Residential Sealcoating Services

Residential Sealcoat Services NH, Driveway Sealcoating

Sealcoating provides resistance to elements that can soften asphalt, enhances asphalt appearance by restoring the original jet black color, and is easier to clean and maintain while extending the life of your pavement.

Quality Sealcoating is most effective in protecting your asphalt investment. Our sealers resist water penetration and protect against cracking from oxidation and weather extremes. Sealcoat applied to asphalt pavement ultimately protects against deterioration, crumbling, and shrinkage.

Research has demonstrated that properly applied (and properly timed) sealcoat can save the owner of a property $100,000 or more — over the life of a hot mix asphalt pavement. But what does seal-coat actually do that results in this substantial savings?

To understand how sealcoating works, it is necessary to understand the nature of the asphalt pavement itself. Because of its excellent waterproofing, flexibility, and adhesive properties to bind and hold the aggregates in the pavement, asphalt has been used extensively for paving and road construction. Prior to the advent of asphalt as a paving material, roads were constructed by spreading graded aggregates over a road bed. These roads worked well as long as the stones remained in place and stayed dry. Naturally, these roads needed constant repair. Stone would shift under the traffic and the road’s load carrying capacity was severely damaged when it rained. The stone would absorb water, swell and lose its strength. But spraying asphalt on the surface overcame this problem somewhat. Asphalt paving technology gradually evolved and today the vast majority of all roads are constructed using asphalt as the binding material for the aggregates. Due to its waterproofing properties, asphalt protects the aggregates from absorbing water, thus preserving their strength and load-carrying capacities. Today’s asphalt pavement is a mixture of stone aggregate and mineral filler combined with 4.5% to 12% (average of 6%) asphaltic binder (asphalt cement). The strength of an asphalt pavement is directly related to the pavement design from the ground up. The asphalt pavement people see is only the "roof," so to speak, of the entire pavement. This "roof" covers a bed of graded stone aggregates of varying depths according to ground conditions as well as traffic requirements. This base of aggregate is what really carries the load of the traffic. The same theory applies to off-street parking lots or drive-ways. A firm resilient surface that provides a roof over the stone base will keep the pavement bed dry. It is important to have an elastic characteristic in this pavement so that it can expand and contract and still remain intact.

Why seal asphalt?

In spite of its excellent adhesive and waterproofing properties, asphalt has some serious drawbacks that relate to its chemical makeup. Asphalt is a very complex mixture of thousands of chemicals with a considerable degree of un-saturation. This provides easy access to weather, salts and chemicals to attack and disintegrate the asphalts molecules. As the asphalts molecules disintegrate, the asphalt in the pavement loses much of its original properties, such as binding and waterproofing. The first visual sign of this is a progressive change in the color of asphalt pavement from rich black to brown to gray.

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Furthermore, asphalt, being a byproduct of the petroleum distillation process, is easily dissolved by other products that also are derived from petroleum, such as oils, fats, grease, mineral spirits etc. When automotive oil or gasoline leak onto an asphalt pavement, they will work to easily dissolve the similar chemicals in asphalt. These problems are associated primarily with off-street pavements such as parking lots, minor streets, airport aprons or runways, service stations, and home driveways, which carry low levels of traffic.

Roads, having the advantage of continuously rolling traffic, do not need protection because the rolling action of the traffic steadily brings the lower layers, rich in asphalt, to the surface and "kneads" the oxidized surface layers back into the pavement. Eventually all the asphalt binder is exhausted and the aggregates begin to unravel due to the absence of the binding cement. This happens to all pavement including roads. The rate of pavement deterioration depends upon the traffic volume as well as climatic conditions. The next step is the development of minor cracks which widen and deepen with time. If the cracks are not repaired at this stage, water seeps into the base courses and damages the pavement’s load bearing capacity. It is evidenced by rutting, shifting, and serious alligatoring. The pavement then must be either overlaid or completely removed and reinstalled, depending on the condition. Off-street pavements do not have the advantage of this "kneading" action. The surface layers of off-road pavements are under continuous attack from the weather and other destructive elements, eventually developing minor surface cracks. Again, aggregates start unraveling producing minor cracks which widen and deepen with time. The damage will continue if proper protective actions are not taken. So it would be logical to conclude that off-street pavements can be preserved by a "protective coating" that resists attack by the elements that destroy the asphalt in the first place.

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Mix design on the job

Sealer manufacturers always supply sealer - whether asphalt or refined coal tar - in a concentrated form that has to be diluted 25% to 30% by volume with water and mixed with sand or aggregate for proper textured appearance and non-slip properties. The quantities of water and sand or aggregate are conventionally expressed as a percentage or quantity based on the amount of concentrated sealer. For example, 25%-30% water will denote 25-30 gallons of water added to 100 gallons of concentrated sealer (as supplied by the manufacturer). Similarly, 2-2.5 lbs. of sand per gallon will mean 200-250 lbs. of sand added to 100 gallons of concentrated sealer. The sand must be clean, hard, angular and fall within a specified range of particle size gradation. Too many fine or coarse particles will detract from performance. The relative quantities of binder (asphalt emulsion or refined coal tar), clay, and fillers are crucial to the performance of the sealer. Excessive amounts of clay and fillers in the sealer formulation will produce porous cured films due to insufficient binder, and thus poor performance. Such sealcoat films tend to lack flexibility and wear pre-maturely. Similarly, excessive amounts of sand or aggregate in the mix design degrade the performance in the same manner. Conversely, an excessive amount of binder (asphalt or refined coal tar) might produce tackiness under hot climatic conditions, even after the full cure. Using standard mix designs, both asphalt emulsion sealers and refined coal tar sealers are capable of suspending sand, holding it in wet film, and keeping it bound in the cured film. However, when stretched beyond its capability, the sealer might not suspend the large quantities (more than 5 lbs.) of sand and definitely will not keep large quantities of sand bound in the cured film. Sand and aggregates, like any other filler, have their own binder requirements (the surface of the sand will absorb the binder -refined coal tar or asphalt- from the sealer). Used in excessive amounts, sand will rob enough binder from the sealer film which would have been otherwise available to form a continuous film on the pavement. But for some jobs it is necessary to add larger amounts of sand to fill in the profile of badly weathered pavements and produce a uniform textured appearance. In such instances special mix designs using specialty rubber additives are used that offer satisfactory performance.

Sealcoating can save real dollars for pavement owners. Unsealed pavements will require repairs starting with the second year and could require a one-inch overlay as often as every seven years. Cost savings will be a substantial 65% if the pavement is maintained regularly. Estimated savings for a 10,000-sq.-yd. asphalt pavement are $127,000 over 15 years.

Info source = pavement pro.com

Why Choose JDK Pavement for Your Residential Sealcoating?

Tips for Choosing a Contractor.

1. References.

Don't just ask, check them. Call customers near you who had work done some time ago. Ask if you can visit to look at the work, either look up a client on our References page or call us to provide a list of jobs completed nearest you.

2. Get it ALL in writing.

A good contractor will give you a detailed written quote with all specifications and costs included. This includes all costs for preparation, labor, materials, taxes, permits, and clean up after the job.

3. Make SURE the contractor has both general liability and worker's compensation insurance.

If not you could be left wide open for damages to you or your property or lawsuits from your customers or even the contractor's employees. A million dollars is a minimum for liability/worker's comp. insurance in the pavement industry. A reputable contractor will gladly furnish certificates of insurance and will never mind you verifying coverage with his agent.

4. Avoid contractors that offer generic pricing based on square footage, “up charge” at the job site, and/or leave an invoice for additional services provided without your consent (example: Beware of the flyer that states $149 driveway service for 2 car garage). All pavements are different due to maintenance, installation and use. How can a contractor fully protect your pavement and provide the best service without viewing the site before hand to determine exactly what needs to be done?

5. There are pavement “rip-off artists" and unscrupulous contractors looking for you, NEVER contract any job on impulse...no matter what the good reason or "today only" bargain seems to be.

Sloppy Work by the “lowest bidder”
More sloppy work by a “budget company”

Quality Sealcoating is most effective in protecting your asphalt investment. Our sealers resist water penetration and protect against cracking from oxidation and weather extremes. Sealcoat applied to asphalt pavement ultimately protects against deterioration, crumbling, and shrinkage.

Sealcoating provides resistance to elements that can soften asphalt, enhances asphalt appearance by restoring the original jet black color, and is easier to clean and maintain while extending the life of your pavement.

JDK Pavement applies Star-Seal Supreme® Premium Asphalt Pavement Sealer. We selected it as our frontline in protecting your pavement because of its proprietary blend of polymers, rubbers, and additives that are blended into the hot refined tar during the manufacturing process. Field performance and laboratory tests have consistently established STAR-SEAL SUPREME’s ® superiority over competitive products in the market. Click Here for more info on this Product

Why Star Seal?

Sealcoating Services, Residential Driveway Sealcoating, Asphalt Sealcoat, Pavement Sealcoating, Residential Luxury Home Driveway Seal Coating Contractors