The main difference is that resurfacing is a structural repair that will extend the useful life of your asphalt surface. It entails the patching if needed and resurfacing of the entire surface with a new overlay of 1 1/2” to 3” of hot bituminous asphalt. 

Sealcoating is not a structural repair and may be likened to painting your house. The sealcoat protects and extends the life of asphalt, but does nothing to correct structural flaws. Accordingly, sealcoating is substantially less expensive than resurfacing your drive.

Essentially all asphalt is black. When the aggregates are mixed together with hot asphalt cement, the mass of the material becomes black.

Over time, as the asphalt oxidizes, the coating on the aggregates breaks down and the color of the aggregates starts to show through. This can lead to a “grayish” color when the asphalt plant uses a light color aggregate.

Your new asphalt surface can take more than 30 days to cure depending on temperature variations from night today. In general, you should be able to drive on the surface after two to three days if you are careful.

When asphalt is mixed at the manufacturing plant, it is super-heated over 325F. By the time it is put in a truck, shipped to the job site, and installed on your project, it should still be a minimum of 250F to allow it to be properly compacted. 

Ambient air temperature and the temperature of the ground both play a significant role in how long the asphalt is “workable” and can be properly compacted. This can range from several hours on a hot summer day to 10 minutes on a chilly fall morning.

This is generally a function of the amount of direct sunlight and traffic that an area gets. As a rule of thumb, a surface should not sealcoat for more than three or four years. Once a driveway has been sealcoated too many times, it becomes very smooth and slick when it rains.

Asphalt is the most recycled material in the world, exceeding even aluminum. All new asphalt has anywhere from 15% to 20% crushed, recycled asphalt blended into the new mix. Although virgin material can be purchased, most experts recommend against its use in installation projects, unless it’s being used on the bottom of multiple lifts.

Recycled asphalt can also be used as an inexpensive driveway application. However, you need to exercise caution, because recycled asphalt has rubber, oil, and line paint mixed together, and can be tracked into your home and vehicle.

Asphalt contractors can determine when pavement needs to be reconstructed when they see alligator cracks. It is more cost-effective to do a reconstruction. The pavement is restorable and can undergo resurfacing when the base layer is in good condition.

Asphalt has been proven to be an excellent paving material and has only improved through the years to become more durable and sustainable as new paving research and technology have evolved.

Asphalt provides an excellent performing surface that is equal to more expensive and less environmentally friendly options.

A pothole is caused by water penetrating the asphalt and weakening the stone base during the freezing and thawing cycles of winter. Improper subgrade can also contribute to potholes.

We can usually install year-round if the temperature and ground conditions permit. Paving operations can be weather-dependent due to moisture and freezing of the ground. If it’s raining or snowing, we’ll reschedule the project to a drier, warmer day.