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Crack Filling and Sealing in Cottage Grove

Crack Filling and Sealing in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.

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

Get a Free Estimate Call (715) 450-9897

4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About an hour and a half west of Eau Claire on I-94 and south on Highway 61. 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 Cottage Grove

The ground under Cottage Grove is Mississippi valley outwash, sand and gravel cut into flat terraces, and Minnesota's building rules set the frost footing depth at 42 inches in Washington County. On a truck lot the cracks that matter are in the wheel paths and at the dock approach, because that's where the load is and where the water gets pushed in. Wide cracks get routed to a clean face and hot rubber goes in at 400 degrees, so it grips the walls and moves with them. Cold pour on a lot that sees trailers lifts out in strips.

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 Cottage Grove

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 Cottage Grove

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 Cottage Grove

What Cottage Grove calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far out is this for you?
Cottage Grove is about 84 miles from Eau Claire and roughly an hour and a half: I-94 west, then south on Highway 61. For commercial lots we come out. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
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 Cottage Grove 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 Cottage Grove

Cottage Grove is in Washington County, about 43,000 people, served by US 61, US 10 and I-494. From Eau Claire it's about 84 miles and roughly an hour and a half, west on I-94 and then south on 61. The city puts its business park 11 miles off I-94 and a bit over six miles from I-494.

This is the industrial end of the corridor. The Cottage Grove Business Park is off Highway 61 at the Jamaica exit, four-lane frontage, lots divisible down to an acre and rail-served sites on the CP line, and the city's own list of firms out there runs from Airgas and United Rentals to Renewal by Andersen, Tradehome Shoes, the USPS and Up North Plastics. Werner Electric's headquarters and regional distribution center is on 95th Street South, a 122,000 square foot building on 20 acres that has since been expanded. 3M has run chemical operations here since 1947.

The newest ground is bigger still. Cottage Grove Logistics Park is a 253-acre site with nine industrial buildings planned, about 3.4 million square feet, with direct access to Highway 61, I-494 and I-94. Innovation Village is another 223 acres along 61, opened up by the 100th Street extension and a bridge over the CPKC railroad and aimed at logistics and distribution. The retail corridor is East Point Douglas Road South, with Cottage Grove Plaza and Gateway Center on it and a Walmart built on part of the old drive-in site; the rest of that ground is 73 developable commercial acres at Innovation Road. Three clinics serve the city, and the public campus is City Hall and public safety on Ravine Parkway with the HERO Center training campus and range next to it.

Where we work in Cottage Grove

  • Cottage Grove Business Park
  • Cottage Grove Logistics Park
  • Innovation Village
  • East Point Douglas Road South
  • Ravine Parkway South

Around Cottage Grove: Ravine Regional Park, The HERO Center on 85th Street South, Park Grove Library on Hemingway Avenue, River Oaks municipal golf course, Cottage Grove Plaza on East Point Douglas Road.

42,760 people, 2024 Census estimate.

The Mississippi valley outwash runs through here, sand and gravel that filled the valley and was later cut into flat terraces between 800 and 820 feet, and the valley widens near Cottage Grove. State building rules put the frost footing depth at 42 inches in Washington County.

Get a Free Estimate in Cottage Grove

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 Cottage Grove
  • 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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Send the form and we'll call you back. The estimate is free.

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