Driveway Sealing does several things for your asphalt. 

First, it does what it says, it seals your asphalt.  Asphalt is a porous material.  Sealing the drive does exactly what it says, seals the pours of the asphalt so that contaminants, such as salt or leaking oil, do not get into the blacktop driveway and break down the bonds that keep the asphalt together.

Second, driveway sealing preserves the asphalt and slows the “oxidation” of the surface.  Asphalt is made up of stone, sand, and asphalt cement (tar) that binds all the materials together.  The sun, over time, cooks (oxidizes) the tar out of the surface.  You can tell how old asphalt is by the color of the blacktop, deep black when it’s new and starts to turn gray and white over time.  Driveway sealing slows this process down and preserves the asphalt driveway.  It can extend the life of the driveway from about 15 years to about 25 years.

Third, driveway sealing makes your drive look better.  Sealcoating will give you a uniform black color over the drive and spruce up the look of the driveway.

Asphalt sealcoating is very important to the life of the drive.  Asphalt sealcoating is not the miracle cure for your drive.  If your drive is 15 years old, driveway sealing will not make your surface 10 years old.  It’s not the fountain of youth for blacktop drives.  Sealing will bring up the look of the drive, preserve your 15 year old drive to last a little longer, but in the end it will still be a fifteen year old drive with all its faults and blemishes.

So keep in mind when you do driveway sealing, sealcoating can preserve and extend the existing drive in its current condition.  Take care of your drive consistently and it will last a long time.