The Southern California Guide To Seal Coating (part 1)
If your like me before starting a project you need to get all the facts down first. Seal coating is one of those projects that deserves all of the research you can possibly do. So I thought it might be helpful to write a simple guide for property owners and property managers who are considering a seal coat project and want to arm themselves with the facts first. So check back often for updated post and please feel free to comment or question anything here written other than my terrible punctuation or lack of it.
Variables to Consider when sealcoating your Southern California
Seal coating Variable Number 1.
Timing:
The first variable to take into consideration is timing. The reason this is so important is that because if sealcoating work is done at the wrong time it can turn disastrous. If seal coat cant or doesn’t dry in time the project can go real bad and real fast. Now Our sealcoating business is located in Southern California so our window of opportunity is fairly large. The Southern California sealcoating season begins typically in May and goes all the way to November. The required temperature we need to seal is between 50-60 degrees F. If these simple facts are ignored trouble can occur.
Here is a hypothetical scenario:
Say your parking lot gets sealed on Sunday morning and doesn’t dry when people return to it on Monday morning. At this point your more than likely going to have a mess on your hands. I have seen where badly timed sealcoating projects have led to the tracking of wet, black sealcoat onto carpets through entire buildings, sealcoat tracked into cars, shoes ruined, as well as clothes and personal belongings destroyed. A secondary concern is having to keep a business parking lot closed during there operational hours. If you close down a fast food restaurant because there sealcoat doesn’t dry it can add up to thousands of dollars in lost revenues for them. The cost for these damages can add up fast so work with experienced sealcoating contractors and time your project accordingly.
Seal coating Variable Number 2.
Weather:
Weather also needs to be watched carefully when planing to sealcoat a parking lot or HOA. Always check the weather for rain or overcast conditions the night before a scheduled sealcoating project is going to be performed.
Another hypothetical scenario:
You have your parking lot scheduled to be sealed on Wednesday morning but the weather is calling for 25% chance of rain. You think hmm… 25% isn’t that much really lets go for it! So the seal coating contractor shows up and seals your parking lot and the rain starts coming down. Now, 2 things are going to happen.
1.) With just a little rain your seal coat is going to pour into your concrete flow lines or driveway entry’s and create a mess that will take a lot of time and money to fix.
Or
2.) A ton of rain will come down and all your sealcoat will completely wash away down into storm drains leaving you with a environmental situation that has the potential to cost you thousands if not tens of thousands to fix.
The lesson here is don’t take the chance. Southern California has so few rainy days just wait till the weather turns nice again and re-schedule the job. I have seen where a property manager didn’t cancel a project even after the contractor advised against doing the project simply because she didn’t want to upset her tenants. Let me say this …….”It was a Mistake!”
Seal coating Variable Number 3.
Shade:
Shade is kind of like weather in that it can cause large areas of sealcoat to not dry simply because it doesn’t see enough sunlight for drying to occur. There isn’t a lot that can be done about shade in terms of avoiding it, but an experienced seal coating contractors estimator/salesmen will note the shaded areas to its production manager so he can keep an eye on it. If your parking lot or HOA has a lot of shaded areas on it, than it might be better to save your sealcoating project till the summer months for higher air temps to speed the drying times of the seal coat in these troubled areas.
Seal coating Variable Number 4.
How often should I sealcoat my asphalt?:
Seal Coat is the black liquid emulsion that is spread out all over your parking lot to do two main things:
1.) Protect your asphalt
2.) Visually improve the way your parking lot looks by “blackening the asphalt”
So how often does it really need to be done? Well in terms of protecting your asphalt most manufactures suggest that your parking lot should be sealed every 2-3 years with 2 coats of slurry seal being applied each time you seal your asphalt. Many Southern California parking lot owners / managers prefer to just put a good single coat of seal on their asphalt on an annual or bi annual basis. The reason for this is too keep the parking lot looking dark and maintained more evenly throughout the years. Although they do take a small hit on the performance of their sealcoat when they do it that way they do keep their parking lots looking fresher and better maintained. One thing to watch for that does occur from time to time is too much sealcoat on asphalt. Some malls and businesses in the Southern California area are fanatical about maintaining that new black look. If too much seal builds up in your parking lot over time you can create a glassy, dangerous condition that causes vehicles to hydroplane with small amounts of water. When this occurs the best thing you can do is just remove the old seal coat build up and start over with your maintenance cycle.
Stay tuned for our part two “Guide to Sealcoating”
