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Crack Filling and Sealing in Black River Falls

Crack Filling and Sealing in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Hot rubber crack filling for parking lots in Black River Falls. Routed where it needs it, filled at 400 degrees, priced by the foot of crack rather than by the acre.

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4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About 50 minutes southeast of Eau Claire on I-94. The estimate is free.

A web of freshly filled cracks running across a parking lot, the rubber still glossy.
4.7 Google ratingFrom 21 reviews
400°F Applied atDirect-fire rubber
9% Water expandsEvery time it freezes

Working in Black River Falls

Jackson County sits on the sandy flat of Wisconsin's Central Plain, 700 to 800 feet up, part of it the old bed of a glacial lake. Ground like that moves with the frost, and an open crack takes water straight down into the base where the moving happens. Wide ones get routed out first so the rubber has a clean wall to bond to, and it goes in hot at 400 degrees. Filled before the ground freezes is the difference between a crack that's closed in April and one that's wider.

From our jobs

Job Photos

The crack crew's trucks and melter working a tree-lined road, road work sign up
The crack crew working a town road
The company flatbed and the yellow crack-seal melter on a road shoulder, two crew in hi-vis working ahead of it
The melter on site, crew working ahead of it

All job photos

Hot rubber vs. cold pour

The stuff in a jug at the hardware store is cold pour. It goes in as a liquid, dries, shrinks, and sits in the crack like a rubber band laid in a trench. It's not bonded to anything. The first hard freeze pulls the crack open, the filler has nothing holding it to the walls, and it lifts out in a strip. Most people have seen this happen and assumed it was a bad batch. Hot-applied rubber goes in at around 400 degrees. At that temperature it's thin enough to run down into the crack instead of bridging it, and hot enough to melt into the asphalt faces on either side. When it cools it has bonded to the walls of the crack, so when the crack moves, the filler moves with it.

Cold pour

The jug from the hardware store, and what a cheap quote uses

  • Sits in the crack rather than bonding to it
  • Shrinks as it cures, leaving a channel down the middle
  • Pulls out in strips after the first hard winter
  • Cheap enough that it gets redone every year, which isn't cheap

Hot-applied rubber

What comes off our kettle

  • Flows to the bottom of the crack at 400 degrees
  • Melts into the asphalt faces and bonds to both walls
  • Stays flexible, so it moves when the crack moves
  • Holds for years, not for one season

This is the one place where the cheaper option isn't a smaller version of the right one. It's a different product doing a different thing.

What Decides the Price in Black River Falls

Priced by the foot of crack, not by the area of the surface, because that's what actually drives the work. Usually done as part of a sealcoating job, where it costs less than it would on its own.

Commercial lot

Per linear foot

Measured on site

  • Depends on crack width, depth and how much routing it needs
  • Most lots are quoted as a lump sum after a walk

Cracks wider than about an inch and a half, or ones that have broken into a network, are past filling. Those get cut out and patched rather than filled with something that will not hold.

How the Work Goes in Black River Falls

Done before sealer, always: sealer can't bridge an open crack.

Clean the crack out

Blown out with compressed air, vegetation and old failed filler removed. Rubber won't bond to dirt any more than sealer will.

Rout the wide ones

Wide or heavily worked cracks get cut to a consistent reservoir so the filler has a proper shape to sit in. Not every crack needs it; the ones that do are the ones that have already failed once.

Fill hot

Direct-fire kettle, rubber at 400 degrees, wanded into the crack until it's full from the bottom up rather than skinned over at the top.

Squeegee and let it set

Struck off flush or slightly banded over, depending on the surface. Sets hard enough to drive on in under an hour in most conditions.

Booking the last of the sealcoating season now · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Black River Falls

What Black River Falls calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far southeast will you come for a lot?
Black River Falls is about 51 miles down I-94 from Eau Claire, right around 50 minutes, and for commercial lots we come. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
Can the crack filling, the sealing and the striping be quoted together?
Yes, and they go in that order: cracks filled, sealer down, striping once the sealer has cured. The quantities for each are written out separately, so you can see what each part of it comes to and drop any of it.
How much does crack filling cost?
It is priced by the linear foot of crack rather than by the size of the surface, so a big driveway with four cracks costs less than a small one that has opened up all over. Width matters too: anything wide enough to need routing out first takes longer. On a driveway it is usually included up to a point when it is done with a sealcoat rather than billed on its own.
Why does the temperature of the crack filler matter?
At 400 degrees the rubber is thin enough to reach the bottom of the crack and hot enough to melt into the asphalt on both sides, so it bonds. Cold pour filler can't do either, which is why it lifts out in strips after a winter.
Should I fill cracks before sealcoating or after?
Before, always. Sealer is a thin wear layer and it can't bridge an open crack. Sealing over one changes its color and nothing else, and the crack reappears through the new surface within weeks.
Is there a crack too big to fill?
Yes. Past about an inch and a half, or once cracking has broken into a network of squares, filling won't hold because the surface around it is moving independently. Those areas get cut out and patched instead.
When is the best time of year for crack filling?
Spring or early fall in Black River Falls and the surrounding area is ideal, because cracks are at a middling width. In high summer they're at their tightest and in deep winter they're at their widest, and filling at either extreme means the filler is working against the movement rather than with it.

The Lots and Surfaces in Black River Falls

Black River Falls is the seat of Jackson County, a city of about 3,600 sitting on Exits 115 and 116 of I-94, roughly 51 road miles southeast of Eau Claire. Highway 54 runs east from the interstate past the industrial park and the casino property, and that stretch carries most of the newer commercial surface in town. The Ho-Chunk Nation has its headquarters here.

The Black River Falls Industrial Park sits against Highway 54 and I-94, more than 100 acres with water, sewer and rail, and the city counts more than 15 businesses in it. Land O' Lakes, Nelson Global, Meisters Forest Products, Regal Beloit and Antler King are on the city's tenant list. The state has 75.89 contiguous acres in the park certified as buildable, industrially zoned and rail served, with no wetlands and nothing in a floodplain.

The other large surfaces are the casino property on Highway 54 east, where the Ho-Chunk Nation's expansion added hotel rooms, a rebuilt bingo hall, new roadways, a high-capacity loading dock and more parking, and Black River Memorial Hospital on West Adams Street, which runs with the Krohn Clinic as Black River Health. Three hotels sit at the Exit 116 interchange, and the retail the city lists off the interstate includes Black River Plaza, a Kwik Trip, an Arby's, an O'Reilly, a Theisen's and a Chrysler dealer. Jackson County, the school district and the hospital are named among the largest employers in town.

Where we work in Black River Falls

  • Black River Falls Industrial Park
  • Highway 54 east
  • The Exit 116 interchange
  • Downtown

Around Black River Falls: Ho-Chunk Gaming Black River Falls on Highway 54, Black River Memorial Hospital on West Adams Street, Black River State Forest, Lake Arbutus, The old Union High School building.

3,563 people, 2024 Census estimate.

Jackson County is listed with Wisconsin's Central Plain, a flat sandy stretch at 700 to 800 feet, part of which was the bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin.

Get a Free Estimate in Black River Falls

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on commercial lots and properties in Black River Falls
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

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