Paint Won’t Stick?

This week, a curious customer from Houston, Texas contacted us with questions about striping in a parking garage.  She is currently experiencing a problem that many property managers encounter with parking garages and warehouses that have smooth concrete surfaces.  Her pedestrian path of travel, near the main entrance, is wearing and disappearing at an accelerated rate.  With some a quick Q & A, we were able to trouble shoot her striping dilemma and provide her with a solution.

We recommend that the striper she hires uses a white two part epoxy paint or a polyurethane product.  Yellow or white will function.  However, in addition to using a durable paint product,  we suggested preparing the surface via etching to create a surface which the paint will properly bond.

The best procedure to use for etching the surface would entail Shotblasting.  A good striper will know this procedure and will be able to include this service in his contract. In most cases, striping on a smooth concrete surface will not be guaranteed without shot blasting.  Sans shotblasting, the surface is too smooth and the paint will simply scrape off the surface.

We also advised that epoxy paints need time to set-up.  If your parking garage, or warehouse, is closed on the weekends, it would be best to shotblast on an early Saturday morning and stripe the same day.  This will allow the paint to set-up till Monday morning.  However, if your garage, or warehouse, is always open then the striping may have to be completed in multiple phases.  This of course would increase the cost due to additional trips.

Another factor we suggested was to keep in mind is that she may want to apply a compatible and transparent sealer to the striping after it has been set up.  This will help protect the paint.  This does, however, add more logistical issues.  In many cases, the sealer cannot be applied until twenty four hours after the epoxy paint has been striped.

Lastly, once her project is completed, we recommend that an in-house maintenance staff, or a janitorial service, occasionally cleans the striping with some hot water and soap.  This will keep any sort of grease, dirt, or markings to cling to the striping and keep it looking fresh.

With this sound advice, she felt confident to contact a local striper with prepared questions and a bit of education for parking garage striping.

If you have any similar questions please call Trueline Striping, Inc. at (800) 603-1116

Truncated Domes are one of the many services that general contractors and asphalt professionals are having to deal with. Often times, they are looking for companies that can get them done to avoid the headaches of installing it themselves. Truncated Domes also known as Detectable Warning Mats are a rubber tile or mat that is placed in specific areas of a parking lot to warn visually impaired people before they enter into a flow of traffic. If you need Truncated domes installed, give us a call at 800-603-1116.

Warehouse Line Marking in Southern California is sometimes a tough service to get done, even tougher to get done correctly! For over 18 years, Trueline Striping has been performing warehouse line striping on facilities all across California. Our customers are people who don’t have time for mistakes or delays. We at Trueline, try to take time to listen to our customers to find out whats most important to them. This way we know what type of paint to use and what type of service to offer.

Here is a brief list of some of the accounts we service warehouse line marking for Also we included links to their web sites. If you need referrals they can be provided. Just give us a call and ask.

Customer List:

• Federal Express ( Locations throughout California )
• ICI Paints ( San Bernardino Ca. )
• Kimberly Clark ( San Bernardino Ca. )
• Natures Best ( Los Angeles ca, )
• General Motors (Riverside County Ca.)
• SAIC ( San Diego Ca )
• Honda ( Riverside County Ca. )
• Costco ( Locations throughout California )
• Staples ( San Bernardino Ca. )

800-603-1116 in California  or 714-630-9060