Crack Cleaning What You Need To Know | FAQ

Crack repair preparation procedures are the techniques used to clean and/or dry crack channels to attain the best conditions possible for the material to be placed.  It is the most important aspect of sealing and filling operations because a high percentage of treatment failures are adhesion failures that result from dirty and/or moist crack channels.

The four primary procedures used in preparing crack channels are as follows:

• Airblasting
• Hot airblasting
• Sandblasting
• Wirebrushing

Airblasting may be done either with a portable backpack or power driven blowers or high pressure air compressors with hoses and wands.

Hot airblasting is performed with a hot compressed air lance, or heat lance, connected to a compressed air unit. This form of Crack repair preparation is quite effective at removing dirt, debris, and laitance.

Sandblasting is a labor intensive operation that is quite effective at removing debris, laitance, and loosened AC fragments from the sidewalls of most cracks. This equipment consists of a compressed air unit, a sandblast machine, hoses, and a wand with a venturi type nozzle. A second air compressor is often necessary for follow-up cleaning after the sandblasting operation.

Wire brushing is quite effective at removing debris lodged in the crack reservoir, but not as effective at removing laitance and loosened AC fragments from the crack sidewalls.

Information About Trueline Striping

Trueline Striping is a parking lot and warehouse line marking specialist. For 20 years trueline has performed striping and marking services for just about every business in Orange County and most of the Southland area including Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura,  San Bernardino and San Diego.  Give Trueline Striping a call or email about your next project. We have the experience and knowledge to handle ANY parking lot striping or warehouse striping project you have.  Don’t forget that trueline also offers asphalt repair services now including Crack repair.

800-603-1116

Sales@trueline.net

Outstanding Stenciling Services

Its really discouraging to do what seems to be a neat job of stenciling only to discover otherwise. If you view stenciling from nothing more than an overhead view of the stencil, both you and your customer are probably going to be disappointed. Why? Because the only person who looks at a stencil from a perspective directly over the stencil is the striping contractor.  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 more than one vantage point, or reference point will produce a more pleasing “balance” to the stenciling work- especially if there are multiple stencils that will be made close to each other.

Many inexperienced stripers tend to view stenciling as painting a one time stencil within each individual parking stall. That type of thinking almost always produces an unsatisfactory job. Instead, top notch stripers view such stenciling as a continuous, repetitive act in which each stencil is 1) painted in alignment with the others; and 2) is centered within each stall. Giving the stencils a clean and orderly appearance.

“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.

Trueline Striping is Southern California’s leading provider of parking lot striping, warehouse striping and many other services including stenciling services. Call Trueline Striping today for all of your parking lot maintenance needs. We can help get you information, pricing and advice for your next parking lot striping project. 714-630-9060

About Parking Lot Striping Paint

All traffic paint contains a lot of pigment. Pigment is the colored solid material left on the pavement after the liquids have evaporated and/or been absorbed into the pavement. Contractors are usually surprised to learn that there is a frequently wide range in the percentage of pigment used by different manufacturers.

It’s also important to be aware that some manufacturers use different solvents in their paint. Therefore, some brands may not be chemically compatible with other brands of paint. Incompatible paints may not “mix” together if combine in the same pail. For example, Brand X alkyd striping paint may not combine with Brand Y or Brand Z alkyd striping paint. Wise contractors always ask their dealer for this type of information.

By comparing the net weights of similar types of paint made by various manufacturers, you’ll instantly see which paint offers the most “solids.” That will be the paint that weighs the most. Of course, the heavily pigmented paints are unlikely to be the cheapest.

We believe there is a wide range of criteria in selecting paint, other than price. Some important points to consider are list below:

1. Workability; consistently and how well it flows with your equipment.
2. Long life/good “wear” and color retention characteristics
3. Professional expertise from your dealer; you need good advice from someone in your locality when you enter the striping business.
4. Credit terms/delivery service; be sure to find a high quality paint supplier who can help you in many ways.

Parking Lot Striping Experts

Trueline Parking Lot Striping has been performing parking lot striping for over 20 years.  Trueline Striping Inc considers each and every one of our customers, both returning and new, as part of our future success in the parking lot striping industry. Our aim is simple in that we strive to  build long lasting relationships with our property management customers,  and to maintain those relationships with fair pricing, quality work and good communication and service.  If you have a parking lot striping project coming up and would like a professional, detailed and quality proposal then give us a call today.

