The main difference is that resurfacing/rehabilitation is a structural repair that will extend the useful life of your asphalt surface. It entails the patching (if necessary) and resurfacing of the entire driveway with a new overlay of 2" to 3" of hot bituminous asphalt. Sealcoating is not a structural repair and may be likened to painting your house. The seal coating protects and extends the life of your asphalt, but does nothing to correct structural flaws. Seal coating, accordingly, is substantially less expensive than resurfacing your drive.

Essentially all asphalt is black. When the aggregates (stone) are mixed together with hot asphalt, the mass of material becomes black. Over time, as the asphalt oxidizes, the coating on the aggregate breaks down and the color of the aggregate starts to show through. This can lead to a 'grayish' color if 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 to day. In general, however, you should be able to drive on the surface after two or three days if you are careful. (You want to avoid tire scuff marks.)

Tire scuff marks are caused when you turn your car's steering wheel while the car is stationary. If it is a hot day and the asphalt has not completely cured, the surface will get a blemish like grinding your heel into a soft substance. Over time, most of this will disappear.

Asphalt is comprised of roughly 95% varying sized aggregates and 5% black asphalt cement. While the mixes we use are all state approved, the appearance and characteristics of the mixes from our asphalt plant may vary. It is natural to expect a variation in the surface texture of the asphalt between loads and in different areas of a paved surface.

A critical aspect of producing a long-lasting job is the achievement of the proper compaction of your surface. 90% compaction is ideal. Sometimes the rollers leave 'streaks' or marks on the drive. These are temporary and will become less noticeable over several months.

As a frame of reference, good drainage requires a minimum of 2% 'fall' for water to run off properly. In plain English, this means that the grade (angle) of the driveway should have a 1/4" decline for each foot of pavement...i.e. a 10 foot wide section of asphalt should decline 2 1/2" to have the water run off properly. Many driveways do not have this amount of grade and water ponds accordingly. There are a variety of solutions to this including drains, swales and curbs. In areas with less than 2% fall, ponding water is to be expected.

Yes. This can be done if the concrete has not deteriorated too much, but there is a caution. Concrete has expansion joints and when the concrete 'moves,' it will reflect up through the asphalt and crack. The alternative is to excavate the entire concrete drive and rebuild an asphalt drive from the base up.

Color aside, we believe that this is primarily a question of personal taste, but there are two primary differences. Asphalt is a flexible surface that has the ability to flex with use and slight movements of the base. Concrete relies on its own internal strength to absorb loads and bridge weaknesses in the sub-base. Concrete costs significantly more than an asphalt surface of comparable strength.

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

This is one of the trickiest questions we get. And the answer is 'it depends'! Once we patch part of your drive, it will be a black area in the midst of your existing graying surface. If your driveway has been seal coated previously, the new asphalt also have a more porous texture. This does not bother some people, as they know that they are protecting the investment that they have in their driveway. Others see it as an eyesore and have the whole driveway resurfaced or seal coated after the patching is completed.

Asphalt is a petroleum-based product and oils, gasoline, and brake fluids act like a solvent, causing the surface to soften and become more susceptible to damage.

The edges or 'shoulders' of your drive are one of the most vulnerable areas of the drive. If you put a lot of weight on the edge (say by driving your car or lawn mower right to the edge), there is the possibility that the edge will crack or break off if it is not properly supported. We try to help the situation by creating a 'beveled edge' on the side of the drive with a 45-degree angle to diffuse the pressure. You can help by installing seeded topsoil against the finished height of the asphalt once the job is completed.

Much like the repair of rot in a piece of wood on your house exterior, it is significantly cheaper to repair deteriorated areas before they start to spread than to wait and rehabilitate the entire drive. Typically, a dollar spent on repairs in the first half of a driveway's life will cost $4 to $5 to repair at a later date.

When asphalt is mixed at the plant, it is superheated to in excess of 325 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time it is put into a truck and shipped to the job site and installed on your project, it should still be a minimum of 250 degrees 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 60 minutes on a hot summer day to 10 minutes on a chilly fall morning.

Properly compacted asphalt has a 10% air voids in it. If a seed of grass gets into the mix and germinated - voila! - We have grass. The best thing to do is spray the area with 'Round Up' to kill the grass.