Asphalt pavement can last for years, provided you get its maintenance done on time.
Whether it is a residential sidewalk or driveway, or commercial parking lot, preventative maintenance and on-time repairs are vital to making your asphalt last.
Over time, weather conditions and regular wear and tear start to damage the surface. One of the first signs of damage is cracks. Spotting and repairing these in the early stages is easy, cheap, and less time-consuming.
However, if you ignore the cracks, further damage and weather changes can make the pavement condition worse, leading to costly repairs. At this point, you have several options, including asphalt sealcoating to repair your pavement.
In this blog post, we will discuss the best weather conditions for a sealcoating project. However, before getting into that, let’s discuss the use of sealcoating and when you need to go for it.
Compared to crack filling, sealcoating is a more durable solution that not only protects your asphalt but also boosts the curb appeal. Sealcoating doesn’t replace the asphalt’s top layer, but adequately applied sealants create a hard finish so that the cracks don’t expand or contract, even when temperatures change.
Sealcoating protects your pavement from fuel stains, oil spills, weather, and traffic wear and extends the life of your asphalt. Other benefits of sealcoating include:
- Minimized long-term repair costs.
- Fast melting of ice and snow on the pavement surface.
- Protects your asphalt from oxidation, oil, and chemical spills.
- Protects your asphalt against rain, frost, and snow damage.
- Boosts curb appeal.
- Prolongs pavement life.
Experts recommend that you go for professional sealcoating every two to three years. Of course, this depends on the surface’s condition and the frequency of traffic it is subject to.
Let’s discuss the best weather conditions for starting a sealcoating project.
There are three weather factors that you should always keep in mind when considering sealcoating your pavement.
1. Humidity and Its Effects
Humidity is one of the main weather conditions that can prevent sealcoating from giving optimum performance. If the humidity is high, sealcoating takes a lot of time to cure and dry. This also leads to delays and disruptions in the flow of traffic.
Therefore, it is recommended to check for humidity before spreading the sealant. The optimum humidity percentage should be below 90% to ensure that the sealer dries quickly and efficiently.
2. Wind Speed and Its Effect
The second critical weather factor to consider when sealcoating is wind speed. It seems intuitive that high winds would be beneficial when sealcoating as the wind should help to dry the sealant; however, when the wind speed is higher than 10 miles per hour, it can actually spray the sealant all around potentially causing a lot of harm to any nearby building or vehicles.
3. Temperature and Its Effect
Temperature is the third major weather condition to take into account before sealcoating.
You need to consider both the air temperature and surface temperature. Sometimes, the air temperature may be appropriate for applying the sealer, but the surface temperature may not be. If the temperature is too low, the sealcoating will take a long time to dry, while very high temperatures can cause hyper evaporation, which can damage the pavement. Thus, you should ensure both the air and surface temperatures are suitable to facilitate rapid evaporation. The best temperature to sealcoat the surface is between 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Contact Action Asphalt today for high-quality and affordable sealcoating services in Sacramento. Get a free quote today!
