Maintaining the parking lot is often an overlooked aspect of grounds maintenance. However, ensuring that your parking lot is well maintained and striped improves your business’s overall impression and parking lot functionality. Freshly striped parking lots also enhance the appearance of your grounds. If you’re still on edge about parking lot striping, here are several things to keep in mind.
Factors To Consider During Parking Lot Striping
1. Time
When your parking lot is freshly done and striped, maintenance may be the last thing on your mind. Usually, striping lasts as long as two years, depending on the traffic. However, it’s a great idea to check the paint’s status after 12 months, 18 months, or 24 months.
If you notice that the stripes fade after a year, schedule annual parking lot restriping. However, if the paint lasts longer than a year, observe the stripes between 18 and 24 months and choose a reasonable period before the lines fade entirely.
2. Environmental Factors
One of the reasons you need frequent striping is because weather elements cause the stripes to fade. The sun, rain, and snow beat down on the parking lot and chip away on the paint over time. If you notice that the stripes are harder to see, it’s time to contact your grounds maintenance company.
3. Amount of Traffic
As vehicles move over the stripes, they chip away slowly. When you repeat the process for hundreds of cars, the paint wears down faster. Parking stripes fade quickly on parking lots with heavy traffic and last longer on parking lots with light traffic. How heavy is your parking lot traffic? If you have a busy parking lot, schedule regular striping at short intervals to ensure safe parking.
4. Resurfaced Parking Lot
After several years of use or due to damage, it’s essential to resurface your asphalt parking lot. Resurfacing adds a new layer of asphalt and covers the paintwork. In this case, you need fresh striping since the lines are not visible under the dark layer of asphalt. New stripe work is an opportunity to change your parking lot’s layout and improve movement in the space.
5. Avoiding Penalties
If the handicap spots in your parking lot are inadequately marked, other drivers may take up these spots. The law requires that you provide accessible parking spaces. If a person is penalized for parking in an unmarked handicap spot, the law may instead turn on you for failing to provide guidance.
6. Parking Lot Safety
Stripes act as guides for drivers and ensure that each vehicle occupies adequate space without interfering with other cars or preventing others from enjoying their parking spots. Without stripes, some drivers may waste space, causing havoc in your parking lot.
What’s more, stripes indicate parking spots reserved for senior company staff, loading areas, handicap, and bikes. Arrows on the ground also indicate the lane directions and restrict pedestrians’ walkways to reduce parking lot accidents.
A Partner You Can Trust
For all our commercial line striping services, we use only the highest quality materials and skilled, helpful professionals to ensure your parking lot striping is performed efficiently to ensure safe and organized traffic. Contact us today for more information on parking lot maintenance and striping.
