Crack filling in Edmonton, booked before the freeze
Cracks are not a cosmetic problem. They are the route water takes to the layer that holds your surface up, and sealing them is the smallest amount of money that changes how long everything above lasts.
Which Edmonton cracks are worth filling and which are not
A single line running the length of a drive is usually shrinkage, and it is the ideal candidate: narrow, stable and easy to seal. Lines running across the surface are commonly from the ground moving with the seasons and behave much the same way.
A grid of rectangles, sometimes called block cracking, means the asphalt itself has aged and gone brittle. Filling the lines still keeps water out, but it is maintenance on a surface approaching the end rather than a repair that resets the clock.
Where cracks have joined into small interconnected pieces, sealing is no longer the answer. The base has already failed and that area needs cutting out. Telling the two apart takes about ten seconds once you know what you are looking at, and it decides whether repair is still economic.
Routed crack
How sealing runs
How Edmonton crack sealing is done properly
Sort the cracks by type
Wide, narrow, stable and failing are treated differently, and some are left alone because sealing them would be spending on a surface that is past it.
Rout the wider ones
Cracks past a certain width are cut to a consistent channel so the sealant has a reservoir to sit in rather than a thin smear across the top.
Clean and dry the channel
Dust, vegetation and moisture are blown out. Sealant applied over any of the three bonds to the debris instead of to the asphalt and lifts out in sheets.
Fill flush and let it set
The sealant is run in to the surface level and left to set, which is quick enough that most drives are usable the same day.
Timing and season
When to book Edmonton crack filling
Late summer and early autumn is the window. The surface is dry, cracks are at their widest because the asphalt has expanded in the heat, and the work is finished before the first freeze arrives to exploit anything still open.
Spring is the second-best option and is often reactive, because a winter has just shown everybody where their cracks are. It still works, but some of the damage the sealing was meant to prevent has already happened underneath.
Deep winter is the one to avoid. Sealant needs a dry surface above a certain temperature to bond, and work booked in the cold either does not stick or is a temporary measure. The hot rubber version is what larger surfaces use, and it goes on before any sealcoat. The two jobs share a cycle.
Late summerBest window
Deep winterAvoid
Any sealcoatGoes before
Related repairs
What crack filling sits alongside in Edmonton
Sealing is usually the first item on a longer list.
Hairlines are usually left alone because sealant cannot get into them. Anything wide enough to take a coin is worth sealing, and wider ones are routed out first.
No. Sealing leaves a visible line, slightly darker than the surface around it. The point is keeping water out of the base, not making the surface look new.
Often, because the movement that opened them has not stopped. A flexible sealant stretches with that movement, which is why the material choice matters more than the technique.
For a few narrow cracks on a small drive, it is better than nothing. The usual failure is skipping the cleaning, which leaves the sealant bonded to dust rather than asphalt.
A few seasons on a residential drive, less where the crack is moving a lot. It is maintenance rather than a permanent fix, which is why it is priced as a small job.
Always. A coat poured over an open crack sinks into it and reopens as a line, so the sealing is a separate step done first and quoted as its own item.
