Beware of Driveway Sealers Ripoffs

[BinaryBillThesailor]

That must be why the guys who did my driveway showed up with a large truck with a 500 gallon tank of sealer and a huge gas powered compressor on the back. Yep, you must be right.

BB

[Richard J Kinch]

Different how? You think they have separate asphalt plants for roads versus driveways? I don't think so.

Go to the plant and ask. The only difference here is the aggregate size. You want smaller aggregate for driveways to match the thinner application.

The only material differences are aggregate size and overall thickness. But the homeowner can get shabby application (too cool, not enough compaction, too wavy, too varied in thickness) that a highway engineer would reject.

[Richard J Kinch]

The potential to crack increases with time. Asphalt is a blend of hydrocarbons of various high molecular weights (essentially all the stuff left from crude oil once the more valuable light fractions are removed). Over a long time the lighter portions evaporate and leave a brittle, higher-molecular-weight mass behind, and eventually the brittleness will crack under just about load or weathering.

By the way, "asphalt" means the tar from crude oil. The precise term for the material used to pave is "asphaltic concrete", consisting of asphalt as a binder with gravel aggregate.

[nospam]

Interesting when we sold our last house in NJ, it had the same driveway that had been put in when it was built 17 years earlier, essentially in the same condition it was in when new (it was not as dark and black) but after 16 years of snow and ice it suffered no physical damage and had never been touched with a drop of "sealer".

[Tim Fischer]

Well, I can't compare MN vs NJ climates. But I can compare driveway life between neighbors-- especially when all the driveways were likely original and done by the developer by the same asphalt crew. So if one lasts longer than another, there must be a variable. I suggested it was the sealcoating, but perhaps it's something else.

And FWIW I only had the thing coated once in the 6 years I was there -- seemed to be plenty.

-Tim