Seal coat necessary on old asphalt parking lot?

[Ki Lee]

Hey BP,
 
From what I know, the seal coat for the asphalt provides nice look and also provides some protection against the elements, but I also learned that seal coats won't last on older asphalt and it's pretty much not worth it.  What are your thoughts?  At least one vendor said that the best way to handle it is to redo-the asphalt, but in the mean time just do hot-fills on the pot holes and skip on the seal coat.

So my partner Dan and I just acquired a 36 unit in Columbus, and part of the renovation we are doing is the parking lot. The asphalt is
pretty old, and there are numerous cracks and some small pot holes. We got some quotes from asphalt professionals, and they wanted to do a hot-fill for the pot holes, apply a new seal coat, and then re-stripe the parking lot.  We are thinking of just doing the hot-fills for the pot holes.

Again, class C area and not going for the brand-new look.  There is value in aesthetics, but its secondary in consideration.  Most units around the block has similar condition parking lots. 

What's your experience on this?

[Joyce Tavares]

I used SAKRETE on my rental's 400 foot driveway to patch the several potholes... I got several estimates from companys wanting hundreds of dollars.  It is too expensive to put in new asphalt as tenants would have no place to park their cars while the work was being done.  So my son and I picked up about 15 bags of SAKRETE cold patch from Home Depot ($17/bag for 50# bags) and we did it ourselves (I'm 70 years old).  No tools, no gloves, no smell and you can drive on it right away. Sooo easy. You can even put it in the potholes when it is raining.  Amazing stuff.  Go to Home Depot and they have a video.  Product is SAKRETE 50 LB U.S. Cold Patch Pothole Repair.  There were even potholes on my street and we stopped and filled them with the extra product we had.  It is truly amazing stuff and so easy to apply.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-50-lb-U-S-Cold-Patch-Pothole-Repair-60450007/100672929