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Sealcoating in Baldwin

Sealcoating in Baldwin, Wisconsin.

Parking lot sealcoating for commercial properties in Baldwin. Cracks filled hot first, edges cut in by hand, two coats where the traffic needs two, and the cure time in writing.

4.7 from 21 Google reviews

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

A large institutional parking lot freshly sealcoated in uniform black, still wet-looking, running up to the building and out to the grass edge.
4.7 Google ratingFrom 21 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleNorthwestern Wisconsin
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber
0 Coal tarAsphalt emulsion only

Working in Baldwin

The lots worth sealing in Baldwin are the hospital campus on Bergslien Street, the plant yards in the two industrial parks, the store lots on Cedar Street and the aprons at Exit 19. Minnesota has banned the sale and use of coal tar sealer statewide since 2014, so a management company in the east metro often carries a no-coal-tar line in its spec, and that line follows the building across the river. Wisconsin has no statewide ban and neither Baldwin nor St. Croix County has passed one, so nothing local decides it here. We run an asphalt emulsion, which is the same answer for a spec that asks and a spec that doesn't.

From our jobs

Job Photos

Freshly sealed and striped school parking lot
A school lot, sealed and striped
A freshly sealcoated driveway winding up to a house in evening light
A sealed driveway, winding up to the house
A freshly sealcoated driveway running through the woods, caution tape across the entrance
A long wooded driveway, sealed and taped off
A crew member spraying sealcoat from the black tank rig
Sealer going down from the tank rig

All job photos

What makes a seal job last

Sealer doesn't stick to dirt. It doesn't stick to oil, it doesn't bridge an open crack, and it doesn't cure in the cold. Almost every failed driveway in this valley failed for one of those four reasons, and all four happen before the sealer ever comes off the truck. Which is why the part of this job that matters is the part that happens before anything looks different.

The cheap job

What a low bid usually buys

  • Blown off, maybe, and sealed straight over whatever is left
  • Cracks sprayed across rather than filled, so water still gets under
  • Sealer thinned with water to stretch the drum further
  • One thin coat, sprayed to the edges, apron included
  • Looks excellent for about six weeks

What we do

And why each step is there

  • Blown clean and edged, and oil spots primed so sealer can bond
  • Cracks over a quarter inch filled with hot rubber first
  • Sealer mixed to the manufacturer's spec, with the sand it calls for
  • Edges and aprons cut in by hand, two coats where traffic warrants
  • Left to cure properly, with the drive-on time in writing

The difference doesn't show that day. It shows in the second spring.

Does yours actually need sealing?

How we read a surface before quoting it

Some surfaces that look bad are fine, and some that look fine are not.

  • It has gone gray and chalky but it's smoothTextbook case. That's the wear layer gone and exactly what sealer replaces. Repairable
  • Thin cracks running with the drive, under a quarter inchSeal them now and they stay cheap. Left open, water gets under and freezes. Repairable
  • It was paved last year and still looks blackNew asphalt needs to cure before its first seal, usually 6 to 12 months. Too early is a real thing and we would rather book you for next season. Depends, send a photo
  • Cracked into squares, like dried mud, and it flexes underfootThat's the base failing, not the surface. Sealing it hides the problem for one season and wastes your money. Those areas get cut out and patched. Needs replacement
  • Potholes, or a low spot that holds water after rainRepair first, seal after. Standing water is usually a grade or a drainage problem and it'll take the new sealer with it. Needs replacement
  • Loose stone comes up when you scuff it with your shoeRaveling. Early on, sealer locks it back down. Advanced, it needs an overlay. This is the one worth having us look at rather than guessing. Depends, send a photo

Not sure which one you have? Send a photo of the worst area.

What Decides the Price in Baldwin

Residential sealcoating runs about $0.15 to $0.25 per square foot, the rate Black Widow has published for years. Everything else is measured rather than guessed at, and your number is fixed before work starts.

Small commercial lot

Roughly 8,000 to 20,000 sq ft

Measured on site

  • Church, clinic, small retail
  • Crack sealing usually included

Larger lot

20,000 sq ft and up

Measured on site

  • Quoted after a walk
  • Striping and patching priced separately

What moves it: how much crack filling it needs, whether there are areas that have to be cut out and patched first, how much hand cutting the edges take, and access. Anything we find that changes the number gets said before we start, not after.

How the Work Goes in Baldwin

The same six steps on a driveway and on a 40,000 square foot lot.

