Asphalt Sealer Comparison
Environmental Regulation has begun to impact Asphalt Sealer Manufacturing which is causing sealer manufactures to begin offering Asphalt Emulsion Driveway Sealer instead of Coal Tar sealer.
This change is sweeping the nation and several city's have regulation in place that only allows the use of Emulsion and have already banned the use of Coal Tar because it's thought that using coal tar based sealers may Pollute Our Ground Water.
The EPA believes that It's possible that coal tar sealers may run off into our water sewage systems as they deteriorate and be a cause of Ground Water Pollution. Because of this they are encouraging States to Ban Coal Tar Sealers.
Coal Tar Sealer has been the most popular method of resealing asphalt pavement for many years but just within the last few years there has been a great deal of research into new and more environmentally friendly products including Asphalt Based Emulsion.
Asphalt Sealer Emulsion has many benefits over Coal Tar Driveway Sealer including:
- Increased durability
- Increased adhesion to underlying surface
- Easily mixed in an Agitated Sealcoating Machine
- More scuff resistant
- Superior UV resistance
- Faster cure rate than coal tar driveway sealer
- Earlier striping and traffic release
- Night time application possible
- Increased flexibility
- Excellent moisture resistance
- No PAH threat to the environment (PAH: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, which is Carcinogenic)
- It's completely safe to use and handle, it wont burn you
- It cleans easily with water if not allowed to dry
- It usually has slate or other adhesion additives added in production eliminating the need for additional sand
There are three types of pavement sealer being produced in the industry today, they are: Asphalt-Based, Coal Tar and Acrylic
Asphalt Based Sealers are made using asphalt emulsion which is asphalt cement emulsified with water using an emulsifier to homogenize and stabilize the emulsion. Asphalt cement is the binder used in asphalt pavement,. Therefore, when you use an asphalt based sealer you are using the same product that was used to hold the driveway aggregate in place to begin with and you are adding back asphalt particles to the pavement which acts like a rejuvenator. Asphalt Based Driveway Sealer are environmentally friendly and have no PAH's, which can cause cancer. Additionally, they do not check and crack. Asphalt Sealers are the recommended preventative maintenance product recommended by The Asphalt Institute.
Coal Tar Sealers have been widely used to sealcoat pavement because of it's superior resistance to gas and oils. However, coal tar adds nothing back to the pavement . Additionally, coal tar is not environmentally friendly and contains PAH's which are carcinogenic meaning they DO cause cancer. Due to a shortage of coal tar pitch, these sealers have increased in price substantially,leaving asphalt sealer less expensive than coal tar sealers. California banned the use of coal tar sealer several years ago, and Austin Texas prohibits the use of coal tar sealer within their city limits and Dade County Wisconsin has banned the use of coal tar in the entire county. Additionally, there are many other municipality's considering similar actions.
Acrylic Sealers are fairly new to the industry but stand a strong chance against the more widely used coal tar and asphalt based sealers. While acrylic sealers typically add nothing back to the asphalt pavement like asphalt based sealers, they do provide an excellent protective barrier against water and chemicals, even more so than the long standing heavyweight coal tar sealers. Another shining point of acrylic sealers is that they typically last longer than other sealers. So with all of these good points, what's the downside of acrylic sealers? Acrylic Sealers will cost you a pretty penny and they are more expensive than Asphalt Emulsion sealers or Coal Tar sealers.
It's easy to see why Asphalt Sealcoating Direct and Sealcoating Equipment Direct promotes the use of Asphalt Emulsion in comparison to Coal Tar Sealer and we will continue to help do our part in offering our customers only what we feel is the very best Asphalt Sealer in the industry.