How to Seal Coat a Driveway

4 Materials
$110
3 Days
Easy
This is step two of our driveway renovation project. If you haven’t filled your driveway cracks, you’ll need to do that first! These are the two least sexy projects we’ve done, but they were absolutely necessary to prepare for this winter!

Seal coating the driveway was considerably easier than filling the cracks. But waiting for everything to dry took FOREVER. Alright, not forever, it took about 3 days before we could drive on it. But in dog life, that’s 21 days.
We started off by cleaning the driveway with this cleaner/degreaser, found at Home Depot. It hooked directly into the hose and was so easy to use! Screw it on, turn on the hose, and let it rip!
After the driveway has been thoroughly coated with the cleaner, you’ll need a large outdoor broom to scrub! Don’t kill yourself. Just scrub enough to see the white bubbles appear. When you’ve covered the driveway, you’ll need to rinse everything down with hose water.


First wait step! We did this on a cool, overcast day. So it took about 2-ish hours to dry.
Here’s the sealer we chose. There’s a bunch of different options at Home Depot, but we went with the option that would best seal our very dilapidated driveway. We used two containers. Follow the instructions on the container to figure out how many square feet you’ll need.
My head DIY assistant poured a straight line of the sealer across the top of the driveway. Make sure you’re wearing DIY designated clothing. You will ABSOLUTELY get your shoes and clothes dirty. Do not wear a pair of shoes that you love, you’ll be sad.
Squeegee time! This little guy is awesome. It was right next to the sealer at Home Depot. Basically, pretend like your cleaning car windows. Except the car window is huge and you’re standing on it. Brian was running back and forth from side to side on the driveway and pulling the sealer with him. There were some large blobs at the top where he first poured, so in this picture he’s pulling the extra down towards him.
Also, that’s my super serious DIY face that I apparently make for every second of every project I’m working on… according to my hot design assistant.
Originally I was dipping the brush roller in the sealer tub and painting the sides of the driveway. We wanted to be a little more precise on the edges so we didn’t loose sealer in the grass and ultimately kill parts of our lawn. But it was going so slow. Brian had the genius idea to use a Chinese food container to scoop the sealer so I could pour it out as needed. He’s brilliant. And hot.
Also, that’s my super serious DIY face that I apparently make for every second of every project I’m working on… according to my hot design assistant.
I sealed about 16 inches in from the sides all the way down the driveway. You can already see the difference between the sealer and the asphalt disaster we were up against.
Here’s the driveway after one coat. We waited another 24 hours and put on a second coat. Then waited 2 days before we drove on it. The weather was pretty cool when we did this and we wanted to make sure we got the best results possible.


Just to give you an idea of where we were when we started take a look at this before picture.
Now take a look at this picture I snagged on my way to work. This was the morning after the second coat.
Hello, gorgeous.
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  • Elv23702677 Elv23702677 on Oct 08, 2018

    Could you tell me approx cost....ex: 20ft wide by 20 ft length ...cost was $$$...400 sq ft...I could figure cost per foot then...thanks so much...I am a little older and don’t know if I want to tackle, hard to do (die#nt look too bad) but if I can save alot of $$$....i’m In!!

  • Henri001 Henri001 on Oct 17, 2018

    Can this driveway sealer be poured over an aging concrete driveway? If it can, I know what we are doing this summer...already too late in the season for this in our area...we are already getting snow..

  • Mary Mary on Dec 31, 2018

    If this is asphalt driveway, does it get sticky in the summer? Where we live it's like Death Valley weather.


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