Eau Claire, WI · Northwestern Wisconsin Closed now (715) 450-9897
(715) 450-9897

Sealcoating in Bloomer

Sealcoating in Bloomer, Wisconsin.

Driveway and parking lot sealcoating in Bloomer. The same prep on every job, and a straight read on whether yours needs doing this year at all.

Get a Free Estimate Call (715) 450-9897

4.7 from 18 Google reviews

About 30 minutes north of Eau Claire. Free estimates, and a straight read on whether it needs doing yet.

A large institutional parking lot freshly sealcoated in uniform black, still wet-looking, running up to the building and out to the grass edge.
3,646 People in Bloomer
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Bloomer
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Sealcoating Job Looks Like in Bloomer

There are two commercial zones and they behave differently. Main Street is the historic downtown, tight lots with shared access and on-street parking, where the jobs are small and access is tight.

The highway strip along Seventeenth and Nineteenth Avenue is the other one: modern retail, larger lots, purpose-built parking and room to work. Bloomer also carries real medical parking for a town this size, on more than one street, plus industrial ground on the edges. Those are the square-footage jobs.

Sealcoating specifically in Bloomer

Two different jobs in one town. The post-2000 stock on the newer edges is straightforward maintenance sealing: wide drives, sound bases, and the conversation is mostly about timing. The pre-1960 core is narrow hand-cut work where what the surface is actually sitting on matters more than the price per square foot. Bloomer is the town where we're least willing to quote off a street name, because the house next door can be thirty years older than yours and want a completely different answer.

The Driveways and Lots in Bloomer

Bloomer sits north of Chippewa Falls where Highways 40 and 64 cross, the largest town in the northern half of the service area and the one most of the smaller places up there drive to.

Bloomer is the most evenly built town in the service area. No single decade carries it: about a third of the stock predates 1960, but nearly a quarter has gone up since 2000, and every decade in between is represented.

That matters more than it sounds. In a town built in one burst, the driveways all fail together and the advice is largely the same. In Bloomer the house next door can be thirty years older than yours, and what its drive needs isn't what yours needs. We quote them separately rather than by neighborhood.

Bloomer

We work the whole village rather than a named handful of neighborhoods.

Around Bloomer: Main Street, Highway 40 and 64 junction, Bloomer Middle School.

Standard 48-inch frost depth, and far enough north that spring opens a week later than it does in Eau Claire.

From our jobs

Job Photos

Freshly sealed and striped school parking lot
A school lot, sealed and striped
A freshly sealcoated driveway winding up to a house in evening light
A sealed driveway, winding up to the house
A freshly sealcoated driveway running through the woods, caution tape across the entrance
A long wooded driveway, sealed and taped off
A crew member spraying sealcoat from the black tank rig
Sealer going down from the tank rig

All job photos

What makes a seal job last

Sealer doesn't stick to dirt. It doesn't stick to oil, it doesn't bridge an open crack, and it doesn't cure in the cold. Almost every failed driveway in this valley failed for one of those four reasons, and all four happen before the sealer ever comes off the truck. Which is why the part of this job that matters is the part that happens before anything looks different.

The cheap job

What a low bid usually buys

  • Blown off, maybe, and sealed straight over whatever is left
  • Cracks sprayed across rather than filled, so water still gets under
  • Sealer thinned with water to stretch the drum further
  • One thin coat, sprayed to the edges, apron included
  • Looks excellent for about six weeks

What we do

And why each step is there

  • Blown clean and edged, and oil spots primed so sealer can bond
  • Cracks over a quarter inch filled with hot rubber first
  • Sealer mixed to the manufacturer's spec, with the sand it calls for
  • Edges and aprons cut in by hand, two coats where traffic warrants
  • Left to cure properly, with the drive-on time in writing

The difference doesn't show on the day. It shows in the second spring.

What Decides the Price in Bloomer

Residential sealcoating runs about $0.15 to $0.25 per square foot, the rate Black Widow has published for years. Everything else is measured rather than guessed at, and your number is fixed before work starts.

Two-car driveway

Roughly 600 to 900 sq ft

Measured on site

  • Clean, crack fill, one to two coats
  • Most in-town driveways

Larger or rural driveway

Roughly 900 to 2,000 sq ft

Measured on site

  • The common case out in the townships
  • Long drives are measured, not estimated by eye

Small commercial lot

Roughly 8,000 to 20,000 sq ft

Measured on site

  • Church, clinic, small retail
  • Crack sealing usually included

Larger lot

20,000 sq ft and up

Measured on site

  • Quoted after a walk
  • Striping and patching priced separately

What moves it: how much crack filling it needs, whether there are areas that have to be cut out and patched first, how much hand cutting the edges take, and access. Anything we find that changes the number gets said before we start, not after.

Does yours actually need sealing?

How we read a surface before quoting it

Some surfaces that look bad are fine, and some that look fine are not.

