You might be overjoyed when someone knocks on your day claiming to be a driveway sealing company and offers to seal your driveway. However, be wary of these because often times, these driveway sealing services are actually using motor oil or a watered down sealant and you are paying for nothing. Here are a few things that you should know before allowing someone that you don’t know to seal your driveway.
What is Sealant?
Sealant, also known as seal coat, is a mixture of asphalt or possibly coal tar, water and silica sand or some kind of fine aggregate. If someone comes to your door claiming to be a driveway sealing company but does not have a tank that is constantly mixing these materials, you can pretty much guarantee they are not who they say they are. Sealing your driveway will help to protect it from the atmosphere, sunlight, salts, leaks from your car and even the air. It can help to prevent small cracks from becoming bigger by getting water in them and evens out the color.
How Do You Seal a Driveway?
Well, first of all, “you” don’t; it’s a tedious job and it’s quite possible to make a complete mess of it if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here is the basic information you need so that you can tell if your door to door contractor is a fraud.
- It shouldn’t cost more than about $200 if the driveway doesn’t need any patching done.
- Sealing shouldn’t be done if it is expected to rain within the next two days.
- It also should only be done if the temperature outside is at least 50 degrees F.
- Driveway cleaning including possible pressure washing should take place before the sealer is applied.
- All oil stains should be cleaned before applying the sealer.
- The driveway sealing company should use a squeegee, sprayer or brush to apply the sealer.
- The grass should be edged and plants protected.
Getting your driveway sealed by a genuine driveway sealing company that is hires licensed professional is definitely something that you should do in order to protect your driveway but getting it done by a scammer can actually ruin your driveway.
How Can You Tell if He’s a Fake>
Well, there are a few things that you can do.
- Ask to see a copy of the license and insurance for the business.
- Look up the name of the business and find reviews online. If they are coming to your door, chances are they have been to other people’s and there should be something online regarding whether or not they are a legit company.
- Look for that constantly turning mixer mentioned above and ask what materials make up the sealant that they use. Don’t take ‘secret’ or ‘special’ ingredients for an answer.
- If the price is any higher than $200 without the need to patch anything on the driveway.
- See if their license plate is from out of state and they are ensuring that they can do the job today. This is a tell tale sign of a fraud.
- Watch as they begin and see if they are following the above steps in the cleaning process.
If all of these things seem in place then it might be alright to let them go ahead and get the job done. However, you should probably continue to watch and make sure they are using the right materials and doing the job properly according to the above steps. If you’d rather be safe than sorry, forego the door to door salesman and call a company that you know is a real and reputable company.
Taking care of your house is very necessary but sometimes it’s easier to try and get a good deal instead of getting the job done right. The problem with this is that you will end up paying more than you would for just doing the job right because you will have to pay someone to fix the mess that the cheap option made first. Instead of rolling the dice with your driveway, you should make sure you trust who is doing the job. The driveway is a little more important than you might think; it is a part of the first impression of your home when new guests come over.
