When it’s time to sealcoat an asphalt surface, your goal is to protect the surface from the elements for three or four years. The seal is the membrane that will wear away so the pricy asphalt beneath doesn’t. To get the best seal, you want to produce and spray (or squeegee) the optimum material.
First, the sealcoat material will be delivered to you in a concentrated liquid form. You will then add enough water and sand to get a mix that provides an optimum wet film thickness (WFT) and dry film thickness (DFT). While weather conditions, viscosities, additives and myriad aspects influence these thicknesses and their efficacy, a general rule of thumb is to go for a final number of 53.5 mils of WFT and 21.4 mils of DFT. The typical spray rate will be around 0.3 gallons per square yard.
What you want to do is read the instructions from your material supplier. Follow the suggested directions for adding sand and water at however many pounds and gallons per tank. Follow the suggested directions for agitation and keeping additives in suspension.
The point is there’s more to sealcoating than receiving the product and spraying it on a parched surface. Learn how to augment the spray rate depending on the age of the oxidized surface and learn the correct sand content to add proper friction. With the advice and guidance of your material supplier, you can achieve an optimum sealcoat to protect your customer’s pavement and receive full pay.
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