Guide to Line Painting for Warehouses and Car Parks

Vibrant and Vital: Line Painting for Warehouses and Car Parks

Ready to add the finishing touches to your new parking area? Or are the pedestrian walkways in your warehouse starting to fade? Correct markings aren’t just a colourful visual aid for pedestrians and drivers on your premises, they maintain the safe flow of traffic and make sure everyone knows where to go in an emergency. In this article, we’ll cover what you need to know about line painting before you get started.

Why are line markings required in car parks and warehouses?

Line painting is essential in warehouses and car parks to direct the flow of traffic (both vehicle and pedestrian) and to provide visible boundaries between working zones and storage spaces or restricted areas and safe walkways. For example, you might already use markings to indicate:

• Pedestrian walkways.
• Fire exit routes.
• Traffic flow guidance (like arrows and ‘Give Way’ signs).
• Loading and unloading bays.
• Parking bays, including Parent & Child and Disabled bays.

Or wherever visibility is essential to health and safety, day or night.

What regulations apply to line marking?

Line markings for on-street parking bays must comply with the Traffic Signs Manual (Chapter 5, Road Markings 2018), and this is often used as a guide for other markings as well.

Line marking service FAQs

What equipment do you need for line painting?

Depending on the surface, our epoxy line paint can be applied with a paint sprayer, rollers or brushes. In most cases, a spray application gives the best finish. Rollers are best suited to larger sections that need dense coverage or areas that aren’t easily accessible with the spray machine - in between bollards and railings. Here at C&P, we use an electric paint sprayer for working on external surfaces and a battery-powered sprayer to minimise disruption indoors.

What colours are available?

Line paint comes in a variety of colours, there’s almost a Dulux palette for your concrete! Our most popular colours are white, yellow, traffic red, sky blue, black and grass green.

How do you prepare a surface for line marking?

Line painting needs a clean, dry surface for best adherence and quickest drying time. When you book us in for a job, we can prep your surface and remove old lines for you by shot blasting the area. If you’re handling the prep yourself, we ask that you remove all debris from the surface, including any oils, grease, or existing markings, ready for the new paint to be applied.

Once you’ve supplied your drawings detailing the areas to be painted and the lines have been clearly marked up, our team can get started.

How long does it take before you can paint on a new surface?

If your concrete or asphalt is newly laid, we recommend letting them rest for six months before painting. This helps to ensure that there’s no residual moisture left in the surface that might affect the paint’s adhesion.

What about the weather?

It may sound obvious, but the right weather conditions are essential for line painting. Temperatures must be at least 5°C both during the painting and curing processes for best results and we avoid painting when it’s raining, snowing, misty, foggy or if humidity levels are high. Again, this is to ensure that moisture levels aren’t high enough to affect the paint adhesion or cause delamination.

How do the Castle & Pryor line painting team work?

When we arrive onsite, we start by carrying out an accident test plan for our client to approve. This is to make sure we’re prepared for a safe and accurate job.

Next, we go through our pre-painting checklist:

• Line drawings are available and correct.
• Areas for painting are marked up.
• Weather conditions are suitable.
• Surfaces are clean and prepped.

Then we can start spraying!

See our line painting team in action at London Gatwick Airport.

How long does it take to dry?

Our quick-drying epoxy paint starts to cure on contact with air and is typically dry within two hours of application.

How long does it last?

We use epoxy paint which is very durable, even under extreme conditions. It’s grease and oil resistant and, in most cases, doesn’t require a primer. Exactly how long it lasts will depend on your surface and volume of traffic. But keeping your painted areas clean using water or a mild detergent solution will go a long way to increasing its shelf life. This will also keep colours vibrant for longer.

Need a new paint job?

If it’s time to refresh your old line paint job or you have a new warehouse or car park that needs the right new markings, get in touch with us for a free quote.