When is it too windy to Stripe a Parking Lot?

         Recently a question was asked about Wind. One of my customers who is in a very windy area of Colorado asked "When is it too windy to stripe a parking lot?"  This is kind of a tough question to answer, there are a lot of factors that will have to be taken in to account. First, What are you trying to achieve?  If is temporary striping for an intersection or is it in front of a brand new Walmart store?  This is where you have to take in to account the quality and finish you are after.   In my 12 years of striping experience, I have never pulled off a job for wind. Maybe  that is because I have never seen it "too windy" but I have had to improvise. If there is a harsh side wind I used to take a piece of stencil plastic and fit it to my striper as a wind shield. If there was a strong head wind, I would switch tips from a 319 to a 419 and then place the paint gun closer to the ground.  If it got really bad I would have an employee walk by my side with a sheet of plywood to stop the wind. 

As I said, I never left a job site for wind. The additional mobilization and time spent dealing with rescheduling was never worth it.  So, my answer, It's never to windy to stripe, you may just have to improvise. 

Keep 'em Straight 

- Jonathon