Sealing blacktop driveway

[Tony Miklos]

This is not a do it yourself job, it's 1/10 mile long with a big parking area up top. Everyone seems to use this emulsion that goes right on the freshly washed and still wet blacktop. Guy in town who has the good name and referrals uses it too, said there is also sand in it. I'm waiting for an estimate.

What ever happened to tar and chip/oil and chip? It's still done on some roads so I'd think it's good. Is it more costly? My drive is about 7 or 8 years old and I'm told I'm overdue for a coating. It does have a few cracks but for the most part I've filled them with the same tar used to waterproof below grade basement walls. Seems to work well and I added layers of sand when the crack didn't want to fill up.

So what's the best and most cost effective process to keep my driveway in good condition?

[bob haller]

Tar and chip is for surfaces that have failed, and property owner is attemting to get a few more years from whats left....

so seal your cracks clean surface extra perfect and seal...

[Frank]

You could still DYI. You don't have to do it all at once. I just had my drive resurfaced and I figure I can coat it myself next year for about 25% of what installer has quoted if he were to do it next year.

I got over 35 years out of the old drive by coating every several years.

Asphalt only consists of about 10% tar and rest is sand and rocks. If enough moisture gets through or penetrates, freezing and thawing cause deterioration. This is why coating helps preserve by keeping out moisture.

[bob haller]

shop around for the 5 gallon pails of sealer, you may find its cheaper to have a company do it since they buy sealer at a big discount in a tanker truck

[clare]

Actually, tar and chip is "macadam" and is a separate type of pavement

- it is totally different than hot-pour asphalt pavement.

Tar and chip on top of asphalt doesn't work terribly well. Nor does "cold patch"

[Frank]

You might think that but guy that did my drive was saying something like $400 to come back and seal it and last time I did it I paid less than $100 for sealer. My back, not being as good as it used to be, I asked a son over to help with the heavy lifting/pouring and it probably only took us a little over an hour to do the drive. OP's drive sounds maybe

5X mine's but if he has the health and the time, he could DYI and save a lot of money although proportionately less as transportation and time costs are factored over a bigger job.

[aemeijers]

On the few country 2-laners the county bothers to maintain around here, 'chip seal', aka tar and chip, is how they maintain them. Each road gets done maybe every 4th or 5th year. Of course, this being a broke salt country state, they have severe road budget problems, especially after a snowy winter, and many of the lesser-used roads are being reverted to gravel. Civilization- it was nice while it lasted.

[clare]

In virtually ALL cases where a county "maintains" the road with tar and chip it is a macadam surface to start with, not hot-laid asphalt.

Macadam roads were once the norm up here for rural thoroughfares, but counties found that dollar for dollar, the more expensive asphalt is a better deal, so macadam is now quite rare up here in Central Ontario.

With hot-laid asphalt they can grind off the top surface and re-lay it several times before it needs to be torn up and totally re-done. (if they catch it on time, before the base has been destroyed by frost-boils.)

[Tony Miklos]

Actually John McAdam(s) invented the way to spread stone then roll it, like lots of driveways are still done today. After his roads washed out, good ol' John covered the packed stone with tar to hold it in place, that was called "Tarmac" for short, a name still used for airport runways. I come from an area where as a kid the word "macadam" was often used in place of asphalt/blacktop/paved. After using the term down here in TN and being questioned about it, I did some research and learned the above.

Tar and chip is popular up in PA on older paved roads, they do it down here too but not as much. That's only big road crews, they don't want to mess with a driveway.

Thanks for all the responses, I'll wait for the estimate on coating it. And yes, for me to buy the coating would probably cost me as much or more than for someone else to do the whole job for me. 1/10 mile drive isn't exaggerating, plus the parking area.