New council can bring structure and improved safety with striping standard and certification

Prior to June 2026, striping contractors, paint and thermoplastic manufacturers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of striping-related equipment had not had a unified professional body to prepare guidance in their niche of the industry. The Parking Lot Striping Industry Council™ (PLSIC™), headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, launched June 2, opening membership to the trade. Its stated purpose is to develop and publish technical standards for parking lot striping, administer a professional certification program, and maintain a public directory connecting certified contractors with the property owners and facility managers who need them.

“A trade body that brings materials, equipment and the people doing the work into the same conversation is overdue.”—Kurt Gruenberg

An Industry Professional’s Vision

Jonathon Thompson is the executive director of PLSIC and the entrepreneur who recognized, during nearly two decades of work in the striping profession, that a lack of consistent practices posed quality and safety risks. His striping career started in the Detroit metro area in 2002 with a move to Colorado—where there was more opportunity for skiing—in 2007.

“That move alone opened my eyes to how differently two cities could approach the same job,” Thompson said.

Tailgate talks and pre-job meetings ensure the crew understands what each job requires before it starts. The PLSIC will offer training and certification for crew members to better understand and execute their craft for the job.

The differences in how contractors viewed and handled this facet of pavement maintenance became even more apparent when Thompson began manufacturing stencils for his own use and then for local contractors around Denver.

“When I took stencils national as 1-800-Stencil, the variation only got bigger,” Thompson said. “Every region had its own answer, and every contractor was sure theirs was the right one.”

For example, what measured as a 30-inch accessibility stencil in one region would be accepted elsewhere at 42 inches. Letters could be 12 inches tall in one state, 10 inches in the next.

The professional certification program credential will give contractors a recognized qualification to carry. This credential proves a contractor knows the standards his or her work must meet. Three tiers cover foundational competence, ADA and specialty work, and master-level project management.

“It wasn’t just sizing, either,” Thompson continued. “I’ve seen fire lanes laid out that no fire truck could actually navigate. Accessible spaces placed to match a drawing on paper, not the real slope of the lot. I’ve seen hand-cut stencils where the letter spacing was so far off it changed how the sign read at a glance. None of these are style choices. They’re the result of nobody ever writing down what ‘right’ looks like.”

The CPLS-certified contractor credential is verifiable in the PLSIC directory and belongs to the individual, not the company he or she works for. It moves with them across employers.

Not having a consistent guide—a standard, if you will—could leave the striping contractor with a unique level of liability.

“I know exactly where the lack of consistency shows up, because for 15-plus years I was the guy who paid for it,” Thompson said. “Striping is the last trade on a job before it opens. Everyone else is already off the site, and the schedule has already slipped by the time the call comes to me. That’s the kind of pressure that makes ‘good enough’ start to look acceptable. It isn’t. A line that’s off, or a fire lane that doesn’t fit the truck it’s named for, isn’t cosmetic. It shows up later: a truck that can’t get through, someone hurt on a wet parking lot, an owner in litigation over a fall in a state where that’s a routine cost of doing business.

“What I eventually realized is that no one had ever written the standard down. So, the standard became whatever the contractor wanted, whatever looked right to them or whatever they could get away with under a deadline. That’s a fine way to make decisions in some areas of life, but it’s not how I think about pavement marking.”

Tailgate talks and pre-job meetings ensure the crew understands what each job requires before it starts. The PLSIC will offer training and certification for crew members to better understand and execute their craft for the job.

Building a Standard

The passion project Thompson is building to address and correct the gap is a veteran committee that will not only develop standards for striping professionals but will also assist those contractors with continuing education and certification, and connection to clients who require exacting and professional services. PLSIC is built as a member organization serving every side of the industry from the contractors, material suppliers, OEMs, property managers and municipalities.

“A trade body that brings materials, equipment and the people doing the work into the same conversation is overdue,” said Kurt Gruenberg, the vice president of sales for RAE Products & Chemicals Corp., Chicago, which celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2026. “When good paint goes down badly, the cost lands on the supply side as much as on the contractor. PLSIC gives the trade a shared place to define what good work requires, and we’re glad to support it.”

What it Takes to Win the Super Bowl of Line Striping

The council will operate as a standards-and-certification body, not a commercial vendor. Its positions are intended to reflect member consensus through open process, not the agenda of any single firm. The technical standards PLSIC develops will address issues that are vital to pavement maintenance quality:

• surface preparation
• material selection
• application methods
• ADA compliance and
• quality verification.

Its professional certification program, the Certified Parking Lot Striper™ (CPLS™) credential, will give contractors a recognized qualification to carry. This credential proves a contractor knows the standards his or her work has to meet. Three tiers cover foundational competence, ADA and specialty work, and master-level project management.

The striping contractor is the last professional on the job.

To become a CPLS-certified contractor, the professional will pass a standardized exam, meet continuing education requirements for renewal and agree to PLSIC’s professional standards. The credential is verifiable in the PLSIC directory and belongs to the individual, not the company he or she works for. It moves with them across employers. Each tier builds on the previous, advancing from Uniform Pavement Marking Standard (UPMS) master specification literacy and surface preparation through ADA layout and specialty markings to multi-site program management.

The PLSIC public directory will let property owners and facility managers find certified contractors and suppliers directly.

The council will be governed by a board of directors, with an independent standards committee of nine members drawn from across the industry and from the broader business community responsible for technical standards. There will be additional committees formed to address specific issues, member events where direction gets discussed openly, and an open commenting process for every specification the council develops.

