Pavement Maintenance and Preservation: Prep the Sealer

To perform pavement maintenance such as sealcoats, you need warm enough ambient and ground temperatures (and sunshine, of course) for the material to cure. If the day promises sun and ambient temperatures above 48 or 50 degrees, which should be no problem this August, it’s time to get to work. You can check with your sealant material provider for its specific ambient temp suggestions.

One of the reasons you’ll mix sealer and sand prior to each individual job is to avoid it settling in the working tank. Here are the steps to make your sealant with good friction properties.

Step 1. Pump the concentrated sealer from the holding tank to the working tank on your trailer.

Step 2. Add water at a ratio of about 15 percent and mix thoroughly.

Step 3. Start adding sand at about 4 to 5 pounds per gallon of sealant with the tank’s agitator turning at 8 revolutions per minute.

Step 4. With the sand in suspension, you can reduce the revolutions to 4 per minute.

If you’ll be using the sealer for more than one day, you don’t have to leave the agitator on overnight, but you will want to start it up for 20 minutes or so prior to pumping material into a sprayer the next morning. The sand that is in suspension won’t stay that way for days on end. Once the sand settles, the agitator can get stuck, and you’ll have a mess for the mechanic to clean.

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