By Steven Brahney | February 7, 2016

How many times have you wasted scarce budget dollars on seal coating? 

 

90% of seal coating projects completed in the Delaware Valley, Baltimore & South Jersey Markets are performed FAR BELOW the manufacturers recommendations for application rate,mix design, water dilution ratio and temperature restrictions?

WHY ARE 90% OF THE SEAL COATING PROJECTS WASTING YOU OR YOUR CLIENTS BUDGET DOLLARS?

  • Seal Coating is typically performed as a "side line" by large paving companies as "fill in" work or regarded as the necessary evil of being in the paving business to service clients
  • Smaller companies lack the proper capital to purchase high production seal coating equipment, therefore use smaller equipment which is not able to properly mix and apply pavement sealer mix designs that meet / exceed manufacturers specification
  • POOR QUALITY MIX DESIGNS LEAD TO PRE-MATURE WEAR &TEAR- YOUR SEAL COATING PROJECTS DON'T LAST 6 MONTHS

How To GUARANTEE You Receive A High Quality Sealcoating Project From Your Contractor:

1. Preparation: (A contributing factor to sealcoating project failure)

 

 

 The drone video above gives an aerial view of the preparation process of parking lot cleaning and crack sealing

Step 1: Assemble barricades, cones and caution tape for work area protection

    

Step 2: Using a minimum of a 10 HP walk-behind air blower in combination with a steel-wire bristle push broom  (Not Poly), clean the entire asphalt surface thoroughly with a follow up blower to catch any small stones missed.  The follow up blower also will have a laborer and another steel bristled broom to touch up any areas where dirt accumulation was present.  

Step 3: Apply a latex primer to all oil, gas, grease and areas which were covered in excessive dirt, this is done to promote a good cohesive bond between the pavement sealer and the asphalt.

Step 4: Clean and prepare all cracks with a compressed air hot air lance.  The hot air lance will blow any dirt from the cracks along with any vegetation.  In addition, the lance will heat the interior walls of the cracks and draw out the asphaltic oils, which will then thermodynamically bond with the 410 degree hot rubberized crack sealer.

Optional Step:  If the asphalt is extremely oxidized (Gray In Color) it is advisable to apply a prime coat of either 50/50 diluted sealer or latex penetrating primer.  The primer will help the pavement sealer adhere better which will result in a longer lasting job

Proper preparation is key to achieving a lasting sealcoating application.  When requesting quotes for your pavement maintenance project take time to ask the right questions to make sure the contractor is committed to completing the project properly.  

2. Material Selection: 

There are several manufacturers of pavement sealers- although in this authors opinion some are higher quality than others.  As a seasoned sealcoating contractor with over 25 years experience I have tested, applied and and monitored the life expectancy of every pavement sealer manufacturer in our market.

To learn more about the different sealcoating products available, please visit: www.fixasphalt.com/sealcoating

Whether you specify the material manufacturer / type of pavement sealer or the contractor specifies it in thier proposal it is imperative to understand that pavement sealer is only as good as the "mix design".  

WHAT IS A MIX DESIGN?

A mix design is all of the components of the pavement sealer which are blended together to create a superior preventative maintenance coating to be applied to your asphalt parking lot.  

A mix design example is as follows:

  • 100 Gallons Of Fed-Spec Coal Tar Emulsion Pavement Sealer 
  • 30 Gallons of water
  • 3% Tarmax Latex Modifier
  • 4 lbs of silica sand per gallon

P1010017.jpg   p1010019.jpg   Sealcoating_MIx_Design_Tarmax.jpg

              Water                                         Silica Sand                       Latex Additive

When all of these ingredients are blended together in a contractors tank they provide a homogenous mix design which is ready for application to your asphalt parking lot.

PAVEMENT PRO TIP #1: If the proposal you are reviewing is not listing a manufacturer (ie: Gem Seal, Henry Duraseal, Sealmaster, Neyra, Star etc) and does not list a mix design you are most likely going to receive a deficient sealcoating application.  

BEWARE IF PROPOSALS LIST SOMETHING SUCH AS:

"Sealcoating ----------------------------- $8,500.00"

If there is no specific manufacturer or mix design listed then the contractor can apply pavement sealer in any method they see fit!

