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

Crack Filling and Sealing in Sparta

Crack Filling and Sealing in Sparta, Wisconsin.

Hot rubber crack filling for parking lots in Sparta. 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 twenty minutes southeast of Eau Claire on I-94 and I-90. 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 Sparta

South Pointe went in with curb and gutter, and the joint where asphalt meets concrete curb is the first place a lot opens up, because the two move at different rates through a winter. The same thing happens at the gutter line and around any structure set in the pavement. Those get routed and filled hot so the rubber bonds to both faces instead of sitting on top of them. On the older lots downtown the cracks are out in the field of the pavement, and the wide ones get routed first.

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 Sparta

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 Sparta

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 Sparta

What Sparta calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far down I-90 will you come for a lot?
Sparta is about 77 miles from Eau Claire, an hour and twenty minutes on I-94 and then I-90, 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.
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 Sparta 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 Sparta

Sparta is the seat of Monroe County and its largest city, about 10,000 people at Exit 25 on I-90, roughly 77 miles from Eau Claire. Highways 16, 21, 27 and 71 all come through, and Fort McCoy, a 60,000-acre Army training installation, sits between here and Tomah. The 1895 courthouse is downtown and the newer commercial ground is on the south side, where I-90 meets Highway 27.

South Pointe Business Park is the big one: 180 acres at the I-90 and Highway 27 junction with fully improved lots from 1.5 to 80 acres, opened in 2018 and built out through a second phase that put in streets, storm sewer, water mains, hydrants and curb and gutter. The state certifies 114.4 contiguous acres there with 94 developable, industrially zoned, with community stormwater retention on each parcel and no wetlands or floodplain. The city bought close to 200 acres for it after the east side park filled, and a health and wellness building is the newest lot going in at South Pointe.

The employers named for Sparta are Century Foods International, Northern Engraving on South Black River Street, Spartek, Mathews on River Road, McPherson Guitars and a U.S. Silica sand operation. Mayo Clinic Health System's hospital is downtown at 310 West Main Street, a critical access hospital with 25 beds and outpatient surgery, radiology and rehab, and the St. Clare Health Mission shares the building. Fort McCoy runs more than 1,400 training events a year with about 450 military and 2,500 civilian people working on post, and the city describes it as a significant part of its economy.

Where we work in Sparta

  • South Pointe Business Park
  • East Side Business Park
  • Downtown Sparta
  • The I-90 and Highway 27 junction

Around Sparta: The 1895 Monroe County Courthouse, Mayo Clinic Health System on West Main Street, Fort McCoy, The Elroy-Sparta State Trail, Ben Bikin'.

9,963 people, 2024 Census estimate.

Monroe County is Driftless country, never glaciated. The South Pointe ground was farm field, open scrub and woodland before it was a business park.

Get a Free Estimate in Sparta

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 Sparta
  • 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

Get an estimate

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

What can we help with?

By submitting, you agree to be contacted about your crack filling and sealing job. Text messages only go out if you checked the box above. We don't sell your info, ever.

Other Work We Do in Sparta

Crack Filling and Sealing in Nearby Towns

Everything about crack filling and sealing, including how the work goes and what changes the price