Warehouse Striping Can Save You Money

Warehouse Striping Can Save you money

When was the last time you looked around your warehouse and thought I could get more use from my space.  Chances are it wasn’t to long ago and your still thinking about it.  Trueline Striping has been striping warehouses for over 20 years and knows how to get more from that space for you.  With warehouse striping you can really increase not only the space in your facility ,but you can improve the safety and appearance of your warehouse areas.

The Process of Warehouse Striping

When Trueline Striping is hired to install striping in  a warehouse its typically pallet staging, numbering and stenciling.  These types of concrete painted lines are designed to help your employees organize your inventory to get the maximum use from your facility.   Sometimes when our customers have forklifts they ask us to install acid resistant floor coatings under there battery charging stations to prevent acid from destroying their concrete.  Another common request we get is to install OSHA related safety lines.  Lines like these are designed to create safe walking zones throughout the warehouse for visiting guest or employees from other areas of operations that may not realize that they are in a dangerous work area.  The lines create borders and zones that can be color coded or stenciled with a message or warning.  Another typical Warehouse Striping application would be rat run striping lines.  These lines are installed on the border edges or walls of the facility and are required by law whenever food is stored of any kind in a facility.

Warehouse Floor Striping Products & Options

When warehouse floor striping is going to be considered it’s important to also consider what type of paint you are going to want to use.  At Trueline we have the experience to access your situation and make appropriate recommendations.   With warehouse line painting you literally have dozens of choices to choose from.  Take a look below at the following paint choices and where the best place to use them is.

• Water base Paint:  Best used for exterior line painting applications such as truck stall parking, parking stall striping, and stencils and markers ie. stop, arrow and handicap parking.
• Oil Base Paints: Oil base paints are one of the best paints to use to gain a little more durability over a typical water based paint. oil base paints are also know for there drying characteristics. A great place we recommend oil base paints would be in  shopping centers and parking situations that need there parking lots open fast.  Here at Trueline we like to use oil base paints to repaint curbs and fire lines in shopping centers and home owner associations.  They are stronger than there water based cousin and last longer as well.  Add in the fast drying time and you can see why they are so popular with wise parking lot striping companies.
• Urethane Enamel: Urethane paints are designed to stand up to harsh weather conditions such as long term exposure to sun, rain and other exposure issues.  This paint product is highly recommended for metal bollards, guard rails, loading docks, hand railings and sign post.
• Epoxy Coatings: This type of coating is a very durable coating. This coating is best used in heavy commercial and industrial applications.  It’s a 2 part paint system that is designed to be used indoors and hold up under the harshest conditions.  This paint product is ideal for warehouse floor striping and also floor coating like battery acid resistant applications.

If you have and questions or comments please feel free to contact us direct or post something below.  We would love to hear your thoughts or ideas regarding these  specialty applications.  Trueline Striping Incorporated specializes in the applications of paint listed above and would love to provide you with any information that you may need regarding those applications.

714-630-9060

www.trueline.net

Parking Lot Striping Problem Suggestions

This one came all the way from Georgia.  We received a e-mail from a frustrated project manager who was dealing with the issue of parking lot striping laid out incorrectly.  He was looking for a fair solution for dealing with the parking lot striping contractor who had made the error.

His letter went something like this:

“Dear James     -

I would appreciate your advice on how to remove some new striping that was put in the wrong place and subsequently, ‘blacked out’.

This obviously doesn’t sit well with the new owners and the outfit that did the work is un helpful as to possible solutions.

Any ideas or suggestions (pressure washing, sand blasting, shot blasting) that could help me (new project manager) would be greatly appreciated.

Please see attached pics and thanks again for your time.

Sincerely,

C. C.

B.  Co.

My response was that I have seen this many times through the years and had even made the mistake myself once or twice. The solution is a simple but sometimes costly one.  The parking lot striping contractor that made the layout error needs to sandblast off the old striping and re-seal the areas effected by the wrong design then, re stripe per correct layout. Now that is a costly repair for a small parking lot striping company to have to make but I personally feel that the property owner should get what he/she paid for. Also the striper should always remember to measure twice and cut once. In our shop we call this experience tuition.

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

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.  Just keep in mind 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 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

In the very early a.m., you probably won’t have the assistance of:

1. Sunlight
2. Heat in the pavement
3. Warm temperature

these are some of the things that give your paint the ability to dry quickly and avoid costly accidents.

The time span between application and the point at which it will not cause “tracking” may be as short as 15 minutes to several days.  Depending on the weather and the product used you may get very different results.  The biggest enemies of paint not drying are humidity, shade and cool air temperature.  So be mindful of them! One thing that we practice at Trueline Striping is to use rapid dry paint  products. We use these in times when we feel there is a drying risk.  Also make sure to carefully block off areas that do remain wet so nobody can wonder in to those areas.  One slip can mean BIG problems for you.