If the sealcoating proposal is devoid of:

1.) Manufacturer

2.) Material Type (Coal Tar or Asphalt Emulsion)

3.) # Of Coats Applied: (1,2 or 3)

4.) Application Method (Spray, Squeegee or Combination)

5.) Mix Design: (Please see above mix design example)

You are most likely going to receive a sub-standard application!!!

 

3. Application: (# of coats applied and how the sealer is being applied) 

There are three industry applications available for seal coating (Spray, Squeegee & Combination)

Sealcoating_Asphalt_Parking_Lot.jpg SPRAY APPLICATION:

  • Sealer is applied with either a hand spray wand or from a 10' spray bar mounted to the rear of a sealcoating tanker truck
  • Offers the highest production for application of pavement sealer as larger sealcoating units such as those manufactured by Neal Manufacturing can utilize two hand wands at the same time to apply sealcoating materials
  • If an unscrupulous sealcoating contractor is intending on cheating on material application (Spraying 1 coat instead of 2) it can only be achieved through spray application due to the ability to control the speed and film thickness of the applied sealer

tar-emulsion-sealcoating-pavement.jpg SQUEEGEE APPLICATION:

  • Sealer is applied with either a rubber squeegee or broom.  Material is able to be applied by hand held squeegee, ride on squeegee unit and truck mounted squeegee drag box system.
  • Applies the most monolithic application due to the fact the sealer is flooded onto the asphalt and then applied by pressure thereby sealing all hairline cracks and thoroughly coating the pores in the asphalt surface
  • On very smooth asphalt a brush application is recommended over rubber squeegee
  • An unscrupulous sealcoating contractor is unable to cheat on material application due to the fact the material is deposited into a drag box and applied full strength 

squeegee_machine.jpg  P1011026.jpg

 1st COAT SQUEEGEE / 2nd COAT SPRAY

  • Sealer is applied with either a rubber squeegee or broom on the first coat.  Second coat is applied by spray application
  • Considered industry wide as the most durable application of pavement sealer available.  During the 80's almost all large Retail Parking Lots / Malls / Fast Food Restaurants were sealed with a squeegee / spray application to ensure the coating held up under high traffic.  In the Mid-90's when cheaper seal coating equipment entered the market and lowered the financial barrier of entry, price pressure and increased competition forced contractors to abandoned this more expensive application to remain competitive.   
  • Due to the high cost of equipment to provide this type of application (squeegee Machine, Tanker Transport Trucks Of At Least 1,000 Gallons and 6,000 Bulk Storage Tanks) there are only a limited number of sealcoating companies which have the resources, equipment and financial backing to purchase this type of equipment and offer this type of application.  For this reason you will have limited companies which can provide this durable application.
  • This is the more expensive application initially, however, amortized over the life expectancy of the coating it's 20-30% less expensive when you consider the sealcoating application will last 4-5 years before re coating is needed versus 1-2 years for a spray application.  

HYBRID APPLICATION

Parking_Lot_Sealcoating2.jpg

 PRIME COAT / 2nd COAT SQUEEGEE / 3rd COAT SPRAY

  • When asphalt is very oxidized from the sun (Gray In Color) or has raveled from lack of sealcoating to keep the asphalt binder in place, sealcoating will wear quickly in the high traffic areas.  

  • For this type of application we spray apply a prime coat prior to applying the pavement sealer.  A prime coat can consist of diluting pavement sealer 50/50 with water to help it penetrate into the pores of the asphalt, Poly Prime manufactured by Neyra, Tarloc MPC manufactured by Southern Emulsions and Oxi-Bond Latex Primer manufactured by Maintenance Inc.  This author has used all 4 of these products and had excellent results.

 

Sealcoating is one of the most cost effective and valuable preventative maintenance options available when completed "PROPERLY"  

 

THE PROOF IS IN OUR WORKMANSHIP

 

5 Year Old Seal Coating Project For Lowe's Home Improvement Stores

 

4 Year Old Seal Coating Project Completed For Auto Zone

 

 

 

To learn more please visit our blog: 

www.fixasphalt.com/blog

 

 


 

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