Eau Claire, WI · Northwestern Wisconsin Closed now (715) 450-9897
(715) 450-9897

Crack Filling and Sealing in Eau Claire

Crack Filling and Sealing in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Hot rubber crack filling for driveways and lots in Eau Claire, before the freeze does the expensive part.

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A web of freshly filled cracks running across a parking lot, the rubber still glossy.
72,331 People in Eau Claire
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Eau Claire
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Crack Filling and Sealing Job Looks Like in Eau Claire

The valley soils along both rivers are sandy outwash, in places tens of feet deep. Sand drains well, which is good, and it also migrates when water is moving through it, which is why so many failures here start at a catch basin or a downspout outlet rather than in the middle of a lot.

The other thing worth knowing about Eau Claire is the grade. A driveway on the Eastside Hill or up toward Putnam Heights sheds water quickly and wears at the bottom; a flat lot down near the confluence holds it. Those two need different answers, and quoting them the same way is how a contractor ends up sealing over a drainage problem.

Crack Filling and Sealing specifically in Eau Claire

Sandy river-valley soils drain fast, which means cracks here take water down and away rather than holding it at the surface. That sounds better than it is: the water carries fines out of the base as it goes, and the crack that looks minor in October is sitting over a void by spring.

The Driveways and Lots in Eau Claire

Eau Claire sits where the Eau Claire River meets the Chippewa, on the northern edge of the Driftless Area. That matters for pavement more than it sounds: the city runs from river flats up steep slopes toward the east and south sides, so grade and drainage vary sharply from one neighborhood to the next. Clairemont Avenue, Hastings Way and the North Crossing carry most of the commercial traffic.

The most mixed stock in the valley. About a third of Eau Claire's houses were built before 1960 and nearly a fifth before 1940, while the single largest cohort is the 1970s at roughly 16 percent of all housing. In practice that means we work on everything here: narrow pre-war drives in the Third Ward and Randall Park, wide 1970s suburban aprons, and new construction on the edges.

It's also a heavy rental market. Close to a fifth of the housing sits in buildings of five units or more, which is why so much of our residential work here is actually small commercial: apartment lots and converted properties around the university.

Where we work in Eau Claire

  • Third Ward
  • Randall Park
  • Eastside Hill
  • North River Fronts
  • North Side Hill
  • Shawtown
  • Putnam Heights
  • Sherman Creek
  • Upper Westside

Around Eau Claire: Carson Park, Phoenix Park, Pablo Center at the Confluence, Banbury Place, Half Moon Lake.

Eau Claire averages 55.4 inches of snow a year against about 33 inches of total precipitation, so snow outweighs rain. Wisconsin's building code sets footings at a minimum of 48 inches below grade for frost, which is a fair proxy for how hard the freeze works on anything above it.

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 Eau Claire

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.

With a sealcoat job

Driveway

Measured on site

  • Most driveways need some, and it's included up to a point
  • Heavy cracking is quoted separately and said up front

Crack filling alone

Driveway, no sealcoat

Measured on site

  • Worth doing on its own if the surface is otherwise sound

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 Eau Claire

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 sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Eau Claire

What Eau Claire calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Do you work on the hills, or only flat driveways?
Both, and they're genuinely different jobs. A steep drive on the Eastside Hill sheds water fast and wears hardest at the bottom where everything collects. On the steepest ones cure time matters more, because sealer needs to sit still while it sets, so plan for the drive to be off limits a little longer.
We manage an apartment building near campus. Is that residential or commercial?
Commercial, and we quote it that way. Around a fifth of Eau Claire's housing is in buildings of five units or more. On apartment lots the bid puts in writing which areas get worked, so the manager can tell residents what to expect.
Why does our 1970s driveway look worn out when the neighbor's 1990s one doesn't?
Because it is worn out on top and probably fine underneath. The 1970s is the single biggest decade in Eau Claire's housing, so there are a lot of drives at exactly the age where the surface has oxidized past its wear layer while the base is still sound. That's the best case sealing has. A 1990s drive simply hasn't got there yet.
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 Eau Claire 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.

Get a Free Estimate in Eau Claire

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 driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • 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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