What Is the Best Pavement Marking Material?

Our pavements have to put up with a lot of rough treatment. We expect them to bear our weight and the weight of our vehicles without effort. Over the thousands of hours of service, we don’t often take the time to wonder at the hardiness of the markings on top.

There’s quite a lot going on underfoot that we don’t give much credit to. It’s necessary to ensure that the markings you’re using will last, especially if they’re delivering a message.

Read on to find out what pavement marking materials are best for you.

Use the Classic Paint

Deciding on material after asking how to mark pavement comes down to three options. The first option we will be looking at is one of the best pavement marking materials, thanks to how easy it is to use.

This first option is to use water-based paint, as it’s so accessible and it drys fast. Even more important than that, however, is that it’s cheap.

No matter the size of the project, water-based paint will also keep costs low. Despite that, there are a few issues to know about if you decide on this option.

The first issue is only a concern for colder weather. If you’re in an area with low temperatures for the better part of the year, you’ll want to consider a different marking material.

The low temperature will make the paint unable to dry, meaning it can run and smear. The other issue is that it’s not very durable. This means that parking lots and similar places will wear away.

A Chemical Alternative

There are also solvent-based paints as an alternative. They don’t suffer from any of the other issues we mentioned. They also offer improvement in all of the pros.

There is one new issue, and that’s the issue of how toxic they are to the environment. This problem is so bad that it has led to solvent-based paints earning an illegal status in some countries.

If you do want to use it, you might have to be very careful about the law and about verifying the company is legitimate. It’s usually only specific pavement marking services that deal with these paints.

If you want to avoid the worry about sourcing a legitimate service, try checking out CATI Striping.

Pouring Plastic for Pavement Marking

The third option is thermoplastic. It’s a plastic that is melted down to form a specific shape on the pavement. Out of all three, this is by far the most resilient and durable.

It’s also the most expensive and in more ways than requiring the materials. You need a specific set of tools to melt and apply the plastic. These added issues mean that you’d need to purchase all the equipment, making it easier and cheaper to hire a service.

X Marks The Spot

Imagine our lives without parking lot pavement markings! Without constant direction and guidance, things would be much more dangerous. I’m sure it would be a mess without using the best pavement marking materials available.

It’s thanks to hard-wearing thermoplastics, tapes, paints, and resins we’re able to get anywhere. For something everyone uses almost every day, pavement markings certainly go overlooked and underappreciated.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, why not look over the rest of the blog and see if something catches your eye?