Reflectorized Striping | Why Property Managers & Property Owners Should Consider it.

Did you know that Empire Parking Lot Services is not just an asphalt repair company? We offer far more services than most Southern California paving contractors, including some of the newest and most innovative products for the parking lot and warehouse maintenance industry. Although we do offer all of the typical parking lot maintenance services, such as asphalt repair, concrete repair, and sealcoating, we also help our customers solve more unique problems such as this month’s featured “product spotlight” on reflectorized striping. Learn more below about the benefits of reflectorized striping, and why it’s not just being used on airports & freeways anymore.

About Reflectorized Striping

Since the 1940’s glass beads have been added to line striping on the freeways and roads across the United States. Originally it was added to the lines to help drivers navigate through the blackouts during WWII. But lately, more and more property owner and managers are using glass beads to help reduce the number of accidents that can occur in the parking lot.  The reason for using glass beads is simple, It makes parking lot markings, such as stop and bar stencils and painted center lines that divide traffic, show up much better at night. (see photo below). By adding glass beads to the parking lot striping, the paint reflects the drivers headlights back at them where ever the paint is beaded making it glow brightly and show up much better.

These glass beads make the striping stand out better and in return can greatly reduce the overall safety of your parking area. On the project above located at a mall in southern California you can see a side by side comparison of what the striping looks like with and without glass beads or reflectorizing. Many malls and busy shopping centers are looking for cost effective ways to reduce their exposure to costly litigation. Glass beads over fresh parking lot markings are a perfect fit for that. For just a little bit extra cost you get quite a bit of punch. Furthermore, glass beads really only need to go onto your crosswalks, stops and other critical markings that affect pedestrians in cars and on foot.

About Empire Parking Lot Services

Empire Parking Lot Services offers parking lot maintenance and warehouse maintenance services throughout Southern California. Our service areas include Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, & Orange County. We also offer services to parts of Ventura and San Diego. Our services include asphalt repair, concrete repair, sealcoating, parking lot striping, as well as very unique services such as glass beads or reflectorized striping, truncated domes, safety bollards, speed bump installations and many others. In addition to the parking lot repairs we do each day, Empire also offers warehouse repair services to concrete. These services include striping lines in epoxy paint, acid resistant floor coatings, sign hanging services, and shotblasting, plus many others. Call us today if you have a project that you need help on. We would love to add you to our list of happy customers.

Call us Toll Free: (877) 760-2757

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Reflectorized Striping | Product Spot Light

Irvine Shopping Center Gets New Pavement Markings

The term “Pavement Markings” refers to all things painted on a parking lot.From parking lines to red curbs and everything in between. Most Southern California paving companies offer pavement markings, but they’re not all offering the same quality or service. There are several reasons for this dilemma. The first reason is that some paving contractors sub contract out their pavement marking work to the lowest bidder. In return the customer gets shoddy and unprofessional work. That’s not to say that there are not quality parking lot striping companies, because there are. It’s just the “low bidder” part that kills the quality. Another reason is that many paving contractors don’t place a lot of emphasis on this service. Many think that because it’s a lower cost service, it shouldn’t waste too much of their time. This couldn’t be more wrong. At Empire Parking Lot Services we place as much emphasis on this service as we do on any other.

About this Pavement Marking Project

At this Orange County shopping center Empire Parking Lot Services was contracted to repaint all of their parking lot markings & curbs. This included all handicap Pavement Markings such as the disabled silhouette (handicap logo) and cross hatch lines, traffic stencils, such as stop and bars, arrows as well as  all parking stencils i.e. visitor, compact and reserved. Furthermore we repainted all speed bumps, parking lines, curbs, and bollards. This customer made sure that all areas that needed to be painted were prepped ahead of time, as well scrapped and sand blasted as needed. Any stencils that did not match the set chosen by the management company were blacked out with a clean square box, and repainted using the customers choice. All of this was done in the early morning hours, so that there was minimal inconvenience caused to the shopping center tenants and customers.

