I frequently have meetings with potential clients for property management in New Jersey to talk about pavement seal coating. The seal coating applications in this market do not last as long as they do in other markets where they manage properties, which is one of their main complaints. Their grievance is not without merit. Actually, that is entirely accurate.
“The Rock is everything,”
We must first look at the sort of stone used in the asphalt to understand why pavement sealers do not last as long in this market as they do in other nearby places. There are no aggregate quarries in southern New Jersey that are utilized to make hot mix asphalt. Rich sand deposits can be found in a variety of “sand pits” or simply “pits” in southern New Jersey (as they are referred to). From sewage sand to the real sand used as mineral filler in hot mix asphalt, these sand pits are dredged for high-quality sands. Because of this, quarries in eastern Pennsylvania have historically trucked the aggregate (also known as a rock) needed to produce hot mix asphalt into this area.
An argillite aggregate is used in several asphalt factories in New Jersey. New Jersey has a number of sizable argillite stone resources that are mined, processed, and then trucked to asphalt manufacturing facilities nearby.
Since I am not a geologist, I cannot explain why the argillite aggregate appears to oxidize more quickly than the conventional granite stone used to produce asphalt in other regions of New Jersey.
It is quite impossible to get pavement sealer to adhere to argillite once it starts to oxidize (become gray).
I was able to land a sizable national account as a client in my first year of operation. They assigned me a property in Voorhees, New Jersey, as their first project. The parking lot was only a few years old when I went to the project to execute the seal coating estimate, but the asphalt was quite smooth and gray. When I called my supplier, Neyra Industries, for advice, they suggested using a penetrating primer before seal coating.
The seal coating treatment lasted over five years since I followed their advice.
When applying a sealcoat, timing is crucial.
Generally, bonding problems with pavement sealer are avoided if it is applied within 18 months of the installation of the asphalt. The asphalt binder is still covering a lot of the aggregate over the first 18 months. You will experience bonding problems getting the pavement sealer to adhere in high-traffic areas, though, as the asphalt starts to exhibit signs of “graying out.”
Pavement priming: What Is It?
Application of a penetrating primer, such as Southern Emulsions Tarloc MPC, Maintenance Inc. Oxi-Bond, or Neyra Poly Prime, is known as “paving priming.” The primer works as a bonding medium to thoroughly and cohesively bind the pavement sealer to the asphalt by penetrating down into the asphalt.
What Takes Place When Seal Coating Oxidized Asphalt Without Applying A Primer?
Simply said, the pavement sealer will disappear from high-traffic areas in less than a year. The South Jersey pavement seal coating project seen in the photographs below was improperly primed before seal coating, which caused the pavement sealer to wear off in less than a year.
Does Every Parking Lot Need Priming For The Pavement Sealer To Last 3 Years In This Area?
No. Although it will aid in establishing a stronger bond between the pavement sealer and the asphalt, priming is not necessary for all seal coating operations. While most asphalt plants in the area use argillite, some of them use granite stone. Compared to argillite, granite stone oxidizes, but considerably more slowly. The images below show two different aggregate kinds being used to build asphalt. It would be necessary to prime the white and oxidized asphalt in order for the pavement sealer to adhere correctly.