FHWA’s Minimum Retroreflectivity Standards Now In Place

As of press time, the first three confirmed board members, along with Thompson and his employees, had drafted the first standard with documentation, the Uniform Pavement Marking Standard (UPMS). This first comprehensive quality standard for commercial parking lot striping covers surface preparation, material specifications, ADA compliance, workmanship tolerances, inspection protocols and seasonal application guidelines. Readers can follow the PLSIC trajectory, see when public comments open for standards, and see when CPLS exam windows open at the website’s Roadmap page: parkinglotstriping.org/roadmap.

With open enrollment in the organization ongoing and council members being confirmed as this issue goes to press, the PLSIC is in its founding stages. Thompson has an ambitious yet organized vision to bring structure, quality and safety to this niche corner of the paving industry.

“Pavement marking is a safety and organizational task,” Thompson said. “It isn’t art, and it isn’t a matter of taste. A line is either straight, or it isn’t. A fire lane either works, or it doesn’t. It’s either right, or it’s wrong.”

Automating pavement restriping in Kansas shows safety promise

The report titled “Effectiveness of Automated Pavement Restriping Systems, Phase I: Cost Comparison Between Manual and Automated Systems” is available as of September 2024 from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). The research conducted at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, under the direction of Steven D. Schrock, Ph.D., P.E., F.ITE and Lanxi Liu looked for financial advantages to KDOT’s implementation of an automated pavement restriping system. Other DOTs, municipalities and agencies can learn from KDOT’s findings by downloading the full report at https://kdotapp.ksdot.gov/kdotlib/kdotlib2.aspx and searching for KS-24-04 in the appropriate search field.

What it Takes to Win the Super Bowl of Line Striping

Agencies seek ways to keep up with striping maintenance. This not only helps departments to improve motorist safety, but as of late it has contributed to the “smart car” conversation. With pavement markings playing a role in alerting monitoring mechanisms to roadway alignment and vehicle location, maintaining the retroreflectivity of markings takes on increased importance.

The report by Schrock and Liu stated: “Retroreflectivity is the attribute that qualifies the capacity of a marker to reflect light from a headlight back to a driver’s eyes. Sprinkling glass beads into the marking materials has been shown to increase retroreflectivity and subsequent visibility, and effective quality control in painting operations, including the proper combination of painting ingredients and glass beads, has been shown to produce highly retroreflective and durable pavement markings. However, because retroreflectivity and durability degrade over time due to traffic and the environment, pavement markings must be restriped regularly to preserve performance for these parameters.”

Keathley Defines Striping Precision, Professionalism

To ensure consistent striping results, some groups wish to study how to remove human error from non-automated, manual processes. The key takeaways—quoted directly from the report summary on automated pavement restriping systems—include the following:

First, in actual practice, the cost savings may be more than estimated if the preparation savings are greater than anticipated.

Second, the automated system may paint with greater accuracy than the current manual process, especially in challenging scenarios such as dash lines near intersections and gore areas. This could result in a higher quality application with fewer errors.

Striping Tip for Skip Lines

Third, the need to manually measure the width of the restriped pavement markings would be eliminated or significantly decreased due to the enhanced accuracy of the automated system, thereby boosting crew safety…

Finally, in the automated system, the layout truck can move as quickly as the flow of traffic, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the restriping preparation, and even in inclement weather conditions, the layout truck can utilize the GPS location system to collect road data, thereby extending working hours.

For more information, reach out to Steven D. Schrock, Ph.D., P.E., F.ITE at schrock@ku.edu.

“Preserve” can be defined as to keep in good condition or to keep safe from harm; to prevent decay and maintain. Think about preserving or upkeeping your home’s exterior. Rather than tearing everything down and starting over, properly timed preservation techniques can help to keep your house looking like new and functioning properly and efficiently. Some of these techniques include painting or replacing the windows or the roof. Applying these treatments at the right time prevents costly repairs and even complete reconstruction.

Maintaining an asphalt pavement is like preserving your house. There are times you don’t have to do full reconstruction of the road or even mill off the surface of the pavement. There are treatments to extend the lifespan of the pavement, keeping it in good condition and safe for the driving public. Not only does this extend the life of the pavement, but it also benefits the bottom line. Roads are a capital investment. Maintaining them properly can save money and stretch a tight budget.

Simply stated, pavement preservation is applying the right treatment to the right place at the right time. An asphalt deterioration curve can help determine timing and treatment.

Surface preservation treatments are meant to delay the need for rehabilitation or milling of the structural asphalt. As the pavement moves from fair to poor condition, the treatments available to you must be more structural in nature. Figure 1 shows an asphalt deterioration curve with different treatments applied to the pavement as the condition deteriorates.

Pavement preservation treatments can be divided into four categories:

• Surface treatments
• Pre-treatments
• Recycling and reclamation
• Base treatments

Some common surface treatments are crack seal, rejuvenating fog seal, micro surfacing and thin lift HMA overlay. Let’s discuss those in some depth.

Crack Seal

Placement of material into existing cracks.

Crack filling is the placement of modified asphalt material into non-working cracks to prevent the infiltration of water and incompressible materials like gravel and sand. Routing and sawing is performed as needed to create a more uniform area for the filler allowing for better control and ensuring a proper seal to the existing pavement.

