How to spray paint parking lot stripes by hand and avoid overspray

Question

Our home owners association's community parking lot lines are wearing off, about 5 lines, and I'm interested in respraying it instead of calling a professional.

I bought a Rust-Oleum Professional White Paint Spray, and I'm not sure how to avoid over spraying, all I can think of to get the job done is to use General Purpose Masking Tape (ones they use for painting) but that'd likely require at least 3 lines of tapes for each side of the parking line.

Update

Ended up going with the top solution here, and managed to create a stencil after buying grill (its box size was perfect), worked great, and it was a real fast job with this approach.

Answer 1

Make a stencil. That what road markers typically use for arrows, symbols, letters and numbers .

Easiest would be out of some cardboard boxes. Flatten the boxes, cut them and create a stencil with a gap shaped like the stripe. Place on the road, spray paint, then re-position for the next stripe.

Illustration from Asphalt Line Stripping:

Answer 2

Besides the line-spray machine mentioned in the comments, perhaps you might try using a narrow roller instead of spray. For the purposes of parking-lot lines, that should give a sharp-enough boundary. I'd recommend putting down a snap-line or equivalent in any case, and following that carefully.
I know you can buy rollers down to 4 inches; of course it's easy to cut down a standard roller to whatever width you like.

Answer 3

It sounds like you need a Line Striping Machine. If you search your favorite search engine, you can find one of these fairly easily. While there are higher end models with special paint reservoirs and compressors and all that jazz, there are also simpler ones that simply mount a can of spray paint like you have and hold it a constant distance from the asphalt as you roll it in a (presumably) straight line -- these seem to run as low as $75, possibly even less with a little more internet legwork.

Here's an example of a lower-end line striper, available via your typical big box home improvement stores (though often by special order, see their sites for details). This particular image is from Home Depot:

There are even single-wheeled "striping wands" that are cheaper yet (ranging from about $20-50), but one of the four-wheeled stripers will make straight lines easier without having to set up any sort of guides; just measure where you want the lines to start, plunk the machine down pointed in the right direction, pull the trigger and walk. A striping wand looks like this one (image also from Home Depot, though be aware it got poor reviews regarding build quality and paint can compatibility):

Answer 4

When we re-striped my in-laws' parking lot, we used a combination of two things. We used a striping wand (example) to hold the spray can at a consistent position and angle while moving. To keep the lines straight, we used some scrap lumber to built a guide shaped like a capital letter 'T' (IIRC, we used an old wall stud). Place the flat part of the 'T' against the curb, then roll the wand down the length of the guide while keeping the wheel pressed against the side of the guide. Having a helper keep a foot on the guide to keep it in place can be useful.

We found that method to give us the best results. Masking with tape was precise but required lots of tape and was time-consuming. Stencils were hard to keep aligned, so we ended up with jagged lines that were made of straight segments. The guide gave us a single, full-length straight edge to work with. The T-shape kept the lines perpendicular to the curb and parallel with each other. We cut two more pieces of wood to the width of the parking space and used those to quickly re-position the guide for the next line. All in all, that guide gave us much more professional-looking results in about 20% of the time of our old methods, and required less than $50 worth of materials (all of which can be reused next time).

You mentioned you only had about 5 lines to paint. You could probably get by with a simpler guide that was just a single long board. It would take more work to keep everything parallel, but that's not that bad for only 5 lines. You wouldn't want to do 50 lines that way, though.

Answer 5

Rattle cans are not really the right way to do that job. I am appalled that the things big-box stores will sell you with a straight face, they stock many things that are wrong, require specialty skills or are downright illegal, and all the burden on you is to know the craft and know what to buy, and then their $8/hour clerks advise you wrong (because they don't know)! I prefer to deal with specialty suppliers. It doesn't take a half hour to visit their shop, and their prices are often better too. My locksmith warned me 3 times that Code requires lever handles in commercial spaces, not door knobs. Bless him!

OK so you're committed.

For a mask? I would use a couple of manila folders. Readily available, cheap, and abundant since many people are switching to hanging folders. However expect to waste 70% of your paint and it'll look amateurish. It will also be impractical to paint in any wind.

They also make apparatus specifically to spray pavement lines, but that will require rattle-cans which are compatible with it.

I would also consider a roller and canned paint. It's far cheaper, and you'll waste less than 10% of the paint. Rollers proper come in 3" and 4" stock widths. Some rollers let you "hang a little off the end". Roller covers (the part that absorbs the paint) can be cut down to any needed width, bonus points if you work it so the leftovers are useful. This too runs the risk of looking amateurish unless you have a steady hand. Consider "snapping a line" with a chalk line.

Answer 6

How about a couple lengths of decently thick cloth? You might need an assistant or a heavy weight at each end to anchor the cloth, then tension it.

The cloth should be heavy enough to hold the overspray without soaking thorough, so dropcloth or canvas might work well. Denim would be fine too.

Once the edge of the fabric gets clogged up, you could fold it in and staple it, or cut the edge off.

Wind would screw up everything - only do this on a still day, with no dampness on the ground at all. You'll also want to sweep the surface clean first, and use a chalk line for straightness.

Another workable choice is two stout corrugated cardboard boxes unfolded.