Pavement Marking

When it comes to which material to use for the marking of highway asphalt or concrete, one should pay attention to the different options which are available for purchase, and weigh the advantages and drawbacks of each. For the longest time, pavement paint was considered the marking device of choice, due to its relative longevity versus what were then flimsy tape alternatives, which were conveniently stripped or warped by passing traffic. Paint suffers from such significant disadvantages as having to block off the newly painted area for a time period while waiting for the paint coats to dry, and also the hassle of having to paint several coatings to form lines that will be sufficiently reflective. Eager to offer a cost-effective alternate choice, manufacturers of pavement tape have been quick to design and offer series of pavement marking tapes that outperform paint without much added cost to the consumer. The resulting products function just as well on the road for permanent lane marking tasks as they do within the delineation of short-term construction zones for asphalt overlay and repair work. To attain this amount of flexibility and utility, these particular grades of marking tape must conform to certain minimum standards.

Each such tape product is usually comprised of several layers - a reflective top layer in the standard white or yellow colors, a middle backing layer that provides reinforcement, as well as a precoated pressure-sensitive adhesive bottom layer to permanently adhere the tape to the pavement. The very best layer is pigmented with a color that catches the light quite capably, and usually enhanced with large glass beads to further boost the reflectivity of the tape. Certain variations of standard-grade highway pavement marking tape work with a metal middle layer, usually aluminium, supplying a material that's both resistant to wear and flexible enough to conform to different full service pavement marking company surfaces and directions. The bottom layer adhesive should be of sufficient strength to ensure that the tape stays put without requiring a liner for protection from blocking, pre-adhesion or contamination.

To keep the price down for a product that seeks to achieve so many things, a normal thickness of the tape material will be fairly low, but not less than 12 mils, as any lower measurement would compromise the advantages provided the component layers of the tape. Even at this level, conversely, the marking tape, when applied as the manufacturing company has instructed, is both weather resistant and durable against wear, and also will not fade, lift, shrink or else deteriorate during the term of its useful life.

Highway pavement marking tape will typically packaged in standard commercial containers that can be built to protect the product from damage while it's being shipped, and when it's stored. Since storing conditions may differ, the material should be comfortable in storage for up to one year, in temperatures of up to a balmy 100 degrees F. Whenever you open that container, you should check that the tape is of decent appearance, free from cracks and edges, and no more than 3 splices for every 50 yards of tape to insure integrity.