About Empire Parking Lot Service

Annual Pavement Markings maintenance plans are something we offer to many of our customers. We manage records for all of their shopping centers in terms of what has been done, and when it was done last.  As we work on these centers over the years we have learned to make suggestions to the property managers that will head off future issues. One example is red curb paint build up. If we see the paint on the curbs is getting to thick, we would make a suggestion to the management team to help properly plan and budget for the removals of that paint. By maintaining all of their centers they receive several benefits. First, they get quality uniform markings on their centers that is unmistakable. Same stencils, same colors, same high quality layout on each center. Nothing can make a stronger impact on your parking lot for less cost than clean parking lot markings. Second, they get great prices because of the number of centers they allow us to maintain for them. Volume work receives better pricing than a single project. Lastly, and most importantly, they get piece of mind knowing that the contractor they hired is always keeping an eye out for them, and heading off future problems and pitfalls.

Call Empire Parking Lot Services today to discuss ways in which we can save you money while making your parking lots look great!

Call us Toll Free: (877) 760-2757

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New Pavement Markings For Irvine Retail Center

Empire Understands the Importance of Quality Parking Lot Stenciling

Many companies need to identify parking stalls for employees or departments of their operations. Often times, they will try to do it themselves only to find out that its not as easy as it looks.  The problem is that they view stenciling from nothing more than an overhead view of the stencil. Because of this they usually end up with a poor stenciling job. Why,  Because the only person who looks at a stencil from a perspective directly over the stencil is the guy painting the stencil.  Everyone else views a stencil not only from a distance, but from a shallow angle. That means you need to “line up” your stencils from at least two other vantage points.

Using multiple vantage points, or reference points will produce a more satisfactory “balance” to the stenciling project- particularly if there are many stencils that will be sprayed close to one another.

Many inexperienced painters have a tendency to view their project as painting a onetime stencil within each individual parking space. That mindset usually produces disappointing results. Instead, professional stripers view such stencil projects as continuous, repetitive act in which each stencil is

• 1) Painted on a even line with each other stencil
• 2) Is centered within each stall at exactly the same point

These are the main factors that are what gives your parking lot stencils a clean and orderly appearance. We call that “The Empire Way”

Alignment is First Key Factor for Perfect Stenciling

“Alignment” is a crucial factor in multiple stenciling and “centering” is equally important.  That applies to every type of stall whether straight-in or angled. When stenciling angled stalls, the individual “alignment” of the stencil may be parallel to the Base Line or may be at 90 degrees to the parking stall stripes.

About Empire Parking Lot Services

Empire Parking Lot Services is Southern California’s premier asphalt paving and concrete repair contractor.  Every day we help our management customers, contractors as well as our direct owners with many of their parking lot striping needs, including stencil painting. Empire Parking Lot Services offers top notch parking lot striping services to the entire Southern California area.  Our parking lot striping service area includes Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego as well as parts of Ventura.  Contact us today if you have any questions about any parking lot striping projects you may have upcoming.  Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed & fully bonded concrete and asphalt contracting company.

Call us at 877-760-2757

Or look us up on the web at www.Empirepls.com

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Stencil Painting: The Quality Approach

Understanding The Importance of Parking Lot Stencils

Many companies have a need to have “name or operation title” stencil on their parking lots. They often use them to identify reserved parking areas for tenants and departments. When painting the stencils on their asphalt or concrete parking lots they sometimes will hire maintenance contractors to install them in house. Many times we get calls to fix these types of projects because the painter failed to install the stencils from several perspectives. Instead they install them from the overhead perspective and end up with a bad stencil layout giving your parking lot a sloppy unprofessional look.  By hiring Empire Parking Lot Striping you get a layout that takes not only a centered stall appearance but a single file appearance as well. Using multiple vantage points we will produce a more pleasing “balance” to the stenciling project- particularly if there are many stencils that will be painted on the ground close to each other.

Stencils Done Wrong!

Parking Lot Stencil Done Wrong!

Alignment is the First Key factor In Perfect Stencil Painting

Many inexperienced contractors and handymen tend to view stenciling as painting a single stencil within each individual parking stall. That type of thinking almost always produces an unsatisfactory finished job. Sure it looks great as you paint it but like many trades the mistakes don’t show till you’re too far into the project.  Instead, quality parking lot striping contractors view such stenciling as a continuous, repetitive act in which each stencil is painted in relation to the last.

• Stencils are painted in alignment with the others
• Stencils should be centered within each stall

“Alignment” is a critical consideration in multiple stall stenciling and “centering” is equally important.  That applies every stall type including the typical straight-in stall or angled stall. When stenciling an angled stall, the individual “alignment” of the stenciling should be parallel to the lineup line or may be at 90 degrees to the parking stall lines.