Good Luck and happy Line Painting!

Full-time striping contractors with years of experience tend to use airless machines. They also tend to agree on three primary reasons:

1. The machines themselves are very sturdy and durable. They never seem to wear out as a complete unit. Instead, various components are replaced as needed, such as tired, engines, cables, and guns.

2. They have learned all of the idiosyncrasies of the machine and know how to repair or adjust it to obtain peak performance.

3. They have substantially modified the machine. Sometimes, these modifications seem to be a radical alteration of the standard, factory made model.

Our company is personally fond of the Titan speeflow series. We find them to be durable, easy to repair and very strong pumps. They can handle epoxies and urethane’s better than other parking lot stripers. We currently have about 20 titans in our fleet. We also have some machines we have manufactured ourselves. We find that there is still a demand for good strong but small machines in the parking lot stripers arsenal.

All in all stick with a quality made product such as Titan and you cant go wrong. There piston pumps are work horses and there frame design is superior.

What do you guys think?

From time to time, a customer will want you to remove some old parking lot striping lines. Usually, their request involves changing the width of the parking stalls, especially when implementing ADA requirements or changing from straight-in stalls to angled stalls.

The quickest and easiest way to conceal old stripes is to use “blackout” (asphalt) paint or “block-out” (concrete) paint. Of course, that only delays the eventual reappearance of the offensive stripes. 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 stripes has advantages and disadvantages. Call Trueline Striping today when you need to get answers in regards to which method is best for you and your parking lot striping needs.

The Stages of Asphalt Deterioration

If you have or manage or own a asphalt parking lot in Southern California then you probably already know how expensive asphalt is to lay down.  At upwards of 1.00 to 4.00 dollars per square foot, asphalt is one of the single most costly items to install or repair on your property. With this in mind it is important for a property professional to keep maintenance up on their parking lots on an annual basis.  By seal coating and doing minimal property asphalt repairs to the asphalt once a year you greatly reduce the chances of having to do a major asphalt repair .  Take a look at your asphalt to see the what stage of damage has occurred.

Stage #1  Total Asphalt Failure

If your asphalt has become brittle and large cracks are starting to appear then you may need asphalt replacement. Once this type of damage occurs water can then permeate through the cracks, and that’s when the bad stuff really occurs. Once water is allowed to get below the surface of the asphalt massive damage can take place.

Stage #2  Advanced Asphalt Deterioration

If your asphalt parking lot has fine cracks and a worn surface, than this is where you must act to stop the true damage from occurring.  At this point in the asphalts life span you can avoid a lot of potential cost by doing some asphalt crack filling and seal-coating the parking lot with a couple of coats of slurry seal.

Stage #3  Minimal Asphalt Damage

If your asphalt driveways are smooth and have a slightly faded seal coat, this is the ideal time to get the asphalt re-sealed and re-striped. This is by far the least expensive way to keep the big damage from occurring.

There are many stages in the total life span of asphalt. So take some time to look at your parking lot asphalt  and make an evaluation. Then give us a call and we will come out to discuss your options. Trueline understands that budgets cuts and services are making things tough all over so lets up come up with a smart approach to keeping your asphalt in top shape.

Asphalt Line Striping

Are you looking for a great company that can handle all of your asphalt line striping needs?  Look no further than Trueline Striping.  We are a Southern California contractor with 18 years of experience in the parking lot & asphalt line striping industry. We place a heavy emphasis on three main things when it comes to your project. Safety, Quality & Value.  We are a small but strong company that can handle the largest to the smallest jobs throughout the state of California. Are services include most parking lot related services but also a few others. Take a look below and give us a call if there is anything we can help you out with. Are estimates are always free and we look forward to the chance to work with you.

Services offered in Southern California

• Asphalt Line Striping / Parking Lot Striping
  
• ADA Upgrades and Handicap Repairs
• Curb Painting / Stenciling
  
• Parking Lot Re- Stripes
• Sand Blasting & Shot Blasting
• Traffic Sign and Parking Lot Signs
• Truncated Domes
• Sealcoating and Minor Asphalt Repairs
• Wheel Stops and Speed bumps  installed
• Warehouse Line Striping / Warehouse Floor Markings

There are many other services we offer not listed here so give us a call if you have any questions about your project. But Asphalt line striping is the number one service we specialize in.