How Much Does Asphalt Sealing Cost? The Average Prices Explained

Asphalt parking lots and driveways are popular around the country for their smooth finishes and clean looks. However, for these asphalt pavings to retain their structural integrity and last longer, they require sealing at least once a year.

When you want to seal your asphalt driveway, you can go two ways. The first is doing it yourself, which rarely ends well, and the second is getting a professional for the job, which is the better choice. If you opt for the latter, then you’d naturally want to know the asphalt sealing cost.

You might also want to know the cost of asphalt sealing so that you can decide which route to take. In this piece, we’ll elaborate on how much sealing an asphalt paving will cost you for better financial organization.

What Should I Expect to Pay for Asphalt Sealing

Driveway contractors have different quotes for asphalt sealing, but most of them fall within a certain range. These ballpark figures are what the asphalt sealing costs of various contractors revolve around.

You should expect to pay anywhere between $850 and $1350 for your asphalt sealing. This translates to about $1.15 to $1.25 per square foot.

Typically asphalt paving tends to last longer and is more resistant to weathering than concrete and gravel paving. Sealing is important for extending the lifespan of your asphalt driveway and is something you shouldn’t overlook.

Factors that Determine the Asphalt Sealing Cost

There are a lot of things that come into play to arrive at that asphalt sealing cost. If you’re wondering what ascribes such a huge cost difference, here are some factors that affect the cost of asphalt sealing.

Area Layout

It will cost you less to asphalt seal an open flat driveway or parking lot than an uneven and convoluted one. That’s because a truck distributor bar can easily apply a sealer on a flat surface. While on uneven surfaces, you’ll need a handheld sprayer, which is more time consuming and cumbersome too.

As you’d expect, it costs less to seal an even flat surface, while an uneven area with a lot of turns is more expensive. Also, it takes a much shorter time to seal a flat open surface, than an uneven area.

Preliminary Costs

Before the servicemen can apply any sealer, they first need to clean and prepare the area for sealing. This involves using air blowers or steel brooms to ensure a clean surface free of any debris. For proper sealing, the pavement should be completely clean to adhere firmly to the paving.

You should expect to pay more for dirtier pavements because it will take much more time and effort to prepare the pavement for sealing. Good sealing companies are keen on cleanliness, and you should be wary of companies that willingly compromise on the initial cleaning to cut costs.

Size of the Area

The bigger your pavement, the more expensive it will be to seal. Typically asphalt sealing is charged per square foot, but area isn’t the only determinant. Remember uneven areas with many turns, attract higher sealing costs.

So if you get a steep quote for a small area, it’s possibly because of the pavement’s terrain and turns.

Number of Coats

For a home driveway, you require no more than a single sealer coat. Commercial driveways or parking lots require more than a single coat because of the heavy vehicle traffic. Depending on the traffic, you may require two to three coats.

The more the coats, the more it will cost to seal the pavement. The pavement contractor will tell you how many coats you need after estimating the traffic volume.

Accessibility of the Area

The area’s ease of access is a vital factor that determines how much the sealing will cost. Easy to access areas won’t attract such a hefty bill. Areas that are hard to get to, on the other hand, will run up the asphalt sealing cost.

Parking lots and driveways are accessible areas, unlike backyards and blacktops, which are a headache to reach.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional Pavement Contractor

Asphalt sealing doesn’t seem too difficult, then why not do it yourself? It’s common for homeowners to want to do asphalt sealing on their own mainly because it seems much cheaper than hiring the pros. While asphalt sealing isn’t the most complicated job, there are plenty of reasons why it’s best to leave the job to the pros.

Professional Equipment and High-Quality Materials

Professional companies have invested in proper machinery and equipment to ensure a bang-up job. They also recruit the best people to handle the job. So when you opt for the pros, you’re guaranteed quality work within a short time.

These companies also don’t compromise on the quality of materials they use for their asphalt sealing, because if they do so, it’s their reputation that’s on the line.

Decreases Your Liability

Professional companies cover all their workers with insurance policies like workers comp. That way you aren’t liable for any injuries to the workers during the asphalt sealing.

If you pick casual laborers from the neighborhood to do your asphalt paving, you’ll be held accountable should any one of them have a work injury. That means you’ll have to foot high medical bills or deal with a lawsuit, which is even more expensive.

Quality of Work

Most professional pavement contractors have been sealing asphalt pavements for several years. You can’t match this experience with a few YouTube videos or web articles.

Doing it yourself is a hit or miss approach that rarely gives the desired output. If you want guaranteed quality asphalt sealing, then settle for nothing less than the professionals.

For more compelling reasons on why you should settle for the pros, check out this article from dannyspaving.com.

You Get What You Pay for

Note that with asphalt sealing, you’re most likely going to get what you pay for. As such, you should be wary of companies that have suspiciously low asphalt sealing costs. They’re likely to skimp on something to warrant the low asphalt sealing cost.

Now that you know the asphalt sealing cost, it’s time to get a good pavement contractor and seal your asphalt pavement. Don’t try to do it on your own; it rarely ends well.

For more informative reads, have a look at the other posts on the site.