Stencils Done Correctly!

Parking Lot Stencils Done Correctly

About Empire Parking Lot Services

Empire Parking Lot Services is Southern California’s premier parking lot striping and marking contractor.  Every day we help our management customers, contractors as well as our direct owners with many of their parking lot maintenance projects including the service of parking lot stencil painting.  Empire Parking Lot Services offers top notch parking lot striping services to the entire Southern California area.  Our parking lot maintenance service area includes Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego as well as parts of Ventura.  Contact us today if you have any questions about any concrete project you may have upcoming.  Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed & fully bonded C-12 earthwork and paving contractor. This allows us to handle almost any repair done in your parking lot.

Call us at 877-760-2757

Or look us up on the web at www.Empirepls.com

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Stencil Painting: The Quality Approach

Chase Bank Stencil Striping for Ventura County

About The Stencil Striping Project

Chase Banks called Empire PLS this week for a parking lot stencil marking job. The job was located in Ventura, which is near the Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Oxnard area just north of Los Angeles, California. Chase has asked us to do dozens of these small projects as they convert old Washington Mutual Banks to their design standards and styles.

Parking Lot Stencils For Chase Banks

Chase also contracts with us to do asphalt repair, seal coating, and especially handicap upgrade issues.

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Parking lot Stencils For Chase Banks Installed

Pavement Markings In Torrance CA,

Empire Parking Lot Services works with some of the biggest companies in the state of California. These companies include large corporations such as Sony Studios, Donahue Schriber and Jone Lang LaSalle.  At the same time we work with smaller companies such as the mom and pop shops, small restaurants and hotels.  Empire Parking Lot Services tries to have the right product and right price for your budget.  This means if you want to get something that will hold you over for one year we can do that.  But,  if you need the very best in pavement markings we can offer you that service as well.  Empire offers a full range of parking lot repair services through out Southern California so call us today and let us help you get your asphalt maintenance up to date.

The Pavement Marking Job Details:

This weekend Empire Parking lot Services performed a pavement marking project in Torrance California on a CB Commercial property. Located in Los Angeles we drove there and arrived at 6 am to make sure there where no vehicles allowed to  pull into the driveways that had fresh seal coat on them.  Since the seal coat was dry the first thing we did was begin the layout process of the pavement markings.  Its a fairly straight forward process that involves us using chalk lines to snap the line where the existing striping shows through the sealcoat.  We snap lines for the parking stalls, the handicaps any stencils that need to be re striped.  This job had unique striping in that they had double round end stalls(see photo below).

After the layout was completed, we painted the project which consisted of about 500 double lines, 50 parking stall stencils including compact stencils, handicaps, and custom “hand center” stencils for one of the tenants in the park.  The job took approximately 8 hours for our 6 man crew.  The parking lot line striping came out great and seal coat looked great as well.  The customer is thrilled and so are we.

Asphalt Maintenance For Southern California 714-633-0300

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Pavement Markings for Torrance Business Park.

Removing Old Pavement Markings Options

Sometimes, it is necessary to remove old pavement markings without resealing or replacing the parking lot’s asphalt. This may be done to change the width of the parking stalls, especially when implementing ADA requirements or changing from straight-in stalls to angled stalls.

Fixing the pavement markings done incorectly by the customer.

The quickest and easiest way to conceal old pavement markings is to use “blackout” (asphalt) paint or “Grey-out” (concrete) paint.  This involves simply painting over the lines with a paint matched to the color of the parking lot.  Of course, that only delays the eventual reappearance of the offensive stripes and just doesn’t look good. There are three methods used to permanently remove old stripes.

1.  Pressure Washing
2.  Shot Blasting
3.  Sand Blasting

As with most services, each type used in removing pavement markings has advantages and disadvantages.  Call Empire Parking Lot Services today when you need to get answers in regards to which method is best for you and your parking lot striping needs.  Whether your pavement markings needs to be painted or removed Empire-PLS has the ability to get the project done quickly, inexpensively and on time. Call Empire Parking Lot Services today for a free proposal.  We have Southern California covered.  714-633-0300

Parking Lot Repair Services

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Options For Removing Old Pavement Markings