There are certain conditions that should exist for a pavement to be a good crack sealing candidate:

• New or recently rehabilitated surface
• Limited linear cracking
• Little or no secondary cracking
• Little or no raveling at crack face
• Good base support
• Limited structural deterioration

Cracks must be cleaned and dried prior to applying the filler or sealant. Having a dry road is even more important than the air or pavement temperature. It’s also important to keep the meter tank no less than ¾ full to maximize the effective melting point.

How to Crack Seal Right, Step By Step

Rejuvenating Fog Seal

Process of restoring chemical properties of the aged asphalt binder.

A rejuvenating fog seal or asphalt rejuvenation does not provide any structural improvement, rather it’s an emulsion that penetrates the top 3/8” of pavement restoring the aged asphalt binder. The effectiveness of the treatment is typically determined by the reduction of the binder viscosity. It is a “top of the curve” preventative maintenance and extends a typical pavement life by 3-5 years per treatment when applied at the right time.

Asphalt rejuvenation works by re-proportioning the aged fractions (asphaltenes) to the fluid portion (maltenes) of the asphalt binder. The maltene fraction gives the asphalt binder its flexibility. Asphaltenes effects the viscosity of the asphalt; as this fraction increases with age, the viscosity also increases making the pavement less pliable and prone to cracking. Thus, by restoring the maltene to asphaltene ratio like that of a new binder, the life of the pavement is extended. This process is not unlike a bowl of spaghetti (asphaltenes) with sauce (maltenes).

Over time the water in the sauce evaporates causing the sauce to dry out or age making it difficult to move or separate the spaghetti. Refreshing (rejuvenating) the sauce brings the bowl of pasta back to life, making it easier to separate the spaghetti noodles and move them around. Rejuvenation aims to restore the pavement’s flexibility and resistance to cracking.

MDOT, NCAT Show How to Place New Rejuvenating Fog Seal

Micro Surfacing

Surface treatment mixture of polymer-modified asphalt emulsion, mineral aggregate, water, and additives. The mixture is made and placed on a continuous basis by mixing the ingredients using specialized equipment.

The micro surfacing formulation is based on mix design parameters: resistance to raveling, lateral displacement and resistance to moisture damage. The emulsion plays a key part in micro surfacing. The wrong emulsion or an emulsion that doesn’t work well with the other components can cause issues such as long set times, durability, and delamination.

Remember that temperature, humidity, and wind conditions all affect emulsion break and cure times. If using a micro surface in combination with crack sealing, ensure crack sealing material is not excessive where it can be picked up by the paver tires and spreader box runners. Screen the material immediately prior to loading the mobile support unit so there is no possibility of contamination when re-handling the material. Treat vegetation with herbicide early to prevent it from returning after the project is completed.

Many agencies have reported ten years or more of service life when micro surfacing is installed on newer asphalt pavements in good condition. However, when used as a “band aid” or as a stop-gap measure on an asphalt pavement in marginal condition in order to delay rehabilitation/reconstruction, surface treatments including micro surfacing will have a shorter service life. Having the proper mix design for the micro surfacing is critical to ensure all materials work together. Some emulsion chemistries do not work with certain aggregate combinations, and some react poorly to excessive mineral filler.

How to Micro Surface

Thin Lift HMA Overlay

Applied thin layer (1.5 inches or less) of hot mix to the surface of the road.

Thin lift overlays can be used to extend the life of a pavement by sealing small cracks and providing a new riding surface. Overlays can be applied with or without milling, but the existing pavement must be in good condition since the overlay provides little additional structure. Thin lift overlays are available as conventional dense graded mix, open graded friction course (OGFC) and stone matrix asphalt (SMA).

Thin lift overlays improve ride quality and surface friction, correct surface defects, enhance appearance, seal the surface, and reduce splash and spray.

Regardless of the pavement preservation technique, quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) are vital prior to, during, and after construction. Look at these three elements of the typical preservation project—the emulsion, the distributor truck, the aggregate.

Emulsion

• Certificate of Analysis (Manufacturer)
• QC Sampling and Testing
• Temperature

Distributor Truck

• Calibrate ➔ Quantity
• Proper Pressure, Spray and Coverage
• Speed

Aggregate

• Proper Certified Test Results
• Quality Control Results
• Mix Design

While the materials for HMA and pavement preservation treatments are the same (aggregates, liquid binder, emulsions), the equipment varies, and the material testing is different. In efforts to standardize the testing and material selection, the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) created an emulsion task force (ETF) in 2008. Material standards, design standards and construction guides have since been developed, and in a 2012 passage from the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century (MAP-21), state DOTs could begin to use federal funds for pavement preservation.

This high level of confidence was only one benefit to the on-going AASHTO standardization efforts. Other benefits include educating the next generation of DOT staff and preservation crews and offering a consistent way to select materials, test and design. Constant collaboration and education will only further enhance the quality of the pavement preservation techniques, ultimately extending the life of our pavements.

Best Practices for Asphalt Overlays and Thin Lifts

The team at Asphalt Testing Solutions & Engineering LLC, Jacksonville, Florida, prepared this back-to-basics article for the AsphaltPro and PreservationPro audience.

Jason Gomez, owner of Ontario Parking Lot Services Ltd., Ontario, is the world’s best line striper. Or, at least that’s what his children, 6 and 9, have been telling their friends and teachers ever since Gomez won the line striping competition held at the National Pavement Expo (NPE) in January 2024 in Tampa.

