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Sealcoating in La Crosse

Sealcoating in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

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

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4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About two hours southeast of Eau Claire on I-94 and I-90. 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 La Crosse

Wisconsin has no statewide coal tar ban and La Crosse County hasn't passed one, and we run an asphalt emulsion either way, which is worth knowing if your management spec has a line about it. The lots that get sealed here are the hospital campuses on South Avenue and West Avenue South, the college lots, and the office and retail lots along Highway 16 and up by the interstate. A campus gets measured area by area, because a patient lot, a staff lot and a service drive are three different jobs on the same property. Sealer protects the top of the asphalt, so anything failing underneath gets handled before it goes on.

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.
  • 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.

What Decides the Price in La Crosse

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 La Crosse

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.

Booking the last of the sealcoating season now · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in La Crosse

What La Crosse calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
That's two hours from Eau Claire. Do you actually come this far?
For commercial lots, yes. It's about 87 miles and right around two hours, down I-94 and then I-90. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
Our management spec says no coal tar. Is that a problem?
No. We run an asphalt emulsion, not a coal tar sealer. Wisconsin has no statewide coal tar ban and neither the city nor the county has passed one, so nothing local decides it either way.
We manage several properties around town. Can they be looked at together?
Yes. Send the addresses and what you're seeing at each one, and they get walked and measured together. You get quantities and a number per property rather than a lump, so you can decide which ones go this year and which ones wait.
How late in the year can you seal?
Roughly May through early October in La Crosse 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 La Crosse

La Crosse is the seat of La Crosse County and the biggest city on this end of the road, about 51,000 people on the Mississippi where the bluffs come down to the river. It's roughly 87 miles from Eau Claire, right around two hours, off Exit 3 or Exit 2 on I-90. US 14, 53 and 61 and Highways 16, 33 and 35 all run through, and the regional airport sits on French Island at the north end of the city.

Health care and distribution hold the biggest lots. Gundersen Health System is on South Avenue with 325 beds and a 500,000 square foot critical care building, and Mayo Clinic Health System is on West Avenue South with a new six-level, 96-bed hospital and its center for advanced medicine. Kwik Trip's distribution center on Kwik Trip Way runs more than 360,000 square feet on a campus of about 90 acres, has been expanded five times since 1996, works around the clock and moves 33,000 pallets a day out to more than 566 stores. Trane was founded here in 1913.

The industrial ground is out at the interstate. Airport Industrial Park sits next to La Crosse Regional Airport at Exit 2, 21 filled lots over roughly 95 acres with warehouse and manufacturing users around it, and La Crosse International Business Park is north of I-90 off Highway 16 with five lots left between 1.15 and 3.4 acres. On the institutional side there are two public high schools, Central on Losey Boulevard South and Logan on Ranger Drive, plus UW-La Crosse on 128 acres, Viterbo on about 21, and Western Technical College's main campus on 7th Street North with four more buildings in the city. The city is promoting the River Point District, a mixed-use redevelopment on the waterfront.

Where we work in La Crosse

  • Airport Industrial Park
  • La Crosse International Business Park
  • Kwik Trip Way
  • South Avenue
  • French Island

Around La Crosse: Grandad Bluff, Riverside Park, The La Crosse Center, La Crosse Regional Airport on French Island, The Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman.

51,049 people, 2024 Census estimate.

La Crosse is the biggest city sitting entirely inside the Driftless Area. The ice never got here, so there's no glacial drift, the bluffs run up close to 600 feet, bedrock is at or near the surface, and the valley walls are colluvium.

Get a Free Estimate in La Crosse

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