Early AM Parking Lot Striping Precautions

Dec, 16th, 2009

Parking Lot Striping at night or in the early morning hours is a tricky trade.

Most of the time, parking lots are striped during the day.  The parking lots are blocked to foot and vehicular traffic until the paint is dry.  During the day, the painted lines usually dry much faster than at night or in the early morning.  However, some parking lots just can’t afford to be closed during the day.  If you can totally prevent all foot and vehicular traffic in a given area, there is no reason why you can’t stripe just about any time.  Keep in mind, though, that no matter how little paint you apply, it will dry a lot slower than the same paint applied later in the day when the asphalt has had a chance to heat up.  Consider these variables that affect the speed of paint drying on asphalt or concrete:

1. Sunlight/Shade
2. Wind
3. Heat in the pavement
4. Temperature
5. Relative Humidity
6. Moisture in the Asphalt

What to consider

In the very early morning and at night, you won’t have the assistance of the sun to warm the pavement.  The heat that is stored in the asphalt helps facilitate the drying of the paint and the warm daytime temperatures also speed along the process.  These are some of the things that give your paint the ability to dry quickly and avoid costly accidents.  The biggest enemies of paint not drying are humidity, shade and cool air temperature. So be mindful of them!

Line Striping Paint Products for AM and Cold Morning Applications

There are special products that decrease the drying time of parking lot paint and these can be used when there is a drying risk.  Empire Parking Lot Services has had ample experience using these rapid dry paint products.  However, the time span between application and the point at which it will not cause “tracking” may be as short as 15 minutes or as long as several days, depending on the weather and the product used.   At Empire PLS, we have the experience to recommend the best product for your particular situation to get you the best results for your parking lot striping. Even with the best product, sometimes the weather does not cooperate to give a quick drying time. We always make sure to carefully block off areas that do remain wet so nobody can wander in to those areas. One slip can mean BIG problems for you.

Empire Parking Lot Services

714-633-0300

www.Empirepls.com

Industrial Striping Services For Southern California

This weekend Empire Parking Lot Services was contracted to do some address marking for several parking structures in Irvine California. Address marking might not be exactly what you think it is.   It’s not like the numbers you see on parking curbs sprayed in 4 inch stencils.  Instead, it is a service in which we paint 8 foot (or larger) address numbers on a roof of a building or parking structure to identify that building from emergency aircraft.  It’s not something we get to every day but it is something we know how to do and have the equipment to get it done.  To put it simple, its one of our niche parking lot striping services.

Roof address painting project done in Irvine California for the Marriott Hotels.

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Other Unique Parking Lot Striping Related Services:

This service really falls under our industrial painting categories.  Here are a few other prime examples for the industrial painting category.  If you find you may need one of these unique services then give us call and set up an appointment.

• Address Numbering: 2” all the way up to 10’ lettering & numbering.

• Helipad Striping / Helipad Markings: Painted to your standards or if need be we have several layout design on file.

• Compass Rose Striping / Markings: On occasion we get request from military bases or Airports to stripe paint large compass rose symbol on their tarmacs. These traditional compass symbols help pilots get their bearings straight.

• Steel Bollard Installation: These bollards are typically used in commercial and retail properties. They are installed around gas meters, exposed plumbing, and a dozen other applications. We can install steel pipe or steel bollards from 4” thick all the way up to 12” Diameters. Larger bollards can be installed as well but are custom ordered.

• Steel Bollard Painting: These bollards are typically used in commercial and retail properties. They are installed around gas meters, exposed plumbing, and a dozen other applications. Over time the paint on these bollards can flake or wear thin and will need to be re-painted. Our company uses urethane enamel paints that hold up well to the sun and rain cycle for many years.

• Bot Dots / Reflectors: These devices are used for several applications.  Primarily they are used to separate traffic between drive lanes, but lately they have been popular with other applications.  Rumble strips are one of those applications.    Rumble strips are basically 8-10 rows of bot dots that are placed in shopping center or HOA driveways to deter speeding. When cars pass over them they make a loud noise.  The faster they go the louder the noise they typically make.
• Custom Sign Installation: Sometimes property managers want a sign that not only meets the state and federal standards required, but to also ties in with their higher standards.  We have  many years in working with high end sign and pole options from many different manufacturers.  Custom traffic signs and custom parking lot sign installation is just one more of our unique services we offer.