Alongside the trade show and education sessions for which NPE is known, the 2024 show saw the start of a new tradition where attendees were invited to put their line striping skills to the test. The competition, sponsored by Graco and Pavement Stencil, saw more than 100 individuals use a Graco LineLazer ES 500 to stripe and stencil an American flag for a chance to win a Graco LineLazer of their own (first place) or a Graco ES 500 Stencil rig (second place).

Ever since Gomez won the NPE line striping competition, his children, 6 and 9, have been telling their friends and teachers that their dad is the best line striper in the world.

“I decided to compete when I saw that the winner was going to win a Graco LineLazer ES 500, for one,” Gomez said, adding that he uses an identical machine on many of Ontario Parking Lot Services’ jobs. “I love those machines.”

His existing electric LineLazer striper has been handy since it runs on the same battery as all of Gomez’s DeWalt tools. “I have a whole bunch of those batteries, which is more than enough for a day of painting,” he said. “Because the machine is electric, it’s so quiet and there are no fumes, so it’s great to use indoors.”

The chance to win his favorite striper was certainly a motivating factor, but Gomez had a second reason, too: “The competition is just a fun idea.”

When Gomez first started the business, he wanted to grow the company into a very large operation, “because that’s what I saw my dad do with his business,” he said. Then, a few years ago, Gomez had a change of heart when he realized the smaller size of the business gave him more time to spend with his kids and also enabled him to serve a niche with custom markings.

About Ontario Parking Lot Services

Gomez started Ontario Parking Lot Services in 2010. “I went to school to become an architect, but over time realized I didn’t enjoy it at all,” he said. “With architecture, you’re working at a desk all day and there’s a very long time scale to see the fruits of your labor.”

In his early 20s, Gomez approached his father, who owned a fairly large building maintenance and landscaping company and was performing some striping and sweeping for his customers, with a proposition. “I asked if I could spin off the parking lot services he was doing into a separate company.”

“With striping, I get to work outside most days and I can see the results of my efforts every single day,” Gomez said. With his father’s support, some equipment and a few dozen existing customers, Ontario Parking Lot Services was born.

“When I took over, [our book of work] was very small,” Gomez said. He began learning how to use Google Ads to get the business’s name out there. “It took some time to learn the hang of Google Ads, but once we did, it was a night-and-day difference for the business.”

Gomez estimates roughly half of the company’s line striping work is custom markings while the other half is parking lot striping. Although the line striping work is more profitable, Gomez most enjoys the custom marking.

Prior to advertising, he said it was rare to receive a call inquiring about the company’s services outside of referrals. “Then, all of a sudden, we were fielding several calls a day during the busy season, so it was a major turning point for us,” Gomez said.

“When I first started the business, I thought I wanted to grow the company into a very large operation because that’s what I saw my dad do with his business,” Gomez said. Then, a few years ago, Gomez had a change of heart. “I realized I enjoy the smaller size of the business, at least while my kids are still young. Summer weekends are busy, but I have the flexibility to make my own schedule and I get to spend a lot of time with my kids without being stressed out about work. This is really a job that affords me the type of life I want.”

How to Surface & Stripe a Pickleball Court

“Maybe I’ll grow the business into something larger when my kids are older and I’ll be looking for something else to fill my time, but for now, I enjoy the size of the business and the type of work we do,” Gomez said.

Since incorporating Ontario Parking Lot Services, Gomez has focused more on the striping side of the business rather than the cleaning. “With cleaning, there’s significantly more investment in equipment and labor, so it really comes down to the economics of it,” he said, estimating three quarters of the company’s work is striping.

When local school districts in need of parking lot striping reach out to the company, Gomez sets up appointments with the principals to discuss not only their parking lot services but also to show them the types of games they’ve painted for other schools in the past. One time, the company even painted a “floor is lava” obstacle course game.

Custom Quality

As a result of the decision to remain smaller, Gomez said Ontario Parking Lot Services has found an interesting niche that larger companies aren’t as well-equipped to handle: custom painted markings, such as company logos or playground games for local schools.

“With custom markings, there’s a lot more office work to get the design and stencils just right whereas the time spent painting isn’t very time consuming,” Gomez said, “so it’s not a very good niche for larger companies who have a lot of employees and need to keep multiple crews busy.”

Gomez estimates roughly half of the company’s line striping work is custom markings while the other half is parking lot striping. “The work that pays the bills is the line striping, but the work I most enjoy is the custom markings,” he said. “I like that there’s a way to be artistic when it comes to line striping.”

When local school districts in need of parking lot striping reach out to the company, Gomez sets up appointments with the principals to discuss not only their parking lot services but also to show them the types of games they’ve painted for other schools in the past, ranging from mini hockey rinks or soccer field striping to foursquare and hopscotch. One time, the company even painted a “floor is lava” obstacle course game.

Gomez previously attended a class at NPE taught by Chad Jung about the use of technology in striping to learn how the automatic layout feature could make him more efficient, a skill that has made his parking lot jobs significantly more efficient.

“We talk about which games would be best for the space and the age of the kids,” Gomez said. “When I went to school, we just had a pole with a ball attached to it and a couple of basketball nets. It’s nice to do these colorful, artistic games for the kids. We paint them over the summer and when the kids come back in the fall, they have a bunch of new games to play.”

In fact, Gomez also painted several games for his own children’s school for free. Although he doesn’t usually get to see the children play with the games they paint, he’s enjoyed seeing his own children and their friends play the games he painted at their playground.

“This can sometimes be a thankless business,” Gomez said. “Few people outside of our industry care about the striping in the parking lot, or even notice it, but at schools there’s always so much fanfare for the work we do.”

