Asphalt sealcoating and striping offers not only practical protection for parking lots, but it also makes them look great. Fresh coats of sealer and paint will leave your pavement markings all clearly visible and up to code. We can seal any cracks and patch potholes in the pavement that will worsen as the elements continue to erode these areas. Sealcoating and striping should be included as part of your property maintenance, but how do we go about the process and what are some basic facts you would want to know about the services?
We will start with when and where sealcoating is applicable. You DO NOT want to sealcoat new asphalt. There are gases and vapors trapped in the asphalt that must be released before sealcoating. We recommend waiting until about the 2-year mark before the first sealcoat or the sealer will trap in these gases, and you can run into unwanted issues. After the first sealcoat, it depends on the volume of traffic your property receives as to how often it should be done. High traffic locations could be done as often as every 2 years and some locations with lesser traffic may get 5 years in between. This is largely dependent on your conditions and amount of traffic. Another situation we run into is concrete. Generally speaking, concrete is not meant to be sealcoated and the sealer will not adhere properly to the surface. This will also cause it to wear quicker but it can be done, and we have re-sealcoated concrete in situations where the surface had already been sealcoated previously. Once that happens, you will have to keep re-sealing or look at much more costly options.
Now the process. We use a combination of powerful blowers, brooms, weed eaters, and torches to prepare the lot to receive sealer. All loose debris is blown off with the blowers first. As we are blowing off, we use stiff bristle brooms to loosen up any debris not being taken care of by the blowers alone. Next, we use weed eaters and torches to remove any weeds in cracks and clean up the edges. If there are oil spots from vehicle leaks those are burned off as well. Like most things, delivering a quality finished product starts with proper prep of the surface.
The next step is the “cut-in”. After the lot is clean, we start by laying down a bead of sealer along edges of buildings, curbs, bumpers, or any area we cannot safely spray the sealer without issues from overspray. We then take brooms and spread the sealer in these areas a few feet off whatever we want to avoid.
Once we get ready to spray, we use the wand to cover the remaining areas with sealer. This part of the process is mainly making sure we get a nice even layer on everything and that we overlap just slightly into our cut-in, and everything ties in nicely. We do the first coat, let that dry and then apply a second coat for additional durability and a consistent appearance.
That concludes the sealcoating portion and now we re-paint! The sealer needs to dry completely before we begin, or the paint can blend with the sealer and turn color. First, we get our line striping machine dialed in at the correct pressures and width (4” is standard for parking stalls). Then we use mats at the bottom of each line, so we have clean straight lines at our starting points. We can do this on a re-stripe where the lines are still visible, but for a new layout or very faded lines, we will have to measure and layout the dimensions with chalk lines. New layout takes considerably more time and effort. A standard “re-stripe” includes putting back the existing pavement markings that can be seen without having to layout and pop lines, but we can always add or adjust per request. Standard stalls are painted with the line striping machine and stencils like arrows, handicaps, stop bars, etc. are sprayed by hand. We use a combination of tape, roofing paper, shields, and shingle pads to protect from overspray and produce the cleanest, straightest lines possible.
Striping is the finishing touch on your parking lot and it is the first thing customers notice when arriving to your place of business. When that crisp, white paint hits the fresh black sealer, it is truly a thing of beauty! We are probably crazy, but we just love transforming your parking lots and we know you will love the results too!
Do you have a parking lot that needs our help? Don’t hesitate to call (386) 847-3626 or fill out the free contact form on our website today! www.Dykesservices.com
Comments