Driveway Sealcoating in Sioux Falls, SD

Driveway sealing is a thin film of asphalt emulsion or similar sealer, squeegeed and sprayed over clean blacktop to close the surface against water, oil and sunlight, and in Sioux Falls it matters because water that soaks into the surface freezes and thaws there about 99 times a year. Seal coating adds no strength; the stone base and the asphalt carry the load. What it does is slow the oxidation that turns a black drive gray and brittle, and keep snowmelt from settling into the voids between stones. The benefit reaches below the surface on local ground, where silty loess heaves when water feeds ice lenses, so less water through the top means less water in the base. The payoff is largest on younger drives, whose binder is still largely intact, and the Census Bureau counts about 37,000 housing units in the city built since 2000.

A proper job is mostly preparation. The drive is swept and blown clean, grass is edged back from the borders, and oil or transmission drips are scrubbed and primed, because sealer will not bond over oil. SealMaster's sequence puts pothole repair and crack filling ahead of any sealer, so anything wider than a hairline is filled first. On a Sioux Falls drive that means checking where the snow piles sat all winter and the low corner where melt ran off, and repairing those spots before the first coat. Cracks fill most completely in the cool spring and fall weeks, which often splits the work into two visits. The crack filling page covers that step.

Two coats are the norm. SealMaster recommends at least two across the whole surface and a third where tires turn and stop, such as the apron and the pad in front of the garage. Crews commonly squeegee the first coat to push sealer into the pores and spray the second for an even film. Each squeegee pass should overlap the last by 6 to 12 inches, and each spray pass by about half, to avoid thin stripes. SealMaster lists water, silica sand, polymer additives and fillers among the ingredients of its sealers, and the finished film is thin enough that texture from the stone still shows through.

Weather sets the calendar. SealMaster's rule is no sealer when the temperature will drop below 50 degrees within 24 hours or rain is due within 24 hours, because cold leaves the film brittle and rain can wash uncured sealer away. At Sioux Falls Foss Field the normal low is 56 degrees in June, 62 in July and 60 in August, but 46 in May and 49 in September. That leaves a core window of about three months with warm spells at either end. Summer storms are the other variable: June averages about 7 days with a tenth of an inch of rain or more, so a sealing date should be treated as provisional until the day before.

Traffic stays off for at least 24 hours, and HomeGuide puts the wait before driving at 12 to 72 hours depending on the product and weather. Sprinklers are the usual spoiler: the city's schedule allows lawn watering on odd or even dates outside noon to 5 p.m., so an automatic zone can wet fresh sealer the next morning. Product choice is worth asking about. Coal-tar sealer is legal here, unlike across the line in Minnesota, but the USGS measures far higher PAH levels in it than in asphalt-based sealers, and city storm drains run to the Big Sioux River. The cost page shows how product and coats change the price.

How often to reseal depends on wear. SealMaster's typical interval is about three years, with faster wear under heavy traffic and harsh winters, and Asphalt Kingdom suggests every two to three years while warning that sealing too often can damage a drive. Color and texture are the practical test. When the surface has faded from black to gray and sand grains or small stones come loose underfoot, the film has worn through and the binder beneath is weathering, which Pavement Interactive describes as raveling once stones start to dislodge.