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

Sealcoating in Strum

Sealcoating in Strum, Wisconsin.

Driveway and parking lot sealcoating in Strum. 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 25 minutes southeast 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.
1,068 People in Strum
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Strum
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Sealcoating Job Looks Like in Strum

For a village this size Strum has an unusual amount of commercial surface, and it's spread across five streets rather than concentrated on one.

Fifth Avenue North is the retail spine: the grocery, the bank, the post office, the dentist, and the telephone cooperative that serves twenty-five communities from a building here. Fifth Avenue South carries the village hall and the library. Maple Street is where the industry actually is, a millwork plant and the co-op agronomy site, and it's worth naming precisely because Strum has no industrial park to point at.

The largest single parking demand in the village is the school campus on Highway 10. Eleva-Strum consolidated into one building here, so elementary, middle and high all share one site, and any work on it happens inside the summer window or not at all.

Sealcoating specifically in Strum

Short drives on the village grid and much longer ones as soon as you're out of it, so Strum jobs vary more in size than the population suggests. The seasonal surfaces out at Crystal Lake are best sealed either side of the season, not during it.

The Driveways and Lots in Strum

Strum sits on the Buffalo River in Trempealeau County with Crystal Lake on its edge and US Highway 10 running through as the main route. The Buffalo River State Trail, thirty-six miles of old railroad corridor between Mondovi and Fairchild, passes through the village. Rolling hills in open farm country, and unusually for this area, unglaciated ground.

A village of about 1,100 on a compact grid, with the older stock close to Fifth Avenue and newer building out toward Crystal Lake. Drives are short in the core and get considerably longer as soon as you leave it.

The Crystal Lake end is its own thing. A campground and a golf course sit out on Crystal Lake Drive, and the surfaces there are seasonal: heavy use for five months and empty for the rest, which wears differently from a driveway used every day of the year.

Strum

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

Around Strum: Crystal Lake, Woodland Park, Crystal Lake Park, Buffalo River State Trail, Buffalo River.

Standard 48-inch frost depth. The important local difference is that Trempealeau County is unglaciated, so instead of the sorted sand and gravel outwash we work in up the Chippewa valley, the subgrade here's residual soil over bedrock. It holds water differently, and a drive that ponds in Strum is usually telling you something about grade rather than about drainage.

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 Strum

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 Strum

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 Strum

What Strum calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
We run a seasonal business out at Crystal Lake. When should the lot be done?
Either side of your season rather than through it. Sealer wants warm pavement and a dry cure, so late spring before you open or early fall after you close both work, and both beat trying to seal around campers in July. Talk to us in the winter and we'll book the slot.
Is Strum inside your area for a single driveway?
Yes. It's about twenty-five minutes and we work down that way along Highway 10 regularly. As anywhere at that distance, two or three drives on the same street in one visit costs each of you noticeably less than one on its own.
The campground surface only gets used five months. Does it still need sealing?
Yes, and for a reason that surprises people: the damage is not from use, it is from weather. A surface that sits empty from October to April still freezes and thaws dozens of times over that winter, and unsealed asphalt takes that badly whether anybody drove on it or not. The advantage a seasonal surface has is scheduling: there is a real window either side of the season when the work is easy to fit in.
Does the ground here really behave differently to Eau Claire?
It does, and it is the one thing worth knowing about pavement in Strum. Trempealeau County is unglaciated, so instead of the sorted sand and gravel we work in up the Chippewa valley, what is under a drive here is residual soil sitting on bedrock. It holds water differently and it drains slower, which changes where a surface fails and how a base gets rebuilt. A repair specified for a lot in town is not automatically the right repair out here.
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 Strum 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 Strum 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 Strum

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

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