According to Advance Paving, the main difference is that asphalt resurfacing/rehabilitation is a structural repair that extends the useful life of asphalt surfaces. It entails the patching (if necessary) and resurfacing of the entire surface with a new overlay of 1 ½” to 3″ of hot bituminous asphalt. On the other hand, sealcoating is not a structural repair. It’s comparable to repainting your house. The sealcoat protects and extends the life of asphalt, but doesn’t fix structural flaws. Sealcoating is much less expensive than resurfacing.

Basically, all asphalt is black. When the aggregates (stone) are mixed together with hot asphalt cement, the material is rendered black. As time passes and the asphalt oxidizes, the aggregate’s coating breaks down and the color begins show through. This can lead to a “grayish’ color if the asphalt plant uses a lighter aggregate color.

It can take more than 30 days for your new asphalt to cure, depending on temperature variations from night to day. If you’re careful, you should be able to drive on the surface after 2 or 3 days. (For information on tire scuff marks, see below.)

In Advance Paving’s experience, tire scuff marks are created when you turn your car’s steering wheel while the car is stationary. If it’s a hot day and the asphalt hasn’t completely cured, the surface will get a blemish – like grinding your heel into a soft substance. Over time, most of this will be less noticeable.

A critical aspect of producing a long-lasting asphalt surface is proper compaction. Ideal compaction is 90%. At times, the rollers leave “streaks” or marks on the driveway. These marks are temporary and will become less noticeable over a period of months.

Like fixing a piece of rotting wood in your home’s exterior, it’s much less expensive to fix deteriorating asphalt patches now than redoing the entire driveway later. In general, $1 spent on repairs in the first half of a driveway’s life will cost $4 to $5 to repair later.

This depends on the amount of direct sunlight and traffic that an area gets. In general, a surface shouldn’t need to be sealcoated more than every 3-4 years. When a driveway has been sealcoated too many times, it becomes smooth and slick when it rains.

No. We have many calls for this, but as Henry Ford said, “You can have it in any color you want, as long as it is black.” Recently, a more environmentally friendly light gray sealer (less heat retention) has been under development for commercial use. However, this is a very expensive option and isn’t widely in use. 

Aside from the color, this is primarily a question of personal taste. However, there are two primary differences. Asphalt is flexible. It flexes with use and slight movements of the base. Concrete relies on its internal strength to absorb loads and bridge weaknesses in the sub-base. Concrete costs much more than an asphalt surface of comparable strength.

Yes, we can do this if the content hasn’t broken down too much. There is one caveat, though. Concrete possesses expansion joints. When the concrete “moves,” it reflects up through the asphalt and cracks. We can put a paving fabric over the joints to slow down cracking. Sooner or later, it will show through. The alternative is to excavate the whole concrete driveway and build a new asphalt or concrete driveway from the base up. This, however, is an expensive undertaking.