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(715) 450-9897

Sealcoating in Onalaska

Sealcoating in Onalaska, Wisconsin.

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

Get a Free Estimate Call (715) 450-9897

4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About an hour and forty-five minutes 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 Onalaska

Retail is what gets sealed in Onalaska. Crosseroads Center and Crossing Meadows are big open lots with long drive aisles, and the sun and the traffic wear the aisles long before they touch the parking rows. Sealer is a wear layer over the binder, which is why a lot on a cycle stays an even color and a lot that's been left goes gray in stripes where the tires run. Square footage on a center that size gets measured, not estimated by eye.

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 Onalaska

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 Onalaska

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 Onalaska

What Onalaska calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far will you come for a lot down here?
Onalaska is about 79 miles from Eau Claire, an hour and forty-five minutes down 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.
Our center can't lose stalls on a weekend. How does a lot this size get sealed?
Sealed asphalt needs 24 to 48 hours before traffic goes back on it, and on a retail lot that number is what the whole plan is built around. Tell us which entrances, which rows and which hours you can't lose, and that goes into the estimate along with the square footage.
How late in the year can you seal?
Roughly May through early October in Onalaska 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 Onalaska

Onalaska is in La Crosse County, a city of about 19,900 between Lake Onalaska and the Highway 16 retail strip, right where I-90 and US 53 meet. It's about 79 miles from Eau Claire, an hour and forty-five minutes, off Exit 4 or Exit 5 on I-90. Ten and a half square miles at 700 feet, with Highway 35 and Highway 157 running through it as well.

The commercial center of gravity here is retail. Crosseroads Center on Highway 16 has about 68,700 square feet of leasable space with Michaels, Old Navy, Burlington and PetSmart in it, and a Sam's Club and a Target next door. Crossing Meadows, off the I-90 and US 53 interchange, is an open-air center of roughly 234,000 square feet with more than 15 stores, anchored by a Festival Foods. Highway 16 through there carries around 26,000 vehicles a day.

The employers named for Onalaska are Gundersen Health System, a Kwik Trip support center, Altra Federal Credit Union, L.B. White and Empire Screen Printing, which has been here since 1960. Kwik Trip bought the old UnitedHealthcare office building in 2023 to put its training department and part of its accounting staff in. City Hall is on Main Street, the Omni Center is the convention and arena building, and the school district has the high school on Hilltopper Place, a middle school and three elementary schools, with Luther High School and two parochial schools also in town.

Where we work in Onalaska

  • The Highway 16 retail corridor
  • Crosseroads Center
  • Crossing Meadows
  • The I-90 and US 53 interchange
  • Main Street

Around Onalaska: Onalaska Omni Center, Lake Onalaska, Crossing Meadows, City Hall on Main Street, The Frank Eugene Nichols House.

19,898 people, 2024 Census estimate.

This is Driftless country. The ice never came through, so there's no glacial drift, the bedrock sits near the surface, loess covers much of it, and the ground drains so freely that natural lakes are almost absent.

Get a Free Estimate in Onalaska

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 Onalaska
  • 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.

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