Driveway Sealcoating in Fargo, ND

Driveway sealcoating is a thin, sanded coat of asphalt emulsion or acrylic brushed or sprayed over an asphalt drive to shut out water and sun, and it matters around Fargo because meltwater that soaks into the mat freezes again on about 84 days of the year. The coat adds no strength. Its real work is slowing the oxidation that bleaches the binder gray and makes it brittle, and keeping the surface tight enough that snowmelt runs off instead of working down toward the base. On the newer drives across south Fargo, West Fargo and Horace, a first coat about a year after paving and recoats on a steady cycle slow the aging that ends in replacement. On an older drive, driveway sealing only pays once the cracks are closed; crack filling comes first.

Most of the job happens before a pail of sealer is opened. Crews sweep and blow off the drive, edge soil and grass back from the sides, and scrub oil or antifreeze stains before treating them with primer, since a petroleum-soaked spot rejects sealer. Cracks are filled with hot rubberized material before any coat goes on. Around Fargo the edges usually need the most attention, since that is where winter snow banks sat and melted and where the asphalt has often begun to crumble into the lawn. Cleanup has a rule of its own: the city's storm water program forbids pouring oil, paint or similar materials into storm drains, and those drains lead to the Red River, so rinse water and leftover sealer stay out of the curb inlets.

Seal coating products come in three main families. Asphalt emulsion is the usual residential choice, acrylic and polymer-modified blends cost more in material, and refined coal tar is the third. North Dakota has no ban on coal tar, but Minnesota has prohibited selling or applying it since January 1, 2014, so a contractor working both banks has to carry a compliant product for Moorhead and Dilworth. By the USGS's count, coal-tar sealcoat usually carries roughly a thousand times the PAH load of asphalt-based sealcoat, and the particles it sheds travel on tires and shoes, even into homes. SealMaster, a large sealer maker, wants clean silica sand blended into its sealer, which gives grip to a surface that will be icy for much of the winter.

Weather decides the result more than the product does. The label rules are a pavement and air temperature of 50 degrees or more, still climbing, and a forecast free of rain for a day. GemSeal's own figure is that its sealer can dry about half as fast at 50 degrees as at 80, and slower still under humid, overcast skies or when the dew point sits within five degrees of the air. At Hector, June is the wettest month, averaging 3.90 inches of rain and about seven days that bring 0.10 inch or more, so June dates often move. July and August average 5.4 and 4.6 such days, with warmer nights, which is why the middle of summer gives a driveway the most dependable cure.

Recoating on a cycle works better than waiting until the drive looks bad. HomeGuide's schedule is a first coat roughly a year after paving, then a recoat every two to three years, and SealMaster's general figure is every three years, with faster wear where winters bring freeze-thaw cycles, moisture and snowplows. For a Fargo drive that is plowed or shoveled all winter, that points to a coat every two or three summers, each one laid over freshly filled cracks. Typical prices for single, two-car and long drives are on the cost page.