Feel free to contact us at steve@reflectivestore.com or call (850) 934-3157 for assistance. To request a quote you can email us or our FAX the request to (888) 789-5422.
Note - this article addresses ways to mark non MUTCD gates. These would be gates on private property that do not open up onto a DOT road. For MUTCD type gate marking information Click Here.
Gates and fences whether they are ornamental or commercial are very expensive and when accidentally hit by an automobile they can be very costly to repair. By using engineer grade reflective tape you can dramatically increase the nighttime visibility of your gates and fences. There are several colors to choose from the engineer grade reflective tape line. Black is very popular with gate owners because it blends in with the gate in the daytime but is clearly visible at night when exposed to the headlights of a car. The picture shown above clearly demonstrates this. Owners that require daytime, as well as nighttime visibility, prefer to use the brighter colored tapes. The object is to provide a contrasting color so if you had a black gate you could use white or yellow and if you had a white gate you could use a red, green, blue or black. Also, alternating colors are very effective.
Enginer Grade Type I Reflective Tape
We carry the different colors of reflective tape in a flexible engineer grade type I material. The engineer grade tapes utilize glass beads for reflectivity which is the most common method. These tapes reflect light via thousands upon thousands of small glass beads embedded into the film. Each glass bead reflects light back to the source. Hence the name retro-reflective tape.
For gates, most people will use either a 1" or 2" reflective tape. In the picture above we used a one inch roll for the black and a two inch roll for the orange. The wider the tape the better so if you have room for 2" tape that is recommended. The material will bend around rounded or sharp angles making it very easy to work with. To apply it you simply peel off the backing and apply. If it is cold the tape can become a little less flexible so many people will use a hair dryer in cold weather to help the tape stay flexible during application. The warmer it is the more it will stretch. This is the same material that is used on Fire Engines.
Engineer grade reflective tape has no pattern on top and is simply a solid color to the naked eye. When light strikes the tape it is reflected back to the source and the tape appears to light up. For day and night time visibility we offer other colors. Our colors for the engineer grade reflective tapes are red, white, blue, green, orange, yellow, gold and black.
If you prefer a brighter tape we carry an alternative to engineer grade tape that is still affordable called high intensity reflective tape . The surface of high intensity tape can be identified by a subtle honeycomb pattern. (see the picture below) Within each honeycomb are high concentrations of glass beads. There are more glass beads per square inch in high intensity than in engineer grade tape thus creating a much brighter tape. High Intensity tapes give off around 250 candlepower for the white and a little less for the other colors. Because of the higher candlepower, it can be seen further away thus allowing drivers more time to react and avoid the gate or fence. It also reflects at a sharper angle. Traffic cones and road barrels utilize this material as do many brighter street signs. We do not have black in the high intensity but we do have red, yellow, white, green, blue, and orange.
YOU CAN SHOP FOR OUR COLORED REFLECTIVE GATE TAPES USING THE LINKS TO THE LEFT
To visit our main safety products site Click Here. If you have any questions about which tape is right for your application or need samples feel free to email me at steve@reflectivestore.com
Steve Cole - Owner
850-934-3157
About our Company - We are Reflective Incorporated, the largest retailer of reflective tapes in the United States, in business since 1998. Our goal is to provide easy access to reflective safety products that are often difficult to source. We specialize in visibility enhancement through the use of bright and vivid retro reflective tapes and other reflective products. Our product lines include rolls of reflective tape, reflective chevron panels, block panels, Battenburg panels, reflective road markers, reflex reflectors, NFPA helmet decals, preformed thermoplastic, reflective shapes, and more.
About our Products - We carry a wide variety of reflective tapes. They are all branded and certified products. We stock almost everything that we sell in house and ship quickly. If a product is not in stock or is to be drop shipped, we will make you aware and specify a lead time. We carry Oralite and Nikkalite reflective tapes. Both are on QPL lists across the country and both are manufactured by reputable, global manufacturers. Our reflective tapes are rated for outdoor applications with life expectancies of from 5 - 12 years depending on the film. For applications where the tape is out of the weather like a fire truck in a firehouse, the life expectancy is longer.
Shipping - We ship quickly using US Mail for light boxes and UPS Ground for heavier ones. The majority of our products are in stock and ship out the same or next day. Delivery time is approximately 3-5 days on most standard orders.
Return and Order Cancellation Policy - Reflective tape orders can be cancelled until they are shipped out. After products are shipped, we accept returns in certain cases. If we have made a mistake and have shipped the wrong item, we remedy that at no cost to the customer. For returns where another item is purchased to replace an item purchased in error, we accept those with no restock fee. For all other returned items we apply