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Sealcoating in Fall Creek

Sealcoating in Fall Creek, Wisconsin.

Driveway and parking lot sealcoating in Fall Creek. 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 15 minutes east 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.
1,391 People in Fall Creek
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Fall Creek
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Sealcoating Job Looks Like in Fall Creek

Three parts of Fall Creek generate nearly all of its pavement work, and they could not be more different from each other.

Brickyard Street is the industrial one. The village business park sits there, twenty-odd acres beside Highway 12, and it carries the heaviest truck traffic and the largest private lots in the village. East Hoover Avenue is the school campus, elementary, middle and high all on the same site, which makes it the single largest parking demand in town and a job that has to happen inside a summer window. Lincoln Avenue is the main street: banks, bars, the cafe, the post office, all with small frontages and shared access.

The fourth is seasonal. The grain and feed co-op on East Miami Avenue takes farm truck traffic in a concentrated few weeks, which is hard on a surface in a way that steady daily use isn't.

Sealcoating specifically in Fall Creek

Most residential sealcoating in Fall Creek is straightforward: short drives on a compact grid, done in a morning. The commercial side is the opposite, and the Lincoln Avenue frontages share the same access between several businesses.

The Driveways and Lots in Fall Creek

Fall Creek sits on US Highway 12 about twelve miles east of Eau Claire, with I-94 another twelve miles on and County Road K running north toward Highway 29. The village takes its name from the rapids on the creek that runs through it, and the Eau Claire River passes just to the north.

A small village of about two square miles, so the housing is what you would expect: a compact grid of older homes near Lincoln Avenue and newer building out toward the edges. Drives here are shorter than the township average and longer than a town lot, which usually puts a whole driveway inside a single visit.

The more interesting pavement in Fall Creek isn't residential. For a village this size it carries an unusual amount of commercial and industrial surface, and that's where most of our work here happens.

Fall Creek

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

Around Fall Creek: Fall Creek Memorial Park, Keller Park, Randall Park, Beaver Creek Reserve, Hobbs Observatory.

Same freeze regime as the rest of the valley, with footings at 48 inches minimum. The creek and the Eau Claire River both run close, so the low ground near them holds water into spring longer than the higher parts of the village.

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 Fall Creek

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 Fall Creek

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 Fall Creek

What Fall Creek calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Do you come out to Fall Creek for a single driveway?
Yes. It's fifteen minutes from Eau Claire and we're out that way regularly, so a single drive isn't a problem. If a couple of neighbors want theirs done at the same time it costs everybody less, because most of the price of a small job is getting the crew and the equipment there.
We're on Highway 12 with a fire number rather than a village address. Still in the area?
Yes, comfortably. The rural stretch along Highway 12 either side of the village is well inside where we work, and long rural drives out there are measured rather than guessed at.
The co-op takes farm trucks for a few weeks a year. Is that hard on a surface?
Harder than year-round car traffic, and in a different way. Concentrated farm truck movement puts axle loads on a surface for a short window with no recovery between passes, and the damage shows up as rutting and edge break-up rather than as cracking. The East Miami Avenue site is the clearest example of it in the village. The useful thing about a concentrated season is that the rest of the year is a working window.
Is the low ground near the creek different from up in the village?
Yes, and it is worth knowing before anybody quotes. Fall Creek and the Eau Claire River both run close to the village, and the low ground near them holds water into spring longer than the higher parts do. A base that stays wet through the thaw heaves harder than a dry one, so on those lots keeping surface water out through crack sealing is worth more than the appearance of the surface suggests.
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 Fall Creek 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 Fall Creek 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 Fall Creek

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 Fall Creek

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