Whether you have a multi-family housing unit with four parking spaces or an industrial business with a thousand parking spaces, striping your parking lot is critical to ensure the safety and functionality of your space. Today, we will provide you with the top three things to know about striping your parking lot.
1. Knowing When to Stripe
The easiest sign to notice that it is time to restripe is if drivers are misusing your lot. If you consistently see misuse like improper parking, inaccurate use of handicap spots, or poor traffic flow, it’s most likely because they simply can’t see the striping clearly.
If your parking lot is small and used infrequently, you could go years between restriping. On the other hand, if you have a large lot that sees frequent traffic, it is recommended to restripe your lot every 18 to 24 months. Plus, if you are in an area that receives snow and requires the use of a snowplow on your lot, you may need to restripe every spring.
2. Designing Your Parking Lot
If you are designing your parking lot for striping for the first time, we recommend hiring a professional striping company to help you create an appropriate layout. You will need to determine:
- Parking stall types
- 90-degree spots, diagonal spots, parallel spots, or a mix.
- Stall sizes
- Compact stalls, typical stalls, oversize stalls, ADA stalls, delivery stalls, etc.
- Special features
- Trees, water features, statues, crosswalks, etc.
- Routes
- e., how traffic will travel through the parking lot.
- Curbing
- If you want it or not.
- Compliance Regulations
- What your state/town ADA regulations mandate.
Luckily, if you are restriping your lot, all you have to do is follow the lines!
3. Preparing to Stripe
Unfortunately, you can’t just decide to restripe your lot one day. There are a few preparations you have to make first, including repairs, cleaning, and scheduling.
Repairs
Before striping your lot, it is highly recommended that you make any repairs needed to your lot first. It would just be silly to stripe over a pothole.
Cleaning
Next, you need to get your parking lot properly cleaned to ensure that the paint will stick. There are various pavement cleaners you can use to make sure that all dirt and debris are removed before it is time to stripe.
Scheduling
Closing down your parking lot while your space is striped and dries will inconvenience anyone who regularly uses that lot. We highly recommend arranging for alternative parking for customers, employees, residents, and visitors who would typically visit that lot during that time.
Additionally, your lot needs to be DRY and WARM to paint it! You want to schedule your striping when there is little chance of rain and when the temperature meets the paint requirement.
Do you have questions about paving or striping your parking lot? Give us a call at Signature Paving today for a quote!
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