Asphalt Sealcoating in Appleton, WI
Appleton sits on the Fox River north of Lake Winnebago, and it spans three counties. The 2020 Census counted 75,644 residents, up from 72,623 in 2010: 62,899 in Outagamie County, 11,304 in Calumet County and 1,441 in Winnebago County. Interstate 41, U.S. 10 and state highways 441, 47, 96 and 125 all serve the city. Appleton incorporated in 1857, and its Vulcan Street Plant on the river began operating in 1882 as the nation's first hydroelectric central station.
The housing is older than the growth figure suggests. Census estimates put Appleton's median home at 1971, with nearly one in five built before 1940 and almost three in ten built in the 1970s and 1980s. About two thirds of homes are owner-occupied. On the oldest lots the base under the asphalt usually decides whether sealer is worth buying. On the 1970s and 1980s drives, and on everything newer, the job is protecting the surface that is already there before cracks let water reach the base.
A snowier county, salted just as hard
WisDOT's 2024-25 winter report shows how Appleton's winter differs from Oshkosh's. Outagamie County, home to most of the city, logged 55.7 inches of snow against 43.8 inches in Winnebago County. County crews, who handle snow and ice control on state and U.S. highways under contract with WisDOT, spread 4,996 tons of salt on Outagamie's 591 lane miles, about 8.5 tons per lane mile, close to Winnebago's 8.9. The Oshkosh winter pavement data page sets out the rest of that picture for the county next door.
More snow means more plow passes, more meltwater running across driveway aprons, and more nights when that water refreezes in any crack it has found. Salt picked up on I-41, U.S. 10 and WIS 441 rides home on tires and lands on the same surfaces. A driveway that goes into November with its cracks filled and a sound coat on top comes through that far better than one that goes in bare. In a snowy year, fall crack filling does more for an Appleton driveway than anything else on the list.
See Appleton, WI on Google Maps — we cover the whole area from Oshkosh.
Asphalt Sealcoating Services Available in Appleton
Every service we offer in Oshkosh is available to Appleton homeowners and businesses at the same pricing:
- Driveway Sealcoating
- Hot Rubber Crack Filling
- Asphalt Patching and Pothole Repair
- Parking Lot Sealcoating
- Line Striping and Lot Layout
- Asphalt Maintenance Plans
See the full pricing guide for typical ranges.
Appleton FAQs
Can two Appleton driveways on the same block drain differently?
Yes, and Outagamie County's soils are one reason. The Hortonville and Symco series were both established in the county in 1975 and form a drainage sequence on the same loamy till: Hortonville is well drained, while Symco is somewhat poorly drained, with a seasonal water table one to two feet down for part of most years. A driveway over the wetter soil keeps its base damp longer each spring, and it is usually the first to crack. Water that stands after rain is the giveaway.
Is coal-tar sealer restricted in Appleton?
Appleton does not appear on published lists of Wisconsin bans, which name places such as Dane County, the first in the state, and Milwaukee, which banned it in 2017. The issue has been raised here, though: the public meetings on coal-tar sealants that the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance announced in 2019 included one in Appleton. Since the choice is left to the owner and the contractor, anyone who wants to avoid coal tar should ask for the sealer to be named on the quote.
Appleton reaches into Calumet and Winnebago counties. Does the county change the winter a driveway sees?
Less than the route does. WisDOT contracts with county highway departments for snow and ice control on state and U.S. highways, and in 2024-25 Outagamie County used about 8.5 tons of salt per lane mile, Winnebago 8.9 and Calumet 4.7, with Calumet logging 49.2 inches of snow. Those figures cover the highways, not neighborhood streets. For a driveway, the roads its owner drives every day matter more than which side of a county line the house is on.