One of the most important things to keep your parking lot safe and at the same time make it more appealing, is to make sure proper pavement markings are applied. Thus, pedestrians and vehicles have a clear vision on where to drive and what areas should be avoided, as well as when to stop, and avoid driving in the opposite directions.
The same way, these pavement markings indicate drivers where to park and what spaces to respect. That is why it is so important to be in compliance with the ADA Standards that have to be part of the design requirements, as well as guaranteeing parking spaces for americans with disabilities.
Likewise, the paint of these markings eventually deteriorates over time due to rough climate conditions and wearing because of the frequent vehicle transit; that is why the striping must be repainted once it starts to fade away. Also, other causes for requesting a grinding service could be an error when the contractor is applying the paint, a paint spill, using the wrong type of paint, using different templates.
It is important to mention that there is no better way to remove the line stripping on your lot; the perfect service depends on several specifications of the parcel. Also, it is recommended to get advised by the contractor to apply the best service and save money and time on the budget of the project.
METHODS:
Currently several alternatives exist to remove pavement markings and line striping. These services are priced differently and offer different types of results. This depends on the road surface, the width of the lane marked, the quality of the traffic paints, and how big the parking lot line striping is.
Therefore, the lot has to be inspected before deciding on any of these options. Among the most efficient processes are:
- Disc Grinding:
This procedure is strongly suggested to remove professional line striping. Using a grinding wheel made of a diamond tip the machine sands the surface on the area and leaves it smooth. It is also used to grind the pavement markings in order to remove the paint layer. Later, the working portion becomes a smooth paintless area.
It is important to carry out this process with specialized machinery and properly trained personnel. This is due to the fact that the devices used in these services have to be handled carefully; considering that the machinery scratches the pavement surface, if it is not handled correctly the surface can be damaged or an employee can get injured.
Also, this process often generates a lot of waste materials such as debris, sand and some other chemical residues such as glass beads that have to be removed when the grinding job finishes. On one hand, it is necessary to hire a cleaning company that can do this job or, on the other hand, the company must train the team that will execute these grinding jobs to clean everything after striping removal.
- Scarifying:
This service is similar to the disc grinding technique, but the difference is that the machinery uses a drum, composed of several blades made of steel or carbide. Thanks to this, that rotative element has a long useful life because the only device that has to be changed is the blade head, which doesn´t have a high cost versus the project budget.
Unlike the disc grinding process, scarifying does not leave the same appearance on the work area. It removes the professional line striping effectively on the concrete surface but the results are uneven and worn, leaving “ghost lines” as a result and creating the need for pavement maintenance.
Thus, in many States, the DOT recommends not using this specific service.
- Sand Blasting:
This is one of the cheapest and most effective processes on the market in order to remove road markings, such us solid yellow lines and separate lanes. It consists of using a pressurized air machine that shoots the several abrasive substances combined with sand through a nozzle, which gives a direction and regulates the pressure to remove the existing material in a more effective way.
Likewise, the process leaves a special roughness on the surfaces that allows the pavement striping to adhere much easier leaving the line painting appearance to look better.
Finally, this paint removal process generates waste such as debris and dust on the specific area. That way, it is necessary to contact a cleaning service company and/or train the work group themselves to clean the area once the removal work is done.
- Water Blasting:
In this type of process, it is important to keep in mind that it is not the same as the jet washing process; this is because the machinery is different and the purpose of both are different. Likewise, this type of pavement marking removal processes are not environmentally friendly since they use large amounts of water to remove the paint.
During this process, the machine fires a jet of water with a high pressure of about 40,000 PSi. Due to this, this jet impacts hard enough to get out the paint overlay but weak enough to keep the pavement in with the same quality.
- Black Out:
Unfortunately, many customers prefer to apply a black paint coat on the pavement to remove the striping. This service is not the most recommended to remove the paint, even though it is effective and cheap compared to other methods. The downside of the black out service is the uneven color that the blackout leaves compared to the natural color of the asphalt or the concrete pavements.
CONSIDERATIONS:
When you are planning a striping removal job, it is recommended to consider the following aspects in order to pick the right service:
- Cost: You must establish a budget for this service and optimize it as much as you can. Look out for a contractor and ask for the most convenient service for paint stripe removal.
- Time: As you search for the optimization of the money, time is an item that you need to organize properly in order to find the service that fits you the best in the little time as possible.
- Paint Type: Also, it is important to know the material you will work on. This will save you time and money by choosing the service that could be perfect for the removal job.
- Surface Damage: The damage on the surface must be minimum on every work, that is why you need to search the service that damages the structure of the pavement in less proportion.
- Environmental Impact: After discussing all preview items, the last but not least thing to keep in mind is the environmental impact in order to choose the service that helps the nearby communities and the environment itself.