Comments on: Great Lakes lawmakers consider statewide bans on pavement sealants

By: Russ

Russ — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:54:42 +0000

The comments here that bother me are ones saying that pavement sealer provides no benefit, and that sealed vs. unsealed last the same amount of time. That is just not true. Asphalt pavement left unsesealed degrades from the forces of UV light (oxidation) and water infiltration. It doesn’t happen in a year or even two, but you can plainly see the effects from one year to the next. Coal tar sealer is nasty stuff which I have gotten sick from breathing the fumes. Asphalt Emulsion sealer works fine to protect asphalt.

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By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:35:19 +0000

Go dump a 5 gallon pail of coal tar sealer in a acre pond and watch all the fish die. If there is nothing bad in coal tar why does it kill the fish , why does coal tar sealant burn the heck out of human skin if it is so good for you, the odor is so bad , certainly is cause problems in the lungs. As far as other sealants not lasting as long , have to call that one out , coal tar wears off just as fast as AE sealants . I guess asbestos was a good product as well , should we go back to using it as an insulation ? Come on people , boils down to the coal tar industry not wanting to convert to AE. All about money, from what I understand its another product we import from china! I can attest that sealcoat vs not sealcoating Will make the difference between a 10 drive to a 25 year drive , for every 2 dollars you spend in maintenance , will save you 6 dollars down the road. So yes there have been studies showing benefits the asphalt , coal tar sealants actually crack your asphalt when applied to heavy

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By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:09:50 +0000

I attended an in-depth presentation on the subject held for my board, which is considering its own ban. According to the research presented, there have been no studies demonstrating that pavement coating extend the life of the underlying pavement, and the difference in cost to applicators is modest.

Those living in apartment buildings with coated pavement have substantially increased levels of atmospheric PAHs in and around the apartments -especially at face level and below over the coated pavement,and adjacent waterways have unacceptably high PAH levels. PAHs are one of the principle contaminants responsible for listing of some of the Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:39:29 +0000

From what I understand, driveways and parking lots last the same amount of time whether they are sealed or not. The waste of money seems to be in having them sealed at all.

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By: John

John — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:52:11 +0000

What a waste of money. The only places banning coal tar are left wing environmental nutbag municipalities. Someone with a strong interest in asphalt based sealer (garbage compared to coal tar)is behind these studies & bans.

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