How to Sealcoat 420,000 Square Feet by Hand

by Allan Heydorn
Created: February 7, 2012

Jet-Black of Rockland sets franchise record brushing sealer at New York’s Mercy College

Brent Sauchuk (right) managed the job and received support from his mother and Jet-Black of Rockland owner Suzanne Pegg and stepfather Robbie Pegg.
Brent Sauchuk (right) managed the job and received support from his mother and Jet-Black of Rockland owner Suzanne Pegg and stepfather Robbie Pegg.
Roughly halfway through the project Jet-Black came and removed the empty tank and dropped another full 5,000 gallons of sealer.
Roughly halfway through the project Jet-Black came and removed the empty tank and dropped another full 5,000 gallons of sealer.
The 420,000-square-foot job included 10,000 square feet of cracksealing, which Jet-Black's crews did without a melter/applicator.
The 420,000-square-foot job included 10,000 square feet of cracksealing, which Jet-Black's crews did without a melter/applicator.
Organization and communication were key, especially with the school being open the whole time Jet-Black of Rockland was on the job.
Organization and communication were key, especially with the school being open the whole time Jet-Black of Rockland was on the job.
Jet-Black of Rockland made a concerted effort to protect the workers, rotating people in and out to keep them rested and out of heat, providing water breaks to keep everyone hydrated, and providing...
Jet-Black of Rockland made a concerted effort to protect the workers, rotating people in and out to keep them rested and out of heat, providing water breaks to keep everyone hydrated, and providing sun block and hats. “It was very hot and humid but no one got sick or came down with heat stroke so despite the size of the job we had that handled pretty well.”

The university also took the lead blocking off roads and parking lots each day with campus security setting up cones and barricades and in some cases even closing down access by parking cars across roads.

Sauchuk says they started each day cleaning the pavement using walk-behind blowers and backpack blowers. As soon as that was done the crew started sealing cracks using three 10-gallon wheeled melters and Crackmaster Supreme hot pour crack filler. “We don’t own a melter applicator so we just relied on the small hot pour boxes melting one brick at a time with two or three people repairing cracks,” Sauchuk says. “It took a while.”

Sealcoating by Brush

Sauchuk used the 550-gallon tank to move material from the drop tank to the day’s location. He says the hose on the tank was too small to deliver the required amount of sealer quickly so instead they opened the bottom on the back of the tank and let the sealer fall to the pavement. The driver of the unit pulled away, leaving a heavy bead of material behind, then returned to the drop tank for a refill.

A four-person crew the finished the sealcoating: Three people used stiff 36-inch-wide heavy duty synthetic fiber applicator brushes to spread the sealer and work it into the pavement, then Sauchuk provided the finishing touch using a softer bristle 36-inch brush.

“I finished it off, making sure there are no lines or footprints,” Sauchuk says. “The people pushing the sealer around to get coverage used brooms with harder bristles than mine to better work the sealer into the blacktop. My brush is softer and puts a nice finish on the sealer,” he says, adding that it’s the same process Jet-Black uses on its driveways.

“The brushes work the sealer into the blacktop and the sealcoat lasts a lot longer that way, so that’s why we did it that way,” he says. “We wanted to provide Mercy College with a long-lasting sealcoat with a great finish and this approach does that.”

Sauchuk says he’s a firm believer in brushing sealer and plans on doing most jobs that way. “But it does depend somewhat on the numbers,” he says. “If we can make money sealcoating by hand then that’s what we’re going to do because it provides the best job. But in some cases it’s just not possible.

“We were able to tackle this huge job by hand because we had a 14-day window and a lot of cooperation from the college,” he says. “But when you work with someone who works with you and you’re given a big enough time frame and you have the time to brush it on you can do it that way.”

Sauchuk says the bottom line – other than the profit on the job – is that Mercy College and MCM Paving are happy with the work. “They’re all kind of amazed at how quickly and efficiently we got it all done and really had no issues,” he says, which gives him the confidence to pursue more commercial work this year. “We won’t abandon driveways because driveways give us steady business, but we want to get into more commercial work because it will help us get noticed more.”

Not that they need too much help after finishing the largest job in Jet-Black franchise history. “The Mercy College job got our name out there and got Jet-Black’s name out there and we’re proud of that,” Sauchuk says. “We’re now recognized as one of the bigger companies in our area. And people have started to call us and recognize our company. We can show other owners how we did a job like that and that helps convince other owners that we can do their job.”