

Luke Surma
Luke is a Project Engineer at Yellowstone Pavement Solutions. He brings both field and educational experience to the team and works to share his industry knowledge in all this asphalt maintenance.
- January 2, 2019
- 1:29 pm
Living in a northern climate like Bozeman means that our sealcoating season is short! I am going to layout some information on asphalt emulsions and how they relate to weather as well as how our summer schedule fills up. This article will be helpful in determining when you should be getting your quotes and scheduling your project.
What are the Temperature Restrictions for Sealcoating?
Asphalt emulsions (i.e. sealcoat and slurry seals) have a really specific tempeture range that they can be applied in. This is usually average temertures above 50 degrees over a 24 hour period and absolutely no lower than 40 degrees. This is due to the emulsions being a water based product that must fully evaporate for the remaining asphalt oil to set properly. Our season generally runs from May 1st through October 1st, with a little wiggle room on either side depending on weather. We keep a close eye on our nightly lows and will schedule our projects conservatively to ensure a solid product. Below you can see the average temperatures for Bozeman Montana. This gives a pretty good idea of the seasonal cut off points. I also think that it should be said that sealcoating early or late in the year is no different from mid summer. As long as you have warm enough temperatures (and a contractor who doesn’t push limits) then you will get a great product.
How Fast do Contractors Schedules Fill up?
We are usually operating on a one to two month outlook. This being said, early in the year always fills up fast with homeowners and business owners getting on our schedule right away. This way you get to enjoy your new driveway or parking lot for a little longer before the snow falls! We can run quotes all winter long, so there is no reason that a homeowner should put it off! Give us a call or use the form HERE to get a free quote. If anything else, this will give you a better idea of how much our product costs. It’s always tough towards the end of the season to try and squeeze in the last few projects.
I’m looking forward to meeting with you about your upcoming sealcoating project! You can reach us via our contact form that I linked in the previous paragraph or else give us a call directly at (406) 595-7471 and we would be happy to meet.
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