Gomez started Ontario Parking Lot Services in 2010.

Win It All

Gomez believes his experience with custom markings came in handy when competing in the line striping competition at NPE. “When you’re doing that custom work versus a large shopping center, the attention to detail required is much higher,” Gomez said. “For example, if you’re painting a company logo right at the entrance to the company headquarters, people are going to be paying a lot of attention to that.”

Secondly, Gomez said he was well-positioned to win the competition because he uses an identical machine on many of his jobs. “In fact, I used my [LineLazer] a few days before the competition to paint some custom markings in a warehouse, so I guess you could say I was already ‘warmed up.’”

It was actually because of a past NPE show that Gomez chose to invest in a LineLazer of his own. The 2024 show was his fourth time attending NPE. “I try to go every year or at least every other year,” he said, adding that it’s a great opportunity to catch up with industry friends and colleagues as well as to learn new information to take his business to the next level.

How to Stripe an Airfield

For example, utilizing the automatic layout feature on his striping machines. “I had a Graco machine with the automatic layout feature, but I never used that feature because I wasn’t familiar with how to do it,” Gomez said. Then he attended a class taught by Chad Jung about the use of technology in striping at NPE to learn how the automatic layout feature could make him more efficient.

The automatic layout feature allows users to set the width of each parking stall. Then, as they push the striper across the lot, it drops a dot of paint at the preset intervals. “All you have to do then is stripe at each dot and make sure each line is straight, which is easy to do because of the laser system,” Gomez said. “Seeing that technology in action at NPE was a real lightbulb moment for me. I’d probably still be out there with a tape measure without that show. That class alone and the skills it taught me have been enough to pay for the cost of attending NPE 100 times over at this point.”

“The people who teach the classes at NPE are out there doing this work day in and day out every summer, so they really know their stuff,” Gomez said. “The show is also just full of little hints that are invaluable that there’s no other way to easily learn besides trial and error, trial and error.”

After winning a second Graco LineLazer ES 500, Gomez said it will be handy having two machines to offer more color options and also because the electric machines are ideal for inside work.

Line Striping Super Bowl

Throughout the 2024 show, Gomez kept returning to the competition area to see how his striped-and-stenciled flag stacked up against the competition. “Before I competed, I watched a few others to see what types of mistakes and issues they were having,” he said. “Most were struggling with starting/stopping the stripes neatly, so I paid extra attention to that.”

“I just tried to do the nicest job I could possibly do,” Gomez said. It’s a level of effort and attention that he tries to bring with him to every job. “Sometimes, line striping can get tedious doing the same thing over and over. The way I keep it interesting is I’m always trying to make each line better than the last.”

“The technology on some of these new striping machines has made the learning curve to stripe well a bit easier, but at the end of the day, I think it still comes down to practice, having a steady hand and attention to detail,” Gomez said. “I also think I got lucky a bit, too.”

Luck aside, Gomez’s experience, steady hand and attention to detail paid off for him. At the end of the show, his flag took first place. “I’m still shocked I won,” Gomez said, adding that he’s very excited for his new Graco LineLazer ES 500. “I was probably going to buy another one this year anyway, so it was really nice to win one instead.”

Keathley Defines Striping Precision, Professionalism

Gomez said the second machine is going to come in handy throughout the 2024 season, not only for the company’s parking lot jobs but also its custom work. “These machines are great for our custom jobs where we aren’t running our machines constantly because of the intricacy of the stencil we’re painting,” he said. “Instead of having them run the whole time or pulling a cord to restart the machine every time, we can just pull the trigger when we’re ready to paint again.”

Having two electric machines will also make it easier for Gomez to offer more colors for his custom work. Last year the company offered 12 colors; this year, with the second machine available, Gomez plans to add orange and pink to the mix.

The machine was delivered to Gomez in Ontario three weeks after the show, once Gomez’s family had returned home from a post-show road trip around Florida. “When my family found out the show was in Florida this year, they jumped at the chance to go,” Gomez said. Although the trip was planned well in advance of Gomez’s victory, it’s only fitting that after winning “the Super Bowl of line striping” that Gomez and his family would end their trip at Disney World.

NPE 2025 will also take place in Tampa. If Gomez chooses to attend next year’s show, he’ll have a chance to defend the title his kids have given him as “the best line striper in the whole world.” “That’s probably been the best part of winning [the competition],” Gomez said. “I feel like a hero in their eyes.”

When Mike Keathley first opened Keathley Line Striping (KLS), LaVernia, Texas, three years ago, he used to mention to potential customers that everyone on his crew is deaf.

“We found that this kept losing us bids,” he said. “There is a stigma that comes with being deaf. People don’t understand what we can do and therefore become hesitant to allow us to submit a bid.”

KLS is a 100 percent deaf-owned and employed company. After facing this early discrimination, Keathley no longer mentions this to prospective clients.

“When customers call us, they are not asking us for a medical history,” he said. “They are asking us to perform a job so there is no reason to share that we are deaf. When we show up on a job site, whether we’re doing an estimate, a walk-through or performing the job requested, we find that people are blown away. They can see we are professionals and leaders in our industry.”

A Culturally Deaf Crew

When Keathley, a self-taught striper, began learning how to stripe, he realized there weren’t many resources available. So, he began creating his own library of training videos that are useful to both deaf and hearing people.

KLS has a crew of three and additional part-time staff as needed. Every member of the crew is culturally deaf, including Keathley. A person is culturally deaf if he or she has always been in a predominantly deaf environment. In Keathley’s case, he attended a deaf school, his children are deaf and most of his friends are deaf.

