Straight Lines

I don't know if any of you guys use these are not, but I have found using the shoe molding you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot helps when I need to make my lines on curbs or coming off of curbs straight. They are flexible and easier to work with than a shield. I work by myself so and with these I don't need anyone to hold them for me. They also come in handy when you are spraying a curb with a sidewalk next to it helping keep paint off of the sidewalk. I keep about 20 on my trailer. They cost about $2.00 each and can be reused several times. They come in 4 foot strips and can be cleaned up fairly easy. I hardly ever use tape any more instead I outline things with this molding.

The most advantageous scenario is to paint with the machine only. Just don't paint where you aren't supposed to.

I know what "shoe molding" is but not sure how one would use it while striping. Feel free to explain...

It's flexable and can be used in place of tape on curbs.

We just use our scrap LDPE from making stencils.

That's a good idea. Where did you get it from? Whitey---->

I don't see how shoe molding would be of any use in striping either......... Must be talking about something else??? Johnny

It's Toe Kick plastic

whiteline wrote on Mar 1, 2007:Go to #6

That's a good idea. Where did you get it from? Whitey---->

I'm not allowed to say on the forum, where I get my LDPE. But, I am allowed to tell you that Robert sells it. Got myself banished once for such conduct!

Sorry DB. I was referring to the idea about the toe kick material

Like Stripes said... your goal should be to paint curbs without having to use tape or plastic or shoe molding or whatever. I only use it for areas that need masking, like a pole in a sea of yellow, or tight corner that can't be done freehand. But never on normal curb, even if it's right next to a sidewalk, and never on a handicap ramp cut down. If thats what your using it for, your wasting time. You'll be surprised what you can do without that crutch.

We just use our scrap LDPE from making stencils.

That's a good idea. Where did you get it from? Whitey---->

I don't normally use any tape. I just spray directly. But, where I see that it could come in handy is when you spray a curb and you get to the drop down area. It could help on the height change when the spray wants to go wide as the curb goes down.... Whitey---->

I don't see how shoe molding would be of any use in striping either......... Must be talking about something else??? Johnny

It's Toe Kick plastic

We use long strips of plastic that we make our stencils out of it is about 5 inches wide.We put these strips down on top of the curb along the paint to make a straight edge.we only do this where we have wheel stops and where we cant just run the machine on the sidewalk.

Stripes, I hope to one day be as efficient with a striping machine as your are, but being new in the business and trying to achieve to same standards as you I need every trick I can get. I may be calling them by the wrong name but what I am calling shoe molding is a 4 foot strip of plastic sold in the flooring department at your local hardware store. It also comes in rolls at longer lengths. Here are some of the uses I use them for. (1) outline curbs that are difficult to paint (2) to make sharp edges on squared off corners (3) mask off around poles (4) block over spray on sidewalks (5) mask off the edges of ramps when i paint them (6) they work great for masking off around wheel stops (7) outline stop bar ( I do a lot of red and yellow curbs they make a real clean line where they meet. (9) spray a parking stall when the surfaces isn't smooth Whitey they help in height changes also. Whiteline the idea just came to me out of wanting to do the best job I can do. I hope this has cleared up some confussion Michael445 Have A Blessed Day

dbarnettt wrote on Mar 1, 2007:Go to #9

from: whiteline on

Yesterday at 05:22:40 AM That's a good idea. Where did you get it from? Whitey----> I'm not allowed to say on the forum, where I get my LDPE. But, I am allowed to tell you that Robert sells it. Got myself banished once for such conduct!

I used to use tape and or plastic to mask off areas that are a challenge. and still do for areas that you just can't do by hand. There is nothing wrong with it, of course, but the goal is to be as efficient as you can and still do good job. As with using tape/shingles to start lines, using tape/plastic to mask curb becomes a habit that gets harder to break the more you become dependant on them. All we are saying is that when you can, you should try to start breaking the habit. With practice, you will not need them anymore, and your efficiency will go way up. A good example is with curb cuts. When I first started, I used to tape off, or use plastic for every curb cut because I wanted to be perfect. After getting used to the feel of the gun in my hand (and seeing others do it) I tried to not use anything. It only took a couple of tries (fixing the first few with plastic/tape/cleaning up overspray) and I suddenly got good at painting the cuts free hand. What a time saver not having to stop mask off things, just spray and go. Does it look as good as masking everything? no.. but if done well, it is more than exceptable, it looks great. If you haven't already, look here http://parkinglotplanet.com/forum/index.php/topic,2674.ms… That's one of my guys doing a curb cut at the end of the clip. Yes he got a little paint on the sidewalk. He usually doesn't, and if so we usually clean it off (I had a talk with him about cleaning it off). When there are dozens of these on a job, it can mean saving a lot of time and effort.