Cleaning up the Job Site

After every job, clean up thoroughly to leave your site looking professional. This not only pleases clients but also showcases your work quality to prospective customers.

1. Ensure the site is spotless: Keep the street, grass edges, and walkways clean, as this job is a marketing showpiece for neighbors to see.
2. Barricade the lot: Hammer two 3-foot sticks at the entrance and tie an attention ribbon across to prevent anyone from walking on the wet surface.
3. Promote your business: Staple three flyers with your company name and offer free estimates to the attention ribbon for passersby to take.

Maintaining your Line Striping Equipment

Cleaning and maintaining your line striping equipment is crucial for keeping it running efficiently and reliably. Follow these steps to ensure your investment lasts long-term:

Cleaning out your pump:

• Unplug your sprayer before cleaning the exterior with solvent.
• When using latex products, clean it with hot soapy water.
• When using oil-based products, clean with mineral spirits.
• When flushing the pump use Liquid Shield.

Maintaining your paint sprayer:

• Release the pressure through the gun, NOT the pump.
• Clean out your paint sprayer after each use.
• Clean your filters (manifold filter, gun filter, and Inlet filter).
• Use Piston Lube before each use.
• Winterize your sprayer using Liquid Shield.

• Never use your paint sprayer if it is frozen.
• Repack your spray unit annually or every 1500-2000 gallons.
• Replace your tip every 100 gallons.
• Use one spray gun for latex and another one for oil-based products.

Safety Issues:

• Always use the gun trigger safety lock.
• Always depressurize your line striping unit when you are not spraying.

Changing a paint reservoir on your line striping machine:

When a job requires more than one paint color, it's CRUCIAL to change the paint reservoir properly to avoid mixing colors and wasting paint.

For oil-based paint, you need to empty the reservoir and clean your machine with a solvent-based chemical solution. Run it through your machine until you can't see any color.

If you're using a water-based paint, simply flush the system with water until all the color has been flushed out. Clean the reservoir the same way. Fill the reservoir with new color paint.

As mentioned above, if you're using both latex and oil-based products, use separate spray guns.

Have questions about supplies, equipment, or any section of this course? Join the AK Roundtable Discussion every Wednesday at 7 PM ET get answers real-time!