As long as parking lot lines are well-marked on your pavement, drivers can navigate efficiently in the parking lot. This simply translates to more time in your place of business and less time in traffic jams.
Explicitly displaying traffic directions, areas where parking is not authorized, and the exact spots that are meant for the handicapped will ensure that customers navigate effectively and safely around your property. However, there are two well-known ways to paint new parking lines. The first is the use of parking lot machines.
Aside from the fact that they provide neater outcomes and less back-breaking technique, these machines are known to be available in a vast array of sizes depending on how much line striping you’re doing. It is also possible to use a four-inch paint roller and paint by hand over a chalk line you’ve drawn.
Steps to Paint Parking Lot Lines Without a Machine
While painting parking lot lines without a machine is the most common way to paint a parking lot; to ensure you achieve the necessary results, you will want to obtain the right equipment and take on the right steps.
Things You Need
- A chalk line
- A measuring tape
- Buckets of high-quality traffic paint
- A four-inch roller or a line striping equipment
- Your toolbox
- Rolls of caution tape
- Traffic cones
- A wide range of parking lot stencils
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Prep Work
Regardless of the surface of your painting, you have to make sure that it is clean. For asphalt and concrete parking lots, you have to sweep and blow, then pressure wash off the area.
The essence of the pressure wash is to do away with the lighter dust. It doesn’t have to be entirely perfect, you only have to make sure that there is no standing dirt on the asphalt when you’re done. This will help prevent paint from flaking and peeling later.
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Layout
If the job is to re-paint old parking lot lines, then it is recommended you use a carpenter’s chalk line and snap along the edge of the existing lines as well as along the foot of the stalls for a starting point. It doesn’t have to be that challenging.
You only have to drop a piece of cardboard down at the beginning of each line as you paint. If you need to lay out some new stalls, ensure to keep them between 8’6” and 9’ in width.
Keep in mind that the length of the stalls will have to be at least 16’. Handicap stalls tend to vary though, as they are known to be 9’ wide and 18’ deep, with an 8’ cross hatch on the right-hand side of the stall.
Ensure to verify with your city first as regards parking lot striping codes in your area for precise measurements, and don’t forget that ADA markings are a federal and local requirement.
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Paint the Lines
To ensure you have perfectly painted lines, it is important you first guarantee precise measurements. Leverage a tape measure or any other kind of measuring device to obtain steady and precise measurements for cars.
Note that the standard size for a North American parking space is 8.5 to 9 feet wide by 18 feet long, and you will require close to 14 to 24 feet for one or two cars to drive in the parking rows.
Be careful with measurements, particularly since you are doing this by hand. This is where you will also have to utilize your four-inch roller to paint each parking lot line, and it is always recommended you wear a respirator to protect your lungs against toxic fumes.
You should also remember all other essential painted parts of your parking area. You will need white paint for most of your project, but you will also require blue colored paint and a stencil to outline handicap parking spots.
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Let it Dry
After you are done with the steps above, you will want to give your freshly painted parking lot an opportunity to set up. Note that they will be dry to the touch within hours of painting; nevertheless, to guarantee that the paint will last it is recommended that you give it 24 hours before allowing vehicle traffic onto the lines.
Consider barricading the areas with some cones or delineators and make certain to string off the area with flagging tape.
What Type of Paint is Best for Parking Lot Striping?
One thing you will have to understand is that the appearance of the parking lines has a lot to do with the color and the types of paints you use.
Yellow is considered the traditional color for the stripes, but blue is becoming quite popular in some areas, particularly in shopping malls.
In certain instances, this is considered a personal preference or convention, but don’t neglect the fact that certain stencils, such as for handicapped stalls, come with legal requirements for color, size, and shape.
White is an alternative to consider for parking lot stripes. Business owners who want to work with this color might use yellow for painting curves and areas where parking is restricted. Blue with yellow or white is in most places required by law to paint the handicap symbol on handicap-accessible spaces.
There are two basic types of paints that are most often used for parking lot paint striping: water-based and solvent-based.
Howbeit, note that the one you choose needs to be formulated such as traffic paint. In addition, keep in mind that acrylics and latex paints used to paint walls will not adhere to pavement.
They will peel away sooner or later and all your challenges and planning will be wasted, as such make sure that you only use traffic paint.