Carefully refined and Sealed Over!

A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to pave my driveway. You may have read about it in my November 25, 2012 post. Anyway, with pavement, as with lots of things, there is more than meets the eye. Maintenance! With a paved driveway you don't think about maintenance, but it is necessary. Primarily it consists of occasional sealing. A good seal-coat prevents the pave job from drying out, keeps water from penetrating cracks and pores, and thus helps the blacktop keep its integrity for a much longer period of time.

Early this last summer I noticed that the new driveway was beginning to loose its "new look". After a winter and a long dry spring, you could really tell that it had aged somewhat. This is totally normal, but reminded me that a seal coat was in order. The paving dude had returned in April to repair a few thin spots, and had mentioned that we should seal it. He also gladly offered to take on the job. But, you know me, why pay someone else to do something that I can do myself (maybe even cheaper)?

So I did some internet shopping and found some quality sealing material at Lowe's for what seemed a reasonable price. Then I did some "YouTube research" and watched several videos on how to accomplish the job. Kim and I then went to Reno and picked up the material. After carefully measuring the driveway, reading the specifications, and using the manufacturer's numbers for coverage, we purchased nine 5 gallon buckets, and an applicator squeegee. I figured we had several gallons to spare.

It was October, and therefore pretty late to be doing this job, since the seal has to cure overnight without freezing, and needs to be up around 50 to 60 degrees for the first few hours of drying. We got a good weather forecast, and went for it. Soon we had a pretty good system down. I was the applicator and Kim was the mixer. She used my drill motor and a mixing paddle to thoroughly mix each bucket before applying. This really worked great and beat the heck out of hand stirring all those buckets of "mud". I would then lug the bucket around pouring "strips" of sealer then spreading them evenly with my squeegee. Back and forth...back and forth.

Kim was a huge help as my "Mixmaster"!

She was also good at "quality control" as she kept an eagle
eye on work progress.

The bucket was terribly heavy for the first few pours,
and got better from there.

I worked hard to make it a uniformly thin coat, as we were going
to put on a second after the first was properly cured.

After a few buckets, it became very clear that the manufacturers specifications for coverage were way off. Each bucket was supposed to cover 350 sqft. My first bucket barely covered 100 sqft if that! So Kim took off for Reno to buy more so our sealing operation would not be interrupted. we ended up using 23 buckets! This included two solid coats. The first coat took 14, and the second coat took 9 (just what the specs indicated).

Spreading the "mud" was kind of fun. But there definitely can
be too much of a good thing!

Back and fourth...back and fourth, bucket after bucket!

Close to finishing the first coat. You can see the difference
 in color clearly.

The last corner! Almost done.

After the first coat, we blocked off the driveway for a few days, and when the weather came back into prescription, we finished the job. The second coat was much quicker, and used way less material. Bottom line: we got 'er done, and won't have to worry about this for many years (the label said it lasts for ten, so I am crossing my fingers. So far this winter it is holding up well and I have no complaints. Just did my first snowplow job last week, and it didn't even leave a scratch!

That's All!