What is asphalt driveway sealing?

Before we explain what's driveway sealing, first we will explain how asphalt driveways are made. They are almost like a cookie. Instead of sugar flour, and egg that is the binding agent to that lose powder, asphalt is sand stone and liquid asphalt or bitumen that acts like the egg, which is the binding agent to hold it together. A cookie is flexible when fresh, and it doesn't crack or crumble even if you step on it, but when it dries like a biscuit, it crumbles even gets wet in tea etc., pretty much like asphalt which is sand and stone that gets wet with rain usually, the bitumen or liquid asphalt is a petroleum oil based product that glues the sand and stone and makes it waterproof and flexible in heat and it helps it contract in cold without breaking.

This material just like gasoline which is actually derived from it, it oxidizes or evaporates with the sun every 2 years, so this is the period you should often be sealing at to keep your asphalt fresh. Do not use the water based products sold in store because they are made from acrylic, so it only sits on top like you are spreading Nutella on a dry biscuit, it keeps the biscuit dry, this oil based bitumen liquid asphalt sealer actually rejuvenates your asphalt as oil penetrates your asphalt driveway like oil paints penetrate the art canvass unlike the water based acrylic paint that sits on top of the canvass and cracks and get washed away with the rain. When oil and water are not mixable, water will not penetrate your asphalt, make it wet and in winter under zero degrees where Quebec and Montreal are notorious for, water ice expands in size and cracks inflexible or unsealed driveways then the cookie crumbles.

So asphalt sealing is water proofing your driveway and keeping it flexible for heat and cold expansion and elongating its life span so you don't replace your driveway with a new one that will also eventually break if you don't seal, plus new driveways cost thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, so driveway sealing actually saves you money too.

It also beautifies your home and adds value to your house as the front entrance of any HOME, WHICH IS THE DRIVEWAY AND THE FRONT LAWN IS EQUAL TO 10% OF THE WHOLE HOME VALUE ACCORDING TO REALTORS. Driveway sealing is basically bringing back your biscuit into a cookie, or your driveway back into fresh asphalt by bringing back its flexibility, intactness, and waterproofing it.

When should a driveway be sealed?

Driveway sealing frequency is every 2 years since the liquid Asphahlt bitumen or Asphaltene evaporates with the sun, it oxidizes with the oxygen and driveway goes from black to grey. When the sealer goes away the sand and stone starts falling off your driveway, weeds coming out, ants going in and out, cracks forming, patches missing then sand and stone becomes lose, every 2 years seal and this will prevent this cycle that will eventually cause you to replace your driveway.

Even if you have cracks and patches, Solution Xpress actually fixes then to a limit, even if you don't fill all the cracks in case you have more than 15 as we only fix up to 15 cracks, the sealer will seal the cracks and makes them water proof so water doesn't penetrate them and freeze in winter and shatter your driveway when it expands under zero degrees celsius like a water bottle in a freezer. Therefore every two years is how often driveway sealing should occur.

Is sealing driveway bad?

To those who want to know if driveway sealing good or bad, this is the answer: Sealing with professional oil based products like bitumen is good. Sealing with water based products sold in store is bad.

Oil based products like bitumen, black top, or liquid asphaltene, same name for the same product is good, however you need a license to buy this sealer from the asphalt refinery as it is considered to be a dangerous good product since it is flammable and explosive when carried or stored, so handler must be licensed and trained.

So only available sealer in department stores is water based which actually suffocates the driveway as it sits on top and doesn't penetrate the asphalt or your sand and stones, making it shiny, slippery and it is not waterproof since it is water based it actually dissolves with the rain, however oil based sealer will repel water and keeps driveway flexible so it prevents cracking and falling apart of asphalt.

Always hire a professional driveway sealing company that is in your area to do the job. Solution Xpress specializes in Quality driveway sealing for Montreal, Laval, and the West Island areas like Pointe Claire, Kirkland, Pierrefonds, Dollard des Ormeaux, Beaconsfield, L'ile bizard, and Baie D'urfe.