“I live in a world of sign language and closed captioning,” Keathley said. “The only time I interact with hearing people is when I go shopping or go to work.”

Although Keathley’s whole team is deaf, he doesn’t hire based on disability status. “I hire them because I know what they are capable of,” he said. “As a result, I am blessed to be able to provide an equal footing for a disenfranchised group of people.”

Having a deaf team also improves communication on the crew, which uses American Sign Language as its primary language. Furthermore, Keathley said he and his crew have a strong desire to prove its work ethic and overcome discrimination.

KLS exclusively uses Graco LineLazers and LineDrivers to perform its work. “They’re top of the line,” Keathley said. “We also enhance our stripers with the latest gadgets in order to help us perform our work in an efficient manner.”

“We always bust our butts and want to make our customers happy with our work,” he said. “Nobody has anything to fear by hiring deaf employees.”

However, KLS still regularly faces discrimination as a deaf-owned and operated business.

Recently, the company was awarded some work by a major industry player. While performing the work, a store manager became upset when the crew asked him to either remove his mask, so the crew could read his lips, or to write down what he was saying.

“He got very agitated that we could not understand him and kept yelling at us,” Keathley said. “I kept telling him we are deaf and that we can’t tell what he’s saying, but he became so agitated by this that I could do nothing but walk away and continue to finish our work.”

Roughly 80 percent of KLS’s work is parking lots.

Although the team finished the job and the customer was happy with the results, Keathley was shocked by their lack of understanding when it comes to communicating with deaf people. “What if another customer refuses to proactively communicate with me or my team?” he said. Although his company appreciated the work, it put Keathley in a difficult situation. “We cannot allow them to hold our disability against us as a condition of employment, so we chose to let them go as a customer.”

In another instance, a store manager insisted that Keathley’s team needed to have a hearing person on site while striping the facility. Keathley himself arrived on the job shortly after the manager’s request.

“When I introduced myself as the deaf owner of the company, the manager’s eyes got so big and he got so flustered,” Keathley recalls, but the manager remained adamant that they needed to have a hearing person on site. “He felt we needed to be supervised; he just didn’t know what deaf people can do.”

Every member of KLS’s crew is culturally deaf, including Keathley. Not only does this provide jobs to a disenfranchised group of people, Keathley said, but it also improves communication on the crew, which uses American Sign Language as its primary language.

The crew packed up and left, but Keathley didn’t quit. He reached out to the property owner who hired his company for the job, who was furious at the manager’s behavior. “The property owner had us return to complete the job and happily paid us for the extra time.”

“We know most people don’t maliciously discriminate,” Keathley said, “but people do discriminate and that nonsense needs to stop.”

Although the company battles audism from time to time, Keathley is heartened that many of his customers find their story uplifting and inspiring. “We actually get a ton of work from it.”

Safety Without Sound

Although the company battles audism from time to time, Keathley is heartened that many of his customers find their story uplifting and inspiring. “We actually get a ton of work from it,” he said.

Keathley reiterates that his company adheres to all OSHA rules and federal, state, county and city laws. He has generally modeled KLS to avoid work situations that would require him to obtain an exemption based on his crew’s disability. However, he knows how to handle these situations when they arise. For example, there is a hearing test required to obtain a Department of Transportation medical card, for which KLS was able to request an exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) since they are protected by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, in programs receiving federal financial assistance, in federal employment, and in the employment practices of federal contractors.

“Safety is paramount when working in active roadways and parking lots,” Keathley said, regardless of circumstances. KLS has invested in approximately 24 LED safety warning lights on its truck and enclosed trailer, and four on its line drivers, in addition to wearing bright colored reflective safety uniforms. However, Keathley recognizes that there are only so many safety products one can implement.

“We also run a crew that’s usually one man larger than the average striping crew so we have an extra set of eyes on our job sites,” he said. “We keep our heads on a swivel and we look out for each other.”

He’s also found this approach a bit easier because roughly 80 percent of KLS’s work is parking lots. Fifteen percent are unique jobs such as helipads, basketball courts, playgrounds, athletic fields, etc. Only 5 percent are roadways. “We’re not a long line striping company, so public roads aren’t a big part of what we do, but that could always change in the future as we grow,” Keathley said.

KLS exclusively uses Graco LineLazers and LineDrivers to perform its work. “They’re top of the line,” Keathley said. “We also enhance our stripers with the latest gadgets in order to help us perform our work in an efficient manner.” For example, its stripers are equipped with gun raisers to raise and lower the paint guns without getting off the machine. “I firmly believe we remain safer by keeping our butts in our seats, instead of getting off and fiddling around with our machines in an open parking lot,” Keathley said.

A Self-Taught Striper

Although people facing disabilities should not have to prove themselves any more so than others, Keathley has made the most of this circumstance and built a company known and respected for its performance and precision.

Before launching KLS, Keathley had been performing repair work for friends of his mother and sign language interpreters. When his mother passed away, Keathley struggled to find new work and began exploring the commercial market. However, he faced regular discrimination and rejection.

“On my last bid to a general contractor, I was basically told we had the job,” he said. “When I went to discuss the work with him, he ran me off and said he couldn’t be responsible for me. I was crushed. I had a kid on the way and no money. I walked out of that building destroyed.”

