Sealcoating

Wait a full season — six to twelve months. New asphalt needs to cure and release its oils first; sealing too early traps them and leaves a soft surface that scuffs and tracks. Anyone offering to seal a driveway laid last month is doing you no favors.

Every two to three years for a typical residential driveway. More often than that is wasted money — the coating has not worn through yet and you are just adding thickness, which can eventually flake. If yours is shedding loose stone or has gone gray and porous, it is ready.

24 to 48 hours depending on temperature and humidity, and longer in the shade. We will tape it off and tell you when it is ready. Pulling on too early is the most common way a fresh sealcoat gets scarred.

No. Sealer is a coating a few millimetres thick — it cannot bridge a gap, and poured over an open crack it just sinks in and the crack reappears within weeks. Cracks get filled first, sealer goes on after. Anyone quoting sealcoat alone for a cracked driveway is selling you a year.

Usually one of three things: the material was over-thinned with water, it went down on a surface that was not properly cleaned, or it was applied too thick in one pass so the top skinned over before the underside cured. Coverage rate and surface prep matter more than the brand on the pail.

Move the cars out, and plan to leave them out overnight. Trim any grass growing over the edges, shut off sprinklers that throw onto the driveway for a day, and keep pets and kids off it. If you have something parked on the driveway that cannot move, tell us in advance and we will work around it.

A little, for the first day or two, especially in heat. Shoes off at the door is the simplest answer. It stops once the sealer has fully cured.

It is priced by the square foot, and it is the cheapest work we do by a wide margin — a fraction of what patching the same driveway costs once water has got underneath it. What moves the number is size, how much crack filling has to happen first, and whether the surface needs cleaning or edges cut back before we can seal. We measure and quote free, and we will tell you if a driveway is too far gone for sealing to be worth your money.

It is worth it on asphalt that is still structurally sound — it keeps water, salt and UV off the surface so the binder does not dry out and let go. It is close to worthless on a driveway whose base has already failed, and we will tell you if that is what you have rather than take the job.