Is driveway sealing necessary?

The reason why driveway sealing is necessary is because liquid asphalt or bitumen oxidizes / evaporates with the sun every 2 years. This oil based product is wat keeps your driveway intact and waterproof. Without it, just like a cookie when it dries up it becomes a biscuit then it crumbles, asphalt does the same, the flexible black asphalt driveway dries up and it turns grey then you start seeing sand and stones falling off the driveway also allowing it to get wet when it rains then in winter it shatters when it freezes just like a water bottle in a freezer as water under zero degree celsius expands, specially in Quebec, we get up to -30 degrees celsius, shattering our wet asphalt, and that is why our roads and highways have patches missing and lots of cracks.

Prevent this from happening by regularly sealing your asphalt with a professional nearby asphalt contractor like Solution Xpress. Driveway sealing will save you thousands of dollars from replacing your driveway or repaving it when it is too late, just like brushing your teeth is worth it before extracting your teeth when it is too late, sealing driveway to house is worth it.

List of driveway sealing benefits?

What does driveway sealing do? The driveway sealing benefits are:

- Water proofing, elongating lifespan of driveway, beautifying your home's front entrance, saving you thousands of dollars from replacing / re-paving your driveway, preventing deterioration of your asphalt, preventing bumps and dents caused by your heavy car, preventing cracks and missing patches of asphalt, using oil based sealer provided by Solution Xpress, or bitumen, it prevents slippery driveways caused by the waterbased sealer sold in store, increases your home value by 10% since the front entrance (front lawn and driveway) is considered to be 10% of the house value according to realtors.

Does does sealing driveway fill cracks?

Driveway Sealcoating is a process done by machine spraying oil based asphalt onto the driveway, it waterproofs your cracks. Crack filling is done by another product that is liquid rubber based, we fill upto 15 cracks per driveway, any more than 15 is not recommended to fill, just spray with oil based sealer to water proof them, filling cracks is for esthetic purposes unless cracks are super wide and huge then they might need asphalt patching. Driveway sealing will prevent your cracks from shattering into missing pieces of asphalt, causing potholes and broken asphalt that will leave the driveway like a shattered biscuit that is too late to bring back to a full cookie intact all together into one piece. Solution Xpress specializes in Asphalt driveway sealing and crack repairs, sealing driveway with cracks requires an artist, because too little crack filler doesn't do the job, and too muck crack filler is not good either, as the oil based driveway sealer is sprayed over the crack filler.

How long does driveway Sealing Last?

Professional driveway sealing using oil based products like bitumen, lasts 2 years before it oxidizes and evaporates from the sun and the oxygen. Water based sealer dissolves with the rain after 6 months. Oil based sealer is water proof but oxygen and the sun will vanish it away and that is why you need to seal your driveway every two years.

What temperature for driveway sealing?

Professional oil based driveway sealing, or bitumen driveway sealer is recommended between May1-September 30 in Quebec, since the temperature required for driveway sealing must be between 8 degree celsius and 38 degree celsius. And the driveway must be also dry before oil based sealer touches it so it sticks since oil and water don't mix. Having said that, it can actually rain 10 minutes after the sealer is applied and it won't affect the sealer since oil and water don't mix. That is why we call it sealing, sealing from water or waterproofing. All Quebec Asphalt is broken because it got wet in the fall, then froze in the winter, then shaterred when ice expanded in sub zero temperatures that Montreal and the West Island are notorious for in the Quebec region.

Does sealing driveway make it slippery?

Only if you used water based acrylic sealers sold in store your driveway will be slippery and suffocated. Oil based sealer which is called bitumen, asphaltene, or blacktop, or black mack, will penetrate your asphalt driveway since oil like to penetrate the canvass just like art oil paint on canvass vs acrylic water based paint on canvass sits on top and cracks. An oil stain is hard to remove from your cloths right? But water based accidents you can wash off. Once oil based sealer goes in the driveway after 24 hours, the stones of your asphalt driveway keep their friction, making it non slippery, while water based acrylic sits on top, covering the texture of your driveway and not only makes it slippery, but it rubs off to your shoes and goes inside your home to the carpets and floor! ALso oil based driveway sealer removes and heals your car leaked oil stains since its density is heavier than your car oil's! Another great reason to seal as it also prevents future stains from destroying your driveway as car oil breaks your asphalt apart, it makes it soft and fragile, while sealing with bitumen is gluing and water even oil proofing your driveway from those bad materials.

