Should an asphalt driveway be sealed?

I can say that the asphalt driveway outside my shop still shows stains where my old boom truck dripped fluids on it, quite a few months after the truck has been gone. I'm planning to seal mine. I sure wish my asphalt driveway were poured concrete, asphalt sucks for hot work.

Grant

NokNokMan wrote:

My opinion: Black-top sealer is a waste of time and money. If you want to have the black surface instead of gray, then paint it. If you want protection, then let it alone. The stones in a well-compacted asphalt are far more durable than the water-based slurries that are called "sealers." The bottom line is: sealers don't seal.

Coal tar sealers seem to be ok for maintenance every year but I stopped doing after seeing my neighbours seal their driveways with cement powder broomed over the surface then gently hosed. The light colour reflected the heat in the summer and seemed to allow the cheap home blacktop jobs to not sink where the tires sat. This ploy does not seem to solve the problem of oil stains from leaking vehicles. Randy

On commercial paving jobs (streets and highways) they always apply a "fog seal" prior to traffic. Fog seal consists of a light oil that applied at approximately 0.2 gallons per square yard of surface. It is supposed to keep moisture and other fluids from penetrating the asphalt and ergo extend life.

Ivan Vegvary

Forty years in heavy civil construction and now I hear something new! Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Ah. Paint. I have some experience with this.

At one time the vegetation by the side of my garage had gotten quite overgrown. I decided to wade in with the mower and knock it down a bit.

The painter who did the garage had left a half-full gallon of benjamin moore alkyd white paint out, which had become covered with plant life.

Yep. I ran over the paint can with the lawnmower.

Not leaving well enough alone, I blew a minor gasket (a, for not looking where I was mowing, and b, cussing the painter for leaving it out there) and picked up the can by the bail and flung it down the driveway.

Yep, spreading a wide swath of white paint down the pavement.

I took off the overspray from my truck (which was parked there) but in disgust I left the rest on the driveway. It actually stayed there for years and that part of the pavement that was (*ahem*) treated does seem to have survived the ravages of time a bit better.

YMMV.

Jim

My experience is in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It is both foggy and, in the summer, the inland temperatures get over 100°. I am going to find out more about the practice so both of us can learn.

Ivan Vegvary

Interestingly, they do something similar to the streets in Phoenix. My impression is that sealer/crack filler helps significantly to preserve the asphalt.

--RC

Jim, Thank you for the first belly laugh I've had all day! That sounds just like something I would do, except it would have been some kind of penetrating oil that ate a hole in the asphalt. Fred