As winter’s icy grip unfurls, it presents unique challenges for professionals engaged in painting pavement. The plummeting temperatures create a tricky landscape for asphalt and line striping companies. Workers must brace themselves against the bone-chilling wind when winter line striping. The problems include the paint not adhering to the frosty asphalt, smudged lines, unclear markings, and equipment malfunctions. It can result in a waste of resources and effort.
In this blog post, we will journey into the heart of these winter challenges, providing essential tips and tools to ensure successful painting in cold weather.
The Impact of Cold Weather On Line Striping
Cold weather significantly impacts line striping paint, preventing it from adhering well. Economical, water-based line paint cannot be used in colder temperatures, as they fail to cure correctly, leading to blurred and wasteful markings.
Frost on the roads and high humidity affect the quality and longevity of the markings. Additionally, fluctuating weather conditions and tire erosion can cause road markings to fade.
Correct preparations and temperatures will improve the longevity of the line striping.
Why Proper Winter Prep is Crucial
There are three reasons why you must perform proper surface preparation before painting:
- Safety Risks from Blurred Markings – Improper surface prep can lead to unclear road markings, posing safety threats. Blurred or missing lines can confuse drivers, causing accidents.
- Meeting ADA Standards: Clear, unbroken paint is crucial for complying with regulations like the ADA. Non-compliance due to inadequate preparation can lead to legal issues and costly remediation.
- Avoiding Spring Rework: Proper preparation is vital to prevent repainting in warmer weather. If the surface has too much debris, snow, or frost, the paint won’t stick. Repainting in a few months is an unnecessary waste of resources, labor, and money.
Proper surface preparation is the cornerstone of successful line striping, ensuring safety, regulatory compliance, and cost-effectiveness.
Once you’ve prepped the area, you’ll need to use the correct tools for the best outcome.
Essential Tools for Winter Line Striping Success
Keeping paint and application equipment warm will help improve winter line striping quality. Some of these options are the same tools used when heating asphalt materials for cold weather applications.
Bucket heaters, drum heaters, tote heaters, and thawing/curing blankets maintain the temperature of your paints and other line striping materials during winter line striping. Custom-heated blankets ensure paint and sprayers remain at an optimal temperature for application.
Tenting and enclosures control conditions by sheltering the work area from precipitation, wind, and extreme cold. Hot boxes also maintain temperature consistency when storing line striping materials. For more details, download the hot box spec sheet.
Night striping is a technique that takes advantage of the residual daytime warmth. After the sun sets, the residual heat in the pavement can help cure the paint faster.
With the correct tools, products, and techniques, line striping during winter can work effectively.
Key Factors in Cold Weather Striping
Despite the necessity of winter road maintenance, no matter what paint you use, there is a low-temperature limit when painting lines.
Air and Surface Temperatures
Two temperatures matter to line striping: air and surface temperature. The ideal air temperature is between 53°F and 95°F (12°C and 35°C). Regarding the pavement temperature, paints adhere better when the road surface is 50°F (10°C). Ground temperature is more important than the air temperature.
For relatively small areas like crosswalks or handicapped parking zones, ground-thawing blankets can pre-heat the surface to an optimal temperature for painting in cold weather. In some cases, night striping can take advantage of residual daytime heat absorption.
Using the Right Paints
Specialized striping paint for parking lots and asphalt surfaces can offer significant benefits. These paints withstand high traffic and adverse weather conditions. The types of striping paint include water-based, solvent or oil-based, epoxy, thermoplastic, and a product called TBL Durables©.
Water-based paints are not the best choice for winter striping because they can take up to two hours to dry. The other options can dry in 2 to 4 minutes, significantly enhancing the success of your winter line striping projects.
Answers to Questions About Line Painting
There are two questions about asphalt line paint and painting that people ask often.
1. What temperature can you paint line striping?
Depending on the product, the minimum temperature for painting line striping is between 40°F and 50°F (4.4°C to 10°C).
2. Can you paint parking lines in winter?
Yes, if you use a suitable type of paint that can cure in colder temperatures. For best results, pre-heat the surface using a ground thawing blanket if possible. Also, pre-heating paint using heaters for line striping paint buckets helps the paint to adhere better.
The Role of Powerblanket’s Ground Thawing Blankets
When the temperatures to paint outside are too cold, preheat the parking lot surface. Powerblanket ground thawing blankets deliver up to 150°F (65.5°C) as deep as 18 inches (45 cm). The ground will be dry, the line striping paint will adhere better, and it will cure faster. Discover more about Powerblanket’s Ground Thawing Blanket for your operation in winter.
Equip Yourself for Winter Line Striping Success!
The disadvantage of the winter line striping parking lots and roads is the paint won’t adhere properly or last as it should. Keeping the surface, paint, and spraying equipment warm with heating blankets will allow for a successful striping job during cold weather.
Discover the essential tools that can pave the way for successful projects and winter challenges faced by asphalt and line striping companies. Explore Ground Thawing Blankets.
Discover the essential tools that can pave the way for successful projects and winter challenges faced by asphalt and line striping companies.
