When you have spent a lot of money on your driveway you also want to make sure that it actually lasts a long time. There are different things that you can do, but sealing it is maybe the most effective way to extend its life. When it comes to asphalt driveways, this is more true than anything.
Over time, asphalt is exposed to both a lot of traffic and perhaps harsh weather conditions that affect it, and without sealing, water can make it in to the tiny cracks in it and when it freezes and thaws, the water will expand and cause damage to the driveway, which is why it needs to be sealed regularly.
To have it done properly, a lot of homeowners turn to local driveway sealing companies near you to help them with the process.
Is Regular Maintenance Really That Important?
While you may not like it, maintenance is how you get that long life out of your driveway that your contractor promised you. Simply think about the fact that your local roads undergo regular maintenance every so often, and when they don’t, that’s when you get those big holes in the road.
Additionally, the asphalt that is used in those places with more traffic will be higher grade to ensure it doesn’t deteriorate prematurely. While it’s also being exposed to more traffic than your personal driveway, it doesn’t remove its need for maintenance.
We hope that this is helping you understand why it’s so very important that you stay on top of maintenance and that you will be needing the help of driveway sealcoating companies. Without their help, you’ll be needing driveway repair help a lot earlier as well as actually replacing the driveway.
The Many Benefits
Preserving your asphalt or concrete driveway should be your main priority, and there are many benefits to getting it done with steady intervals. You don’t want to let water enter the cracks in your driveway, because it’ll be the fastest way you’ll be finding yourself needing to repair it. The additional weight on top of the cracks and regular freeze-thaw cycles ages your driveway a lot faster than you’d hope.
Needless to say, if cracks emerge, you will want to get them addressed as soon as possible to avoid them doing damage, and it is even more important if you live in a climate where freezing is relatively common. So everyone in the north should be especially careful in regularly inspecting the state of the driveway.
How Often Should You be Sealing it?
A good rule of thumb is that driveways need to be sealed every one to three years. If you notice cracks that weren’t there before or perhaps that the driveway seems to be changing color, these are signs that sealing is likely needed.
As a standard rule, you must seal your driveway after every one to three years. Moreover, if you notice that the color of each individual stone that your asphalt surface is made of, you will know that it is already time to seal. When that’s been said, you’ll likely be surprised to find out that you don’t want to seal it straight away after it’s been built. That’s because you want it to get as hard as possible, and since it still contains significant amounts of oil right after being laid, this will need time to evaporate before you do anything. Generally you should wait 6 months from installing it until you seal it leaving the oil enough time to evaporate.
It can also not be sealed at all times, and you will want the temperature to be no less than fifty degrees for the sealant to stick well to the driveway and do its intended job. Additionally, when it’s being sealed it should be dry, which is why a lot of people choose to do it in the summer, however, if the need is there, you should still get it done now. By allowing it to rest for 48 hours after being sealed without being exposed to rain, the result will be better.
Get it Done by a Professional
Since it’s a very important part of driveway maintenance, you will also want to ensure that it is done correctly. However, it’s not the only part of driveway maintenance. Cracks and potholes need to be addressed or they will simply get worse. They need to be fixed before the sealant is applied to provide the best results. Especially if you’re approaching colder weather and you start seeing cracks, you’ll want to make sure they’re dealt with before the frost hits.
Getting in touch with driveway sealers lets you get everything fixed in a timely manner. They can both apply the sealant and help in evaluating if there are other repair or maintenance steps that are needed in the process. All this is done to make sure you won’t need to replace your driveway.
Are You Tempted to Seal it Yourself?
You may be tempted to go out and attempt doing the sealing yourself, even if we do not encourage it. If you choose to do so, you run the risk of having it done improperly, and you will also need certain tools that you may not currently have access to. There’s the obvious need for the sealant, which the contractor will likely be able to buy cheaper than you can because they have deals with local hardware stores.
You also need to get the crack filler and learn the process of repairing the driveway before you start. Is that really something you want to get started with?
Without proper driveway crack repair, most of your efforts will end up being in vain. Do you know how to do the necessary prep work before you even start repairing the cracks with filler?
You should also be sure that you end up getting the right sealant for the projects that will provide the necessary protection for your driveway. The worse the state of your driveway, the more you are in need of professionals asphalt sealing companies too.
By getting quotes from competing companies, you’re also ensuring that you won’t be overpaying for the project.
Hiring a Driveway Sealing Company the Easy Way
Here and now, it may be a little bit more expensive to make use of a contractor to do the work, but you will likely make up the difference in the fact that the life of your driveway will be greatly improved with the use of a pro.
They not only have the expertise and tools to do the project, they also know how to do it as effectively and efficiently as possible, where you might instead end up taking a lot longer without the quality being quite the same.
It’s also important to make sure you don’t delay a sealcoating job since it will simply leave the need for repair getting bigger. The pro also has done the job a lot of times before, thereby knowing which products to use to get the best results, and which product you should avoid.
When you look at everything, we hope this has helped convince you that this is one of the project that it is simply better to get done by a pro.
When you get the quotes from the pros, make sure that they’re itemized in order to make it easier to compare them and see where they differ. If there are big differences in the quoted prices, ask them why that is.
Getting Free Estimates and Quotes For Your Driveway Sealing Project
The easiest way you can go about getting quotes is by going to the top of this form and filling it out with the information of your project and we’ll be sure to match you with up to 4 asphalt, concrete or blacktop sealing companies that best match your project.
It’s free and easy to fill out the form. It only takes you 2 minutes, there’s no obligation to go with any of the contractors when you do get the quotes and you can simply turn them down if you don’t like them, but it’s likely to save you money. What are you waiting for?