that mix about half with gas. They are now gone and the last I heard of them they were in Oregon and being sued there.

Ron

jams · #8 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 11:55 AM

I seem to get so many small spider-like cracks reappearing after sealing. I though a different sealer might be better- a professional applied one not a fly-by night one.

Ron61 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 02:15 PM

Jams,

I had my driveway did two years ago and not a single crack that I can find. And I do look for them. But Jerry did such a good job of pouring the driveway to start with that may have a lot to do with it. He put in extra road base and really packed it tight and then did the asphalt in a think later, and after that cooled some he did another thinner layer over that.

Ron

trularin · #10 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 10:36 AM

Jams, that was why I used the filler version of the seal coating. I think it has a sand/silicon additive that fills in the small cracks. The bigger cracks you can fill with sand and oil then tar over it. Make sure the tar is hot and runny, it will fill right in. Wait a day and then seal coat the whole thing.