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Sealcoating in Colfax

Sealcoating in Colfax, Wisconsin.

Driveway and parking lot sealcoating in Colfax. The same prep on every job, and a straight read on whether yours needs doing this year at all.

Get a Free Estimate Call (715) 450-9897

4.7 from 18 Google reviews

About 25 minutes northwest of Eau Claire. Free estimates, and a straight read on whether it needs doing yet.

A large institutional parking lot freshly sealcoated in uniform black, still wet-looking, running up to the building and out to the grass edge.
1,252 People in Colfax
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Colfax
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Sealcoating Job Looks Like in Colfax

For a village of this size the commercial surface is unusually spread out, which matters when you're pricing a job rather than looking at a map.

Main Street is the retail corridor and it runs in two clusters, the 100 block and then the 400 through 600 blocks, with small frontages and shared access. East Railroad Avenue is the second one, and it's the heavier of the two: the co-op with its fuel and agronomy traffic, the village public works yard, the museum. University Avenue is the whole school campus on a single site, elementary and high school together, which is one large parking area with a summer-only window.

Then there's manufacturing, on Bremer Avenue and Willow Street, which is genuine industrial loading in a village most people drive through without noticing it has any.

Sealcoating specifically in Colfax

The post-1958 rebuild in the south and east of the village produced a lot of driveways of the same age, which by now means the same decision. Where the base under them was built properly, sealing is the cheapest thing you can do to a surface that old.

The Driveways and Lots in Colfax

Colfax sits on the Red Cedar River in Dunn County where Eighteen Mile Creek joins it, about eight miles north of the I-94 corridor. Highways 40 and 170 are the routes through the village. The river banks here are steep and wooded with sandstone outcrops, which isn't incidental: the village had a sandstone quarrying industry and its two landmark buildings are both built from the local stone.

Colfax is really two housing stocks, and the reason is specific. On June 4, 1958 an F5 tornado crossed the south and east of the village and leveled dozens of homes. Those parts were rebuilt afterwards, and the Census figures still show it: almost 30 percent of the housing here dates from the 1950s, a far larger share than any other town in the area, with driveways laid to match.

The parts the tornado missed still carry the older stock, including the 1915 municipal building on Main Street and the 1914 depot that's now the railroad museum. What that means in practice is that two drives a few streets apart in Colfax can be forty years different in age, and they want different answers.

Colfax

We work the whole village rather than a named handful of neighborhoods.

Around Colfax: Colfax Municipal Building, Colfax Railroad Museum, Red Cedar River, Colfax Red Cedar Preserve, Felland Park.

Standard 48-inch frost depth. The Red Cedar corridor through the village has steep banks and real grade change, so drainage varies sharply between the river side and the flat ground west of Main Street.

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 on the day. It shows in the second spring.

What Decides the Price in Colfax

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.

Two-car driveway

Roughly 600 to 900 sq ft

Measured on site

  • Clean, crack fill, one to two coats
  • Most in-town driveways

Larger or rural driveway

Roughly 900 to 2,000 sq ft

Measured on site

  • The common case out in the townships
  • Long drives are measured, not estimated by eye

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.

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.
  • Thin cracks running with the drive, under a quarter inchSeal them now and they stay cheap. Left open, water gets under and freezes.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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

How the Work Goes in Colfax

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 give you the real number on the day.

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

Questions We Get in Colfax

What Colfax calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Our house is in the part of town that was rebuilt after the tornado. Does that matter?
It tells us roughly what the driveway is: late 1950s or 1960s, often laid thin over whatever base was there at the time. Some of those have held up well and seal beautifully. Others have a base that was never really built, and no amount of sealer fixes that. The age narrows it down; walking on it settles it.
Is Colfax too far out for a driveway job?
No. It's about twenty-five minutes and we work Dunn County regularly. As everywhere, several drives on one street in one visit costs each of you less than one drive on its own.
Our drive is on the river side and the neighbor's is up on the flat. Same job?
Usually not. The Red Cedar corridor through the village has steep banks and real grade change, and the ground west of Main Street is flat by comparison. On a slope the water moves, which means a crack acts as an inlet and takes fine material out of the base as it drains. On the flat the water sits, which is a different problem with a different answer. Two drives a few streets apart here genuinely want different work.
Fewer than half the homes here are single-family. Does that change anything?
It means a real share of what looks like residential work is actually shared surface: duplexes, small apartment buildings and the parking that goes with them. Those carry more vehicles than a single drive does, wear at the entrance and the aisle rather than in the middle, and get quoted like a small lot with the bid saying which areas are included. That last part matters when more than one person has to approve the number.
How much does it cost to sealcoat a driveway?
Residential sealcoating runs about $0.15 to $0.25 per square foot, which is the rate Black Widow has published for years. What moves it inside that range is how much crack filling the drive needs first and whether the high-wear areas want a second coat. Long rural drives are measured rather than guessed at, and the number is fixed before we start.
How often should a driveway be sealed?
Every two to three years in Colfax and the surrounding area. Freeze and thaw here does more damage than sun does, and the cycle matters more than it would further south. Sealing every year is a waste of money.
How late in the year can you seal?
Roughly May through early October in Colfax 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.
How long before I can drive on a freshly sealed driveway?
Usually 24 hours for a car and 48 before anything heavy, or before turning your wheels while stopped, which is what scuffs fresh sealer. We give you the actual number on the day, because it moves with the weather.
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.
My driveway is cracked everywhere. Is sealing still worth it?
Sometimes yes and sometimes no, and it depends on whether the base under it has failed. Tight surface cracks seal fine. Alligatored areas that flex under your foot have to be cut out and patched first, and no amount of sealer fixes them. A photo of the worst area is usually enough to tell the two apart.

Get a Free Estimate in Colfax

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

Get an estimate

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Other Work We Do in Colfax

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Everything about sealcoating, including how the work goes and what changes the price