Lot Questions, Answered

Most commercial lots here need fresh lines every one to two years — the sun fades traffic paint faster in Texas than almost anywhere, and high-traffic drive aisles wear faster still. If you are sealcoating on a two-to-three-year cycle, the re-stripe rides along with it automatically, since sealcoat covers the old lines.

Every two to three years for a typical commercial lot, starting when the asphalt is three to five years old. More often than that wastes money; much less often and the surface oxidizes, cracks open, and you start trading cheap maintenance for expensive patching. A lot kept on cycle can last a decade or more beyond a neglected one.

Yes — that is normal in this trade, not a premium request. Retail and office lots are usually done overnight or in sections so part of the lot stays open; church lots are scheduled around service days; schools get summer and weekend slots. Tell us the operating hours and the bid comes back with a schedule that fits them.

It scales with lot size: a lot with up to 25 stalls needs one accessible stall, and the required count climbs from there, with a share of them van-accessible with the wider access aisle. Location, slope and signage all have requirements too. If your lot has not been reviewed since a remodel or a re-stripe, an audit is cheap insurance — striped-over access aisles and missing signs are the most common failures we find.

That the lanes match the approved plan and stay legible: red curb or pavement bands with white FIRE LANE NO PARKING lettering at the intervals the local code requires. New construction gets checked before occupancy; existing properties get checked at periodic inspections. Faded lettering is one of the most common write-ups — and one of the fastest, cheapest things to fix before an inspection instead of after.

Striping alone dries fast — a section reopens in under an hour in warm weather, and a full overnight re-stripe is open by morning. Sealcoat needs longer: typically 24 hours before traffic, which is why sealcoat jobs are sectioned or scheduled over a weekend. Either way, the schedule is designed so the business never fully stops.

Roughly March through October — sealcoat and paint both want warm, dry pavement. The calendar fills from spring onward, so the smart move for a planned project is booking in late winter, and the smart move for portfolios is a standing cycle so the work books itself. Fire lane and interior striping run year-round.

That is the work we like best. Portfolio owners and property managers get one itemized contract, per-site pricing, and a route schedule that keeps every lot on its maintenance cycle without anyone having to remember to call. One point of contact, one invoice format, every painted line on every property handled.

A crack sealer is hot-pour rubberized asphalt — melted in a kettle, bonded to cleaned crack walls, flexible for years, which is what cracks on moving clay soil require. A crack filler is the cold liquid from a jug: no heat, weak bond, dries rigid, and clay movement usually tears it loose within a season or two. Filler is a budget patch for hairlines; a commercial lot with real cracks needs sealer.

Constantly — it is half of Sherman's work right now. Send the approved site plan and the target certificate-of-occupancy date; we price the full layout including accessible stalls, signage and fire lanes, slot in after final paving, and stripe to what the city reviewed so the occupancy walk passes the first time. Striping is the last trade on the lot, so tell us early and the date holds.

Quickly — new asphalt can take paint within days to a few weeks of paving, and it must be striped before the lot opens, so this never holds up an occupancy date. Fresh pavement does drink the first coat, which is why new lots get two. Sealcoating is the opposite story: the first sealcoat waits until the surface oils weather out, usually by year three to five.