If you have a need for a unique parking lot striping related service that you’re having trouble finding, than give us a call.  Empire Parking Lot Services specializes in unique and challenging projects.  We have years of experience in working with some of the best companies in Southern California.

714-633-0300

Parking Lot Striping ” An Affordable Fix Up”

With the holidays approaching quickly many property managers are looking for quick ways to spruce up there shopping centers. Now more than ever, shopping center managers need to make their centers stand out more than that next one a block down the street.  Many centers will put up Christmas lights, holiday decorations as well as many other preparations.   But there is another thing that property managers can do to create a sense of order and quality that is seen from the curb of your business parking lot.  Consider parking lot striping.   It’s a fast & efficient but most importantly affordable way to really spruce up your parking lot for your customers.  With clearly marked curbs, lines, and stencils your customers will appreciate the work you put in for there shopping experience even if they never say it.

Another thing to consider is the possible problems you’ll avoid by putting these parking lot striping services off.  Often times with poorly marked curbs you will find busy shoppers taking advantage of parking along fire lanes and loading zones.  This can cause hazardous situations if there are real emergency services.  Another factor to consider would be poorly marked parking lot striping.  When these striped areas are not clearly marked people will look to squeeze one more spot in that row.  This can cause issues with the fire department or force you to tow a vehicle.  Either way in the long run its better public relations to handle these problems up front.  Last but not least, if your parking lot stencils are not clearly marked especially stop & bar stencils, there is a far more likely chance that accidents can occur.  This type of accident will almost always result in naming the mall management’s maintenance as the fault for the accident.

Empire Parking Lot Services offers quality parking lot striping at a great price.  We do annual contracts with some of the largest property managers in Southern California. We offer our services to Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside County  The reasons our customers use us are simple.  Safety, Cost, & Service.

No other parking lot striping company or asphalt repair company can beat Empire when you combine those three factors.   Call today for a free proposal on your Southern California center or portfolio of centers.  714-633-0300

Parking Lot Striping Pro's

Parking Lot Striping DYI

Many times I have read where some small parking lot owners are looking for do it yourself tips for parking lot striping. Below is a small guide to help the DYI crowd do just that.  So if your the bold type who want to give it a go with your own parking lot striping then this post is for you.

The first thing I would do is look and decide if you need to pressure wash the area or lot to be striped and, if so let it completely dry (unless it’s newly paved).  Using masking tape, string, and/or chalk liners, lay out sections 9′-10′ wide. Next, lay out straight lines 25′-28′ long, allowing for 4″ wide stripes.   Once designs are laid out, you are ready to paint.   If you used string or chalk liners, you will need a 4″ x 3/4″ roller cover, 4″ roller frame, 4″-6″ pan or one gallon roller grid, and water-based or oil-based traffic marking paint (use water-based on new asphalt).   If you used tape to outline stripes, you can either do the above or use upside down traffic marking spray paint.   Some of these spray cans require a specific striping machine.   If you roll these paints, you will need to move relatively fast as they are extremely fast drying. Usually they will resist hot tire pickup after 30 minutes to an hour.   Of course, if you are repainting existing lines, you need only roll or spray new paint over them after it has been properly cleaned.   Parking stripes are usually yellow or white. Handicap spaces are blue and are laid out according to the area they will be occupying as well as code.  No parking cross hatched areas are usually laid off in traffic marking red.  There is also blackout traffic marking paint to hide unwanted paint on a street or lot.  Professional parking lot striping machines are also an option; however they require a great deal of experience in order to properly use these.

So the basic steps are as follows:

• Clean Area
• Layout Striping Lines & Handicaps
• Paint Lines by Roller, Spray Paint or Machine
• Follow Codes for Line Width and Local Federal Standards
• Clean Up and You’re done

If this job seems like it’s too much to take on than give us a call:

714-495-9321