Pavement Marking Paint and Glass Bead Quantity
Paint and glass beads for a pavement-marking run.
Example
You enter
- Stripe length (ft) 5280
- Stripe width (in) 4
- Paint coverage (sf/gal) 320
- Glass bead rate (lb/gal) 6
You get
- Stripe area 1760 sf
- Paint 5.50 gal
- Glass beads 33.0 lb
Details, formula, and sources
stripe area = length x width / 12; gallons = area / coverage (sf/gal); beads = gallons x rate (lb/gal). A mile of 4-in line is 1,760 sf - 5.5 gal of paint and 33 lb of beads; a 6-in edge line takes 8.25 gal and 49.5 lb. The coverage follows the wet-mil thickness and the bead rate the retroreflectivity spec. Distinct from architectural paint-coverage.
stripe_sf = length_ft x width_in / 12; paint_gal = stripe_sf / coverage_sf_per_gal; beads_lb = paint_gal x bead_rate_lb_per_gal.
Pavement-marking quantity identity by name (area from length x width; gallons from area / coverage; beads from gallons x rate); first-principles arithmetic.
The marking quantity is public quantity-survey arithmetic; the coverage and bead rate come from the marking specification.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
Field names used by the API: length_ft, width_in, coverage_sf_per_gal, bead_rate_lb_per_gal, stripe_sf, paint_gal, beads_lb
- Coverage ~320 sf/gal default for a waterborne line near 15 wet mil; the marking spec's thickness governsmarking specification
- Bead rate ~6 lb/gal default; set by the retroreflectivity specretroreflectivity specification