Driveway Patching and Sealcoating

Tuesday:

In preparation for seal coating the driveway at some point I decided to patch the cracks in the driveway.

Yesterday I power washed the driveway paying a lot of attention to the cracks. They had filled with a lot of organic matter. The ants loved these huge valleys. Must be like the Grand Canyon to the ants.

Today, I started by using a few tools to dig any residual grass, dirt and organic matter by using the leaf blower to blow all the stuff down the driveway.

Once the cleaning was done off to Home Depot to pick up this crack filler product that comes in tubes. It’s called Black Jack. Load a tube into the caulk gun and snip off the tip. I varied the size of the chopped off tip by what I had to fill. There are some wide and deep cracks so those areas I deployed a lot. For the narrower cracks I cut off less of the tip.

Took about 2 hours of work, but I had to make 3 trips. I had to buy a total of 10 tubes. Originally I estimated 4. Then 4 more. Then 2 more to finish.

I then went to Lowe’s to buy this bucket of patch. It’s basically seal coating latex with sand in it. I use that at the bottom of the driveway. It should all be dug up and replaced but I’ve been nursing it this way for 20 years.

All my masonry tools are in Maine, but fortunately I had an old crappy trowel with no handle under the work bench. Had to make a handle.

Popped the cover and it needed to be stirred. All my paint stirrers are also in my tool bag in Maine so I had to cut a piece of wood to stir and mix the bucket. Took about 10 minutes to get the right consistency. Dumped and spread the mess across the bottom and started troweling. Using a trowel is another task I suck at. My knee pads are up in Maine so I alternated between bending over, kneeling on one knee and sitting on a milk crate. After about 20 minutes I scraped the remaining amount in the bucket and finished the job.

Left the old trowel crusted with this patching material in the bucket at the bottom of the driveway. I’ll clean it tomorrow maybe. I have another one. This one came from Dedham. I found it in the basement when we bought that house in 1982.

Still deciding if I’ll do the seal coating or hire it out. I imagine it’s a 200 dollar job. I need to get two buckets of the stuff at about 40 bucks each. I’ll probably end up doing it before we return to Maine. I may mix some sand in it to make the driveway less slippery.

Wednesday:

Decided to sealcoat the driveway while waiting for the surgical event to conclude. Had to go to the Mechanicsville Home Depot to pickup a couple of buckets of sealcoating elixir. Also picked up a roller. I always apply the crap with a roller. I don’t like the squeegee application method. Took about 2 and a half hours to do the main part of the driveway. I started by coating the patched areas. Then started at the top loading my roller and moving from top to bottom.

Tomorrow I’ll finish the remaining section. There’s a fence and the side of the garage I need to do some precision application.

Still have to finish around the fence

The bottom of the driveway should be replaced, I apply this skim coat of patch and crack filler to fill all the cracks. Bought me 7 years last time.