How Long Does Asphalt Take to Dry?
Asphalt takes a long time to dry. In fact, it can take up to a year for asphalt to completely harden and be ready for driving on. That means if you have any cracks in your driveway or parking lot, those areas will remain soft even after the rest of the pavement has dried. So what’s the best way to speed up asphalt drying time? It turns out there are several ways that homeowners and contractors alike use to shorten this drying time significantly!
First, you need to scrape up the cracks and seams of your asphalt. These areas will be a major source for water infiltration, causing them to remain soft much longer than if they were filled in with gravel or rock dust. Once this is done, you can then fill those voids using an oil-based sealer that not only creates a barrier against future damage but also wicks away moisture from these hot spots where it’s harder for asphalts to dry out
Next, use an airless sprayer so you don’t have any excess material which would hinder evaporation processes from taking place underneath the surface. You may even want to consider adding some products like micro surfactants into the mix before spraying on your new layer of asphalt sealant. Micro surfactants work by preventing water from penetrating into the asphalt as quickly, giving it a chance to dry out.
If you want to go the extra mile and ensure your new sealer is going to last for years down the road, make sure you use an airless sprayer with a pressure of at least 3000 psi. That means less material is being pushed out onto your asphalt, leaving more room for air pockets to be created underneath the sealant layer. This will give you a much thinner coat that’s not only easier to work with but also won’t inhibit evaporation processes quite as quickly!
Lastly, make sure you’re using an at least 3000 psi pressure washer on these areas before moving onto other tasks or starting up again in the morning. All it takes is one missed area and all of your hard work will have been wasted until next time around when you can come back and spray down some new sealer over rough spots where water infiltration might still exist.