How long after driveway sealing?

Driveway sealing drying times for the oil based sealer between May1-September 30 in Montreal, Quebec are 10-12 hours before you can walk on it, and 19-30 hours before you can drive on it.

So when you ask about driveway sealing when can you drive on it, we advise you to wait at least 24 hours, if your city needs a parking permit to park outside your driveway ask for a 1 or 2 day permit not more than that, as driveway sealing time to dry is 12 hours for the feet and 24 hours for the cars as they are heavier than us.

How long after driveway sealing rain?

Since professional Driveway sealer is oil based, driveway sealing and rain depends if driveway is wet or dry. If driveway was dry it is ok to seal before 10 minutes of raining! The rain will actually bubble down on that 30 degree driveway of yours since oil and water don't mix. If it rained before you seal the driveway, the driveway is wet, wait till sun dries it before you seal as the oil based sealer will not stick if there is wet areas on the driveway. So it is ok to seal before it rains, but not after it rains, it can actually rain 5 minutes after the sealing job is done, and you are waterproof!

Sealing driveway with sprayer vs. driveway sealing with roller?

Professional oil based sealers are applied with high pressure engine machine sprayers, cheap & waterbased sealers which are sold in stores are applied by a roller. Don't be fooled by someone spraying, always ask to prove if their sealer is water based, they will spray then do the water test, that is by throwing water on the fresh sealed job, if it washes away it was water based, if the water beads and bubbles, then it was oil based. Therefore driveway sealing with a roller is a no no as it suffocates your driveway with material that doesn't penetrate your asphalt with a petroleum product that keeps the flexibility, waterproofness, and intactness of your asphalt, as asphalt needs to expand and contract in the winter and summer just like train tracks do, that is why there is usually a builders' gap not a crack between your driveway and the garage doors that most home owners mistake for a crack and they try to fill it or ask us to fill it. Solution Xpress has been in driveway sealing business for over 10 years and not only we know asphalt but we know how to keep your property clean by not causing any overspray to the garage doors or your interlock. Driveway sealing is supposed to be oil based petroleum based, when you say painting a driveway usually it refers to using water based sealer that is squeegied on, suffocating your driveway and making it slippery. Hire an expert contractor to sal your driveway, Solution Xpress is a local contractor who specializes in Asphalt driveway sealing and repairs.

What does driveway sealing cost?

Driveway sealing prices depend on the size of your driveway and the condition it is in. If your driveway is clean from weeds or do we have to spend extra time cutting weeds that are on the edges beside the interlock as we tape off (mask) your interlock before we seal for no over spray effects, we remove the exess grass from your cracks, but we can't prevent it from coming back, call weedman for that lol. A driveway with lots of stones on it vs a driveway with just dust take different times to clean before we spray as we first:

remove weeeds from inside and the circumference of the driveway, then use an engine blower or broom to clean the driveway from dust and debree, if you have lots of things that need to be removed then that is extra time so extra cost, then we fill upto 15 cracks, a driveway with no cracks costs less as it requires less time and material, then we tape off the edges, a driveway with just grass on the sides costs less that a driveway with interlock, however if grass is growing on top of asphalt, then we cut it to make a straight lign and that will take extra effort and time, so more to the total bill, then we spray, a driveway with a new condition requires less asphalt than a dry cracked up driveway that absorbs the sealer and requires more quickly, all these make pricing jobs different on a case by case basis. An average answer to the is question is $100 per car space. Pretend your driveway is a rectangular shaped pizza, how many slices can you cut it into? Each slice is being a car without opened doors, just like a slice of pizza it is a car space, if you can squeeze 3 cars then it is an average of $300 and so on... This is how much driveway sealing cost.