  • It has gone gray and chalky but it's smoothTextbook case. That's the wear layer gone and exactly what sealer replaces.
  • Thin cracks running with the drive, under a quarter inchSeal them now and they stay cheap. Left open, water gets under and freezes.
  • It was paved last year and still looks blackNew asphalt needs to cure before its first seal, usually 6 to 12 months. Too early is a real thing and we would rather book you for next season.
  • Cracked into squares, like dried mud, and it flexes underfootThat's the base failing, not the surface. Sealing it hides the problem for one season and wastes your money. Those areas get cut out and patched.
  • Potholes, or a low spot that holds water after rainRepair first, seal after. Standing water is usually a grade or a drainage problem and it'll take the new sealer with it.
  • Loose stone comes up when you scuff it with your shoeRaveling. Early on, sealer locks it back down. Advanced, it needs an overlay. This is the one worth having us look at rather than guessing.

Not sure which one you have? Send a photo of the worst area.

How the Work Goes in Bloomer

The same six steps on a driveway and on a 40,000 square foot lot.

We look at it and price it

Free, and on site for anything commercial. If the surface has gone past what sealer can help, we say so then rather than taking the job.

Clean and prep

Blown down, edges trimmed back where grass has crept in, oil and fuel spots primed. Sealer won't bond to any of those, and skipping this is the single most common reason a job fails early.

Crack filling, hot

Anything over about a quarter inch gets direct-fire rubber at 400 degrees, which flows into the crack and bonds to its walls. Cold pourable filler sits on top and pulls away by the second winter.

Cut in by hand

Edges, garage aprons, around drains and islands. Hand work, because a spray wand at the edge either misses it or covers your concrete.

Sealcoat, twice on high-wear areas

Turnarounds, entrances and drive lanes wear faster than the rest and get two. The rest of the lot gets one, because a second coat there adds no life.

Cure time, in writing

Usually 24 hours before a car and 48 before anything heavy or before turning the wheels while stopped. It depends on the temperature and humidity that afternoon, so we give you the real number on the day.

Booking sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Bloomer

What Bloomer calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Our neighbor got told their driveway was past sealing. Is ours?
Possibly not, and Bloomer is the town where that comes up most. The housing here spans every decade rather than clustering in one, so two drives on the same street can be thirty years apart in age and construction. We look at yours rather than assuming the street.
When does the season actually start up here?
About a week later than it does in Eau Claire, and it closes a little sooner at the other end. Sealer needs the surface dry and the overnight temperature to stay up, and thirty minutes north is enough to move both. The practical answer is that fall work booked ahead beats waiting on a northern April.
Can you work a Main Street lot without closing us for the day?
Usually, but it's the first thing to talk about rather than the last. The downtown lots here are tight with shared access, so a section at a time is often the only way to keep a door open. Sealer needs about 24 hours before traffic goes back on it, and that's the constraint the schedule gets built around.
Is Bloomer far enough north that the drive costs us something?
Bloomer is about thirty minutes north and it's well inside the area we work. The estimate is free, and the number you approve is the number you pay.
How much does it cost to sealcoat a driveway?
Residential sealcoating runs about $0.15 to $0.25 per square foot, which is the rate Black Widow has published for years. What moves it inside that range is how much crack filling the drive needs first and whether the high-wear areas want a second coat. Long rural drives are measured rather than guessed at, and the number is fixed before we start.
How often should a driveway be sealed?
Every two to three years in Bloomer and the surrounding area. Freeze and thaw here does more damage than sun does, and the cycle matters more than it would further south. Sealing every year is a waste of money.
How late in the year can you seal?
Roughly May through early October in Bloomer and the surrounding area, and it depends more on overnight lows than on the daytime high. Sealer needs warm pavement and a dry cure, so late-season jobs depend on the weather holding.
How long before I can drive on a freshly sealed driveway?
Usually 24 hours for a car and 48 before anything heavy, or before turning your wheels while stopped, which is what scuffs fresh sealer. We give you the actual number on the day, because it moves with the weather.
Do you use coal tar?
No. Coal tar sealer is perfectly legal in Eau Claire and a good deal of this region still uses it, which is exactly why it's worth asking. We run an asphalt emulsion instead, Pitch Black, by choice. The reason is the science rather than the rulebook. The US Geological Survey sampled streams around Milwaukee and traced somewhere between 42 and 94 percent of the PAHs in the sediment back to coal tar sealant dust. Minnesota banned the stuff statewide in 2014. We would rather not put it on a driveway that drains toward the Chippewa.
Can you seal a lot without closing it?
Sealed asphalt needs 24 to 48 hours before traffic goes back on it. On a lot that can't close, where that time comes from is part of what the estimate works out, so tell us which hours and which areas you can't lose.
My driveway is cracked everywhere. Is sealing still worth it?
Sometimes yes and sometimes no, and it depends on whether the base under it has failed. Tight surface cracks seal fine. Alligatored areas that flex under your foot have to be cut out and patched first, and no amount of sealer fixes them. A photo of the worst area is usually enough to tell the two apart.

Get a Free Estimate in Bloomer

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

Get an estimate

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Other Work We Do in Bloomer

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Everything about sealcoating, including how the work goes and what changes the price