Will sealcoating fix cracks and potholes?
Short answer
No. Sealcoat is a coating a few millimetres thick, not a filler. Cracks wider than about a quarter inch need rubberized crack filler, and potholes need the broken material cut out and patched with hot or cold mix asphalt. Both happen before any coating goes down.
Answered by Sean McCullough, owner of FGG Sealcoating · Serving Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Chester County, Pennsylvania
A coating is not a repair
Sealcoat goes on thin and is meant to. It protects a surface that is still sound. It has nothing to bridge a real crack with and nothing to fill a hole with, so on anything more than a hairline it just follows the shape of the damage and leaves it where it was — black now, but still open to water.
Cracks: filled first, with the right material
The line is about a quarter inch. Narrower than that, the coating bridges it. Wider, and it needs a crack filler before any coating goes down.
The material matters. Hot-applied rubberized filler bonds to both sides of the crack and stays flexible, so it moves with the pavement through a freeze–thaw winter instead of cracking again. Cold-pour filler is cheaper, shrinks as it dries, and tends not to last. More on the job itself on the crack filling page.
Potholes: cut out and patched
A pothole is a structural failure that goes through the asphalt and often into the base. Fixing it means removing the loose material, squaring the edges, and filling and compacting new asphalt — cold patch where it has to be done now, hot mix for the permanent repair. See pothole patching.
The order
- Patch the holes.
- Fill the cracks.
- Then, and only then, coat the surface.
A sealcoating quote that says nothing about cracks or holes is either for a driveway that genuinely has none, or it is quoting half the job.
Related questions
Crack repair or sealcoating — which comes first?
Crack repair, always. Coating over an open crack hides it for a few weeks and changes nothing underneath: water still reaches the base. Fill the cracks, then coat the surface.
What size crack does sealcoat cover on its own?
Hairline cracks narrower than about a quarter inch are bridged by the coating. Anything wider and the sealer simply follows the crack down and leaves it open.
What is the difference between cold patch and hot mix?
Cold patch can go in at any temperature and takes traffic straight away, which makes it the right call for winter or for making a hazard safe today. Hot mix is the permanent repair: it compacts denser and lasts longer, but it needs a warm enough surface and a plant that is open.
What if the cracks look like reptile skin?
A network of interlocking cracks, usually called alligator cracking, means the base under the asphalt has failed, not just the surface. Filling or coating over it does nothing lasting. That section has to be cut out and replaced.