Driveway Sealing
 

Does anyone have any driveway sealing companies that they would recommend?

Sealing Driveway
 

Sealing a driveway is not necessary. Now if you are interested in aesthetics by all means go ahead and seal. Easy to do yourself.
Look at the roads we drive on and they are not sealed and last 20 years or more depending on use and area of the country. Most important is the foundation under the drive. Some towns lay down a slurry to fill cracks and give some new life to local roads.

Porter
 

Yes, just had a very long and winding driveway sealed by Porter Paving and they did a great job. They were very meticulous and completely protected my home and landscaping from any overspray. The sealer they use is high quality (Gemseal) and any cracks that had to be sealed were done so well you can hardly tell a crack was ever there.

I have had a few driveways sealed over the years and this company impressed me the most!

Dan

Concur with Woody on this topic. Had a new drive put in years ago in Mass by a couple old Italians who had been in the business years and years. They strongly urged me to not seal it and let it go "natural." I don't remember all their reasoning now it was around 12 yrs ago but at the time they offered compelling arguments against it. Still not sealed to this day and looks fine. Yeah it's lightened up some in color but who cares, not me...

No Comparison
 

Sorry Woodsy;

You simply can't compare a highway or road to a home driveway. Asphaltic concrete for a highway is a completely different mix and thickness than your home driveway, it is also under a totally different stress load than your driveway.

The reason they don't seal roadways besides the expense is traffic volume and truck weight would simply wear it off in short time and since most roads need to be repaved every so many years, it makes no sense whatsoever, which brings us back to expense for no reason...

Your home driveway should last many more years than a roadway considering low traffic volume and no constant trucks with weight driving over it.

The idea of sealing it is two fold...#1 to protect moisture from entering through the porous surface and eventually destroying the gravel base or heaving during the winter months and #2 to protect the surface from harmful UV rays. UV rays pull the oils right out of the asphalt and make it brittle and crack.

Your analogy is like saying painting a wood house is not necessary after all look how long the old wooden Weirs boardwalk lasted....

Sorry but them's the facts! :eek:

Dan

Sealing Driveway
 

Maybe someone here should talk to a contractor who knows the topic. If that drive was installed properly (most probably weren't) it will last for decades.
If it is porous the job was not done correctly. We had a driveway in our first house (100 yo house) that never had anything done to it and there was no water seeping through. The color changes naturally due to the content.

As an FYI...I worked for an engineering firm and did roadway inspection including batch plant inspection for a number of years. The reason for the color change is the breakdown of the binding agent in the wear layer and the exposure of internal aggregate....

Dan

sealcoating
 

I absolutely agree with ishoot 308. My driveway is 5 years old. It had scars from snowplowing and UV started bleaching it out. I used Andrade Sealcoating out of Alton 603-435-3704. Cindy and her husband were terrific. Very reasonable and did a wonderful job. Had a Wedding Rehearsal party this weekend and everyone commented how great it looked.

You nailed Dan. Can't compare the two for all reasons you stated.

We plan on using Bryant Paving.......we need some paving repairs as well as sealcoat so we'll see how it goes.

Driveway Sealing recommendation
 

I just had my driveway seal-coated by John Storrs from Laconia Tel# 393-4860
He has over 30 yrs in business doing driveways, tennis courts, etc.

He did my driveway by hand, no spraying here.... He used a quality airport grade sealer, and looks fantastic !

John is a great guy, and his pricing is extremely reasonable for the work performed. I'm thoroughly satisfied and would recommend him to anybody.

I'll put that in my "rolodex"!

I had porter come out to estimate sealcoating our almost 10000 square foot driveway last year to try to get a few more years out of it. The sealing was reasonable but the $1/ inch of cracksealing amounted to around $3000.

We elected to have it reclaimed and repaved. Porter did a great job. I believe they are out of the sealing business now.

Sealcoat issue and repair
 

Circling back about my recommendation about John Storrs who seal-coated my driveway about a week half ago.....

The other day I had a delivery to the house, the truck was at least a F-250, maybe a F-350 with a 16' trailer, and scuffed off several spots 3-4 ft long,
off the seal-coat, by turning their wheels very sharp. The scuffing was obvious when looking at the driveway and stood out.

I called John Storrs back, and explained the issue, and he returned to the house and skim-coated the spots affected, and blended it all in, which now looks great again.

I offered to pay John for his short time, but he wouldn't have it !
This tells me a lot about the man, and his quality of work.

Please don't hesitate to call John for your seal-coating jobs, and tell him you heard this referral on the 'Winnie Forum' !
John can be reached in Laconia at (603)-393-4860