Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive

by Ron Joseph

March, 2007

Long Lasting Pavement Marking Paints

Q: We have an RV Park that has the numbers painted on the concrete pads where they park. The park is 3 1/2 years old and the numbers need to be redone. The first time, the concrete was new and they painted white blocks and came back with stencils and painted black numbers. I do not know what they used the first time. What is our best approach to get the longest life out of the numbers. I really appreciate you taking time for this. Have a blessed day.

A: The most long lasting products are traffic marking paints that can be purchased from specialized industrial paint stores. These are the same coatings that state transportation authorities and municipalities use to mark the white and yellow lines on our roads. If you wish to benefit from the reflectance that some of the these coatings offer you can sprinkle small glass beads onto the paint while it is still wet. I assume that the industrial paint stores that carry these paints also sell the beads. If the beads are too small they will sink into the wet paint and you won't get the benefit of reflectance. Yet, if they are too large thay will quickly fall out of the paint as soon as someone drives over the numbers. Hopefully, the paint store carries the appropriate diameter beads as specified by the municipalities.

If you can't locate an industrial paint store in your area you may want to purchase the traffic marking paint by searching the Internet. (I did a search on Google and found a long list of vendors.)

Regards,

Ron Joseph