We look at it and price it

Free, and on site for anything commercial. If the surface has gone past what sealer can help, we say so then rather than taking the job.

Clean and prep

Blown down, edges trimmed back where grass has crept in, oil and fuel spots primed. Sealer won't bond to any of those, and skipping this is the single most common reason a job fails early.

Crack filling, hot

Anything over about a quarter inch gets direct-fire rubber at 400 degrees, which flows into the crack and bonds to its walls. Cold pourable filler sits on top and pulls away by the second winter.

Cut in by hand

Edges, garage aprons, around drains and islands. Hand work, because a spray wand at the edge either misses it or covers your concrete.

Sealcoat, twice on high-wear areas

Turnarounds, entrances and drive lanes wear faster than the rest and get two. The rest of the lot gets one, because a second coat there adds no life.

Cure time, in writing

Usually 24 hours before a car and 48 before anything heavy or before turning the wheels while stopped. It depends on the temperature and humidity that afternoon, so we'll give you the real number that day.

Questions We Get in Baldwin

What Baldwin calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Baldwin's 50 minutes out. Do you come this far for a lot?
For commercial lots, yes. It's about 49 miles straight out I-94 to Exit 19, right around 50 minutes. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
Our lot can't close for a day. What does sealing actually need?
Sealed asphalt needs 24 to 48 hours before traffic goes back on it. On a lot that can't close, where that time comes from is part of what the estimate works out, so tell us which hours and which areas you can't lose.
How late in the year can you seal?
Roughly May through early October in Baldwin and the surrounding area, and it depends more on overnight lows than on the daytime high. Sealer needs warm pavement and a dry cure, so late-season jobs depend on the weather holding.
Do you use coal tar?
No. Coal tar sealer is perfectly legal in Eau Claire and a good deal of this region still uses it, which is exactly why it's worth asking. We run an asphalt emulsion instead, Pitch Black, by choice. The reason is the science rather than the rulebook. The US Geological Survey sampled streams around Milwaukee and traced somewhere between 42 and 94 percent of the PAHs in the sediment back to coal tar sealant dust. Minnesota banned the stuff statewide in 2014. We would rather not put it on a driveway that drains toward the Chippewa.
Can you seal a lot without closing it?
Sealed asphalt needs 24 to 48 hours before traffic goes back on it. On a lot that can't close, where that time comes from is part of what the estimate works out, so tell us which hours and which areas you can't lose.

The Lots and Surfaces in Baldwin

Baldwin is a village of about 4,400 in St. Croix County, sitting at I-94 Exit 19 where US 63 crosses the interstate. It's about 49 miles west of Eau Claire and about 48 miles east of Minneapolis, and the county it's in is counted as part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. US 12 and US 63 run through the village on top of the interstate. The county seat is Hudson, further west on I-94.

The industrial ground here has names on it. The I-94 Industrial Park and Baldwin East, a commercial and light industrial park, are the two the village markets, and TID No. 7 is a 258-acre mixed-use district at the south end created in 2007 to bring industrial and commercial development in. The plants are where the big private lots are: Vital Plastics runs injection molding out of about 70,000 square feet across two buildings on VandeBerg Street, Skycoat does powder coating, e-coating and wet painting on Evergreen Street, and Donaldson has a Baldwin plant.

The rest of the commercial surface is the interchange and the hospital. Exit 19 carries a truck stop and three more fuel and convenience stops, plus a pair of hotels off Baldwin Plaza Drive. Western Wisconsin Health is a 25-bed hospital on Bergslien Street just off the interstate, and it runs clinics in Roberts and Spring Valley too. In the village itself the stores are along Cedar Street, and the school district keeps Greenfield Elementary and Baldwin-Woodville Area High School here, with the middle school over in Woodville.

Where we work in Baldwin

  • I-94 Industrial Park
  • Baldwin East
  • TID No. 7 at the south end of the village
  • The Exit 19 interchange

Around Baldwin: I-94 Exit 19 at US 63, Western Wisconsin Health on Bergslien Street, The 1905 Red Church outside the village, Nilssen's Foods on Cedar Street, Baldwin-Woodville Area High School on 13th Avenue.

4,352 people, 2024 Census estimate.

St. Croix County is glacial ground: moraine running from clay through to boulders across most of the eastern county, and an outwash plain of stratified gravel, sand, silt and clay in the southwestern corner. Which one is under a lot changes what the frost does to it.

Get a Free Estimate in Baldwin

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 Baldwin
  • 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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