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Last call — sealcoating season is closingSealcoat needs surface temps above 50°F to cure. Once nights drop, the window is closed until spring.About 3 weeks left
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Asphalt and pothole patching

Patching removes a trip or tire hazard and stops water reaching the base through a hole. Cold patch is the winter and emergency option and goes in on any day of the year; hot mix is the permanent repair and needs a plant open and a warm enough surface. Both run when sealcoating cannot.

Get a free estimate(610) 510-6622

What the job includes

  • Squaring up the hole so the patch has clean vertical edges to bond to
  • Removing loose material down to sound base
  • Tack coat on the cut faces
  • Hot mix where conditions and season allow, cold patch where they do not
  • Compaction in lifts rather than one thick pour

When you need it

  • An open hole in a driveway or drive aisle
  • A depression that catches a heel or a shopping cart wheel
  • Exposed graybase course where the asphalt has broken away entirely
  • Alligator cracking — a network of interlocking cracks meaning the base has failed, not the surface

How it runs

  1. Step 1

    Square the hole

    Ragged edges are cut back to straight vertical faces. A patch poured into a ragged hole fails at the perimeter first.

  2. Step 2

    Clear to sound base

    Loose material comes out. If the base underneath is wet or failed, patching the surface only buys weeks — that becomes a sawcut repair.

  3. Step 3

    Tack and fill

    Cut faces are tacked so the patch bonds rather than sitting in the hole as a plug.

  4. Step 4

    Compact

    Filled and compacted in lifts. Under-compaction is why most patches sink within a year.

Specifications

Cold patch
Any temperature, immediate return to service
Hot mix
Permanent repair, plant-season dependent
Compaction
In lifts, not a single pour
Cold weather
Runs through winter
Return to service
Cold patch immediately, hot mix once cooled

Where

Delaware County, Pennsylvania — Brookhaven, Aston, Media, Springfield, Ridley Park, Swarthmore, Wallingford, Nether Providence and the surrounding townships. Chester County by arrangement.

Owner-operated by Sean McCullough, serving Delaware County since 2016 — 10 years.

Questions about pothole patching

What is the difference between cold patch and hot mix?

Cold patch can be placed at any temperature and takes traffic immediately, which makes it the right call for winter and for making a hazard safe today. Hot mix is the permanent repair — it compacts to a denser, longer-lasting surface — but it needs an open plant and a warm enough surface.

Will sealcoating fix a pothole?

No. Sealcoat is a coating a few millimetres thick. A pothole is a structural failure that goes through the asphalt and often into the base. It needs material removed and replaced, then compacted.

What does alligator cracking mean?

A network of interlocking cracks resembling reptile skin means the base under the asphalt has failed, not just the surface. Patching or coating over it does nothing lasting. That area needs full-depth removal and replacement — a sawcut repair.

Related work

Sawcut Patchwork

Sawcut patchwork is the full-depth repair: the failed section is cut out to clean square edges with a saw, removed down to sound base, and replaced with new asphalt compacted in lifts.

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Rubberized Crack Filling

Cracks wider than about a quarter inch get hot-applied rubberized sealant, which stays flexible through a Pennsylvania freeze–thaw cycle instead of cracking with the pavement.

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Asphalt Layover & Resurfacing

A layover is a new layer of asphalt placed over the existing surface rather than replacing it.

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