Is it cheaper to seal your own driveway?

Not at all. Driveway sealing is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. First of all, professional oil based sealer requires a license to transport and operate with as it is flammable and explosive in liquid state. What they sell you in stores are plastic acrlylic garbage that suffocates your asphalt. If you were to use that garbage, you still need to sacrifice a pair of pants, shoes, tshirt, gloves, brush, 5 hours of your time, buy masking tape, and the sealer and a squeegy, all this will add up to 2-4 times the price we actually charge you and we actually do it better as we have sealed over 5000 driveways so far so experience makes practice makes perfect. If you were to use the professional oil based sealer, you need to buy a truck, a $5000 sealing machine as it needs a specialty tank and oil based engine and all the tools mentioned above, and that will make it a $10,000 project you are better off assigning only 2-10% of it using Solution Xpress where we will be saving you 90-98% of that cost using our high quality bitumen oil based asphalt sealer. Solution Xpress actually seal your driveway between 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the size and amount of work required on an average, just enjoy the show, watch us along with your family and anjoy your before and after picture as we guarantee an amazing make over for your driveway and home for LE$$.

Driveway sealing, Asphalt patching, and Line Painting

Usually big driveway have more problems like missing patches, we actually fix that by pounding in new asphalt to patch these holes, we also offer yellow line painting services for parking lots after the sealing job is done, we also offer numbering for the parking lot lines for tenants etc. Solution Xpress does more than just driveway sealing, we do asphalt repairs and line painting. Yellow line painting is better for the snow as it will be visible, we still can use white line paints if that is your preference.

Garage Lip Raising

Sometimes asphalt sinks due to nature shifting its ground over time, so the car doesn't drive nicely anymore into the garage, Solution Xpress has solutions for that, we create a ramp that joins the asphalt with the garage concrete making the entry drive smooth and comfortable for your car or wheel chair or bike. We call those Garage lip ramps which we use real asphalt for.

Garage Water Damn / speed bump to prevent water from flooding your home

We have been specializing is preventing water from entering into your garage by creating a speed bump where when the water goes down to you garage door it gets blocked from enetring your home, this is a great solution we offer to many of our clients facing this flooding issue. Blocking Water from enetering your garage if it was on a slope.

Quality driveway sealing

Solution Xpress is The Best Choice for your Driveway Sealing & Asphalt Maintenance needs - satisfaction guaranteed. We have been sealing driveways since 2012. Our work is professional, and we aim to please. We use high quality products that are not available in store, we focus on a clean job by masking off your interlock and garage door so no overspray happens, we clean before we spray, and we place a caution tape once done to prevent mistakes by pedestrians or cars from hapenning to your wet sealed jobs. Our customers are repeat customers and they recommend all their family and friends to use our services. We pride in being the Picassos of the industry, it is an art to us making your home look nicer, and a science making your asphalt last longer.

Who does driveway sealing near me?

If you are asking google who does driveway sealing in my area, or you are wondering who does asphalt driveway repair and sealing near you, and you are located in Montreal, Laval, or the West Island, then Solution Xpress is your go to Company. 90% of our clients are from the West Island, and we are number one, yes #1 when it comes to: driveway sealing in West Island, driveway sealing in Pointe Claire, driveway sealing in Kirkland, driveway sealing in Dollard des Ormeaux, driveway sealing in Pierefonds, driveway sealing in Baie D'Urfe, driveway sealing in L'ile Bizard, driveway sealing in Beaconsfield, QC, driveway sealing in Montreal, QC, and driveway sealing in Laval, QC. We are local Montreal Based Company, and near you, not a franchise from one huge company out in the States or Ontario, all you have to do is CONTACT US ahead of time to book your job as each area gets its turn, and we would love to service you when we are near your area servicing our clients who are due for servicing as we seal their asphalt driveways each 2 years.

Back to Home Page