He sat down on a bench right out front and stared into the parking lot nearly in tears. “Then it hit me,” he said. He noticed that the parking lot in front of him needed striping, so he went home, looked up property tax records and mailed the property owner a letter. Soon, he got the job. “I had effectively eliminated the middle man and there was no need for anyone to feel like they had to be ‘responsible’ for me.”

Fifteen percent of the work KLS performs are unique jobs such as helipads, basketball courts, playgrounds, athletic fields, etc.

Although Keathley’s brother briefly striped parking lots many years ago, Keathley is a self-taught striper. But, as he learned, he noticed a lack of training resources.

“There isn’t much offered on how to learn to become a pavement markings specialist,” Keathley said. So, he began creating his own library of training videos that are useful to both deaf and hearing people. “The inability to hear is not the disability. It is the lack of access to language and information that is the real disability.”

The videos also improved his own performance. “I used to race motorcycles at the track and watching videos of our body position was critical to learning how to ride faster,” he said. “I applied that same logic to line striping.”

He would tape cameras to his striper and watch the videos over and over, improving each time. “Before I knew it, the videos started being shared and now people often turn to me for advice on how to line stripe.”

Mr. Fix-It

In the summer of 2020, Keathley received a call from a paving company KLS often works with, who asked Keathley to correct a striping project at a 5A high school in Texas that had been performed by another striping company. When Keathley showed up on the job, the prior subcontractor had done such a poor job that the paving company had to sealcoat the lot so KLS could start from square one.

The school had been facing a unique problem. It had a rich football tradition, as well as a competitive marching band. The football team held practice after school on the football field, but the band also needed the field to practice their formations.

The football field was right next to a large parking lot, onto which KLS striped a football field layout. “By day, it was a parking lot for students,” Keathley said. “By night, it was a practice field for the marching band.” It was a job that was easily fumbled by crews lacking KLS’s attention to detail.

One of the most unique jobs KLS has striped is at a 5A high school in Texas: “By day, it was a parking lot for students,” Keathley said. “By night, it was a practice field for the marching band.”

The job required a lot of thought and planning among Keathley, the school’s grounds keeper and its athletic director. “The biggest obstacle was making sure the lot was up to code after merging the football field grid onto the parking stalls,” Keathley said.

To do so, the crew used yellow paint for the parking stalls and white for the football grid. The fact that the parking lot is used by the same students day after day, who are familiar with the lines, also helps. They also had to take care to ensure that the fire lanes were clear. In total, the job required 120 gallons of paint.

Furthermore, all of this had to be done within a week, before the start of the school year. After pulling through for the school under tight deadlines, KLS maintains an active working relationship with that school district to this day. “The customer was very happy with our work, and it has led to many other opportunities within that school district,” Keathley said.

Although people facing disabilities should not have to prove themselves any more so than others, Keathley has made the most of this circumstance and built a company known and respected for its performance and precision.

“We are professionals in every sense of the word,” Keathley said. “We know what we’re doing. All we ask is that people let us do our jobs.”

Pickleball is a rapidly growing sport. With the ability to retrofit pickleball lines on existing sports surfaces, it’s a simple service to up-sell recreation sites. Here’s how to surface and stripe a pickleball court.

There are more than 2.5 million pickleball players in the United States, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. In fact, pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. According to the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), the sport has seen a 650 percent increase in participants in the past six years, mostly among younger players.

The sport has been described as a combination of ping pong, racquetball and tennis, and requires players to use special paddles to hit a wiffle ball over a net in the center of the court. However, pickleball courts are much smaller than a tennis court (though, larger than a ping pong table!).

How to Pave a Tennis Court

The ability to retrofit pickleball lines on existing sports surfaces makes this a simple service when making that sale to residential managers upgrading recreational sites.

Here, AsphaltPro explains the best practices of how to surface and stripe a pickleball court with help from Jeff Gearheart, director of SportMaster Sport Surfaces, Sandusky, Ohio.

Plan Your Court

Pickleball courts measure 44 feet long and 20 feet wide, including the court’s boundary lines. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

If you are constructing a pickleball court from start to finish, one of the first considerations will be the size and layout of the court.
Pickleball courts measure 44 feet long and 20 feet wide, including the court’s boundary lines. The USAPA Rule Book recommends a minimum total playing surface of 30 by 60 feet, though 34 by 64 feet is preferred. Anytime multiple courts will be in close proximity, fencing between the courts is important to protect players on other courts.

Just as with other sports surfaces, it is ideal to orient the court north-south to limit the sun obstructing players’ vision and the impact of shadows on the court surface.

Due to the relatively small size of pickleball courts, it’s possible to create more than one pickleball court within a tennis court or a basketball court.

This article does not set out to explain how to pave a pickleball court. For that, it’s ideal to follow the best practices of paving tennis courts or other sports surfaces, taking special care to ensure proper drainage.

For a more detailed overview of the pickleball construction process, check out “Pickleball Courts: A Construction & Maintenance Manual” from the American Sports Builders Association and the USAPA. The 108-page manual offers design, construction and maintenance instructions and is available at the USAPA store.

Prep & Clean

Gearheart first recommends checking the overall condition of the surface for any cracks, low spots or other deficiencies. Cracks should be sealed and low spots should be leveled before you proceed.

“Courts are normally built with a 1 percent slope for drainage, but water will collect in any bird baths,” Gearheart said. “Not only will the standing water break down the acrylic and pavement, but players will also have to wait longer before than can play after rain.”

One leveling option is SportMaster’s acrylic patch binder, which is an acrylic liquid mixed with Portland cement and sand. It can be poured in low spots and then scraped even with a screed or straight edge. Once it sets up, it can be sanded down as needed.

Seen above: Four pickleball courts at Anaheim Tennis & Pickleball Center. Up to four pickleball courts can fit within the space required for one tennis court. Photo courtesy of SportMaster Sport Surfaces

The pavement should also be clean and dry. If not, the coatings may not adhere properly. Gearheart recommends brooming, blowing or power washing the surface to ensure it is free of dirt and debris. “The best option is to power wash the surface, but if it is visibly clean, brooming or blowing should be enough,” he added. He also recommends trimming any grass that may be sticking over edge of the pavement.

It is also recommended to apply the coatings with ambient temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for best results.

A pickleball court is roughly 880 square feet.

Resurface & Cushion

The process of surfacing a pickleball court varies, and may include application of a resurfacing material and/or a cushioned material, in addition to paint for color and texture and line-striping the court boundaries. Some jobs, such as repurposing tennis courts for pickleball, may only require line-striping.

Once all pavement distresses have been repaired and the surface has been cleaned, Gearheart first recommends applying an acrylic resurfacer. “It won’t fill cracks, but it will fill any voids in the pavement and it will hide any repairs you’ve made,” he said. “And, most importantly, it sets a nice sandpapery texture that cushion and color can more easily adhere to.”

How to Pave a Sport Court: Practice Really Does Make Perfect

The acrylic resurfacer is particularly important for courts that intend to add a cushion layer. “Without the resurfacing acrylic, the rubber wants to pile up instead of grabbing onto the texture below,” Gearheart said, “and the rubber in the cushion product will fill the voids so the surface won’t feel as cushioned.”

A cushioned pickleball court is created by applying multiple layers of an acrylic with small rubber granules with a soft rubber squeegee. To ensure even application, Gearheart recommends pouring out the cushion product in relatively small amounts, to prevent piles of rubber at the end of the squeegee pull. After spreading the cushion acrylic, he also recommends being gentle while scraping any high spots.

Most public courts are hard courts, while private and tournament facilities tend to opt for cushioned courts. Gearhart said cushioned pickleball courts tend to be more common than other types of courts, due to their smaller size and the sport’s historical popularity with an older demographic.

Color the Court

Next comes the color coatings. USAPA recommends 100 percent acrylic paint for outdoor courts.

The color is typically applied with a minimum of two coats. “Pickleball courts are smaller and are often used for doubles,” Gearheart said, “so there’s more wear because the players are always scuffing the same little boxes. It may be worth adding an extra coat to extend the life of the surface.”

The type and amount of silica sand per gallon will be specified by the manufacturer. SportMaster’s acrylic resurfacer uses roughly 14 pounds of 50-60 mesh silica sand per gallon of concentrated resurfacer. Color coatings use a rounded and finer sand, roughly 70-90 mesh.

“Tennis facilities prefer a more angular sand because it’ll grab the ball and slow down play,” Gearheart said. “With pickleball, I’ve seen rounder sand so it doesn’t chew the balls up as much.”

Although tennis courts tend to be painted blue or green, the USAPA says pickleball courts can be painted any color as long as it contrasts with the lines of the court. “It seemed in the past that they may have been choosing different colors so they wouldn’t be eclipsed by tennis,” Gearheart said, “but now pickleball is a big sport in its own right.”

Although tennis courts tend to be painted blue or green, the USAPA says pickleball courts can be painted any color as long as it contrasts with the lines of the court. Photo courtesy of SportMaster Sport Surfaces

In hotter climates, Gearheart said lighter colors that are more solar reflective are more popular. “Light gray courts can be 40 degrees cooler than a black or dark green court.” Light courts can also help brighten up indoor courts.

“You also want to choose a color that contrasts from the color of the pickleballs,” Gearheart said. Pickleballs are most often yellow, orange or lime green. “Generally, colors opposite from each other improve contrast. For example, if the balls are yellow, paint the court blue.”

Striping a Pickleball Court

Pickleball courts measure 44 feet long and 20 feet wide and are divided into five main areas. See the diagram alongside this article for a visual representation of the dimensions.

Note that the total area of the court includes the boundary lines, so ensure the outer edge of the painted line conforms to the final court dimensions. All boundary lines should be two inches wide.

The USAPA recommends white lines for dedicated pickleball courts, but the most important thing is that the boundary lines are a contrasting color to the court’s surface color. If adding lines to multi-purpose courts, the association recommends lines in the same color family as the court itself. Take care to tape over multi-purpose courts’ existing lines, so they remain the predominant line, and leave a 3-inch gap where any lines intersect.

Straight application of the lines is important, not only for a professional-looking court but also to ensure fair play of the game. The most common application method for pickleball lines is to use a line taping machine and then apply paint with a brush or roller.

“Companies will occasionally use a line striping machine, but overspraying the tape is a common issue,” Gearheart said. Additionally, the traffic paints that can be used in striping machines are often thinner, which means they are more likely to bleed and offer less surface texture and less pigment, resulting in a shorter wear life.

When painting the lines with a brush or roller, Gearheart recommends using a textured white line paint so the lines are a similar texture to the playing surface.

Due to the surface texture, there will be small voids under the tape that paint may bleed into. For perfect lines, Gearheart recommends using a clear-drying anti-bleed primer after taping but before painting the lines. Once the primer is dry, paint the lines.

Allow the paint to dry 24 hours before use. Play on!