Driveway Sealer (so called)

[itstippy]

My driveway takes 2 1/2 pails of asphalt sealer to coat, something I do every year in a futile effort to make it look like it's not falling apart. Last year I bought three pails of the top-o-the-line-8-year-sealer at the Big Box home center, $20 a pail. I had half a pail left over, so I stored it in the basement to use this year. I just opened it - it's MOLDY! Like a dang jar of jam that didn't seal. What the?!? I don't think that a product that grows mold like a cultured Petri dish is a suitable compound to preserve my decrepit driveway. I read the label: cleans up with soap and water. Contains Latex. It's cheap black latex paint - no petroleum in it at all! Probably thickened with pectin, like Aunt Jenny's orange marmelade. I want a thick noxious black petroleum goo to spread on my driveway, not Jell-O. It should have road tar and gilsonite in it, stink like heck as it dries, and contain Pramitol to kill the dang weeds. Do they sell stuff like that anymore? Where? At my local Big Box I can't get lawn fertilzer with phosphorous, ant poison with arsenic, toilets that flush, chain saw chains that cut wood, asphalt sealers that contain asphalt, ...

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

If you want aphalt or coal tar sealer, just buy the cheap stuff. The better stuff is usually latex fortified and supposed to last longer.

 

[642mx]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

I understand completely. Every year I go buy exposed aggregate sealer for my driveway, side walk and patio. And every year the sealer is supposed to be good for one year, and every year it looks great for 2 weeks and looks good for another week and then it looks like crap again.

I guess nobody makes quality products anymore.......except for Baja...lol.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

Menards should still carry a brand made by Century Industries in New Waterford, Ohio. I know it has petroleum in it, cause I could see it and smell it as they were making it! (I used to work for their trucking company and had to go into the plant every once in a while)

 

[dave11]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

If you want the one that stinks, get a coal tar based product. I prefer the other one. It is an asphalt emulsion based product.

 

[nuttyboater]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

Unfortunately the petroleum based ones are no longer the cheap ones!

 

[PAkev]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

I've also noticed diminished durability of driveway sealer over the past few years and last year tried a little experiment on part of my driveway by using foundation sealer. It took a few days to dry but it beats the 5 year raceway brand hands down. From now on, I think I'll switch to foundation sealer. Even though it costs about 30% more you can get by with doing the project every other year.

 

[dave11]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

Good sealer on a private drive should last 4 to 5 years

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

I've seen a lot of commercial guys out there spraying on what amounts to be nothing more than thinned down tar or road oil. They were doing a few driveways down the street and it smelled like kerosene and was just as thin. It lasts about a month and it's gone. Years ago, the cheap stuff from the big box store did the best, but lately it's all about the same. I did notice that the more you pay, the thicker the coating is out of the bucket.
I also notice that the new stuff dries much faster. I did my drive about 20 years ago, it took two days to be able to walk on it, with the new stuff, its dry in a matter of hours.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

A lot of the new stuff, particularly the higher priced, is latex based. That is why it dries so quickly. I just did my driveway a few weeks ago using latex based stuff. It didn't appear all that much different than latex paint. It dried in well less than 2 hours.

 

[dave11]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

I've seen a lot of commercial guys out there spraying on what amounts to be nothing more than thinned down tar or road oil. They were doing a few driveways down the street and it smelled like kerosene and was just as thin. It lasts about a month and it's gone. Years ago, the cheap stuff from the big box store did the best, but lately it's all about the same. I did notice that the more you pay, the thicker the coating is out of the bucket.
I also notice that the new stuff dries much faster. I did my drive about 20 years ago, it took two days to be able to walk on it, with the new stuff, its dry in a matter of hours.

They were using the coal tar sealer. It is designed to be diluted with water. Unfortunately, too many of those guys water it down way too much, as you noted. The asphalt emulsion sealer doesn't stink. It is designed to be used as is, not watered down. It will last years.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

They were using the coal tar sealer. It is designed to be diluted with water. Unfortunately, too many of those guys water it down way too much, as you noted. The asphalt emulsion sealer doesn't stink. It is designed to be used as is, not watered down. It will last years.

My driveway gets a lot of wear from the tandems on my trailer turning and grinding while jockeying my trailer into the back yard. That area wears down first.

My driveway is paved 8" thick, and yet it's still developing small cracks in it. It's stayed level with no low spots but its turned from black to nearly white with all the little stones being well exposed by wear.

 

[dave11]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

You want to keep it sealed to prevent water intrusion. That has allready happened. Fill the cracks and seal over them to prevent erosion, frost heaves, etc. When it gets bad enough to repave it, you might replace that area you are grinding down with your tandems with concrete.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Driveway Sealer (so called)

You want to keep it sealed to prevent water intrusion. That has allready happened. Fill the cracks and seal over them to prevent erosion, frost heaves, etc. When it gets bad enough to repave it, you might replace that area you are grinding down with your tandems with concrete.

If it gets bad enough to repave, it will all be concrete, about 8 inched thick if I have my way. I'd also widen it about 10' as well. Whoever planned out the existing driveway made it one car wide at the beginning and added about 3' of width at the end, not enough for two cars to park side by side anywhere, which makes for a real pain with 5 vehicles and 4 boats in the yard. To get the last one out, everything has to be moved onto the street. I have another 8' of property to the far side and would widen the drive to the corner of the house on the other side. This would let me park a row of vehicles off to one side and still get by easily. The only problem is that it would cost as much as the house did to repave these days. The more realistic option would be crushed stone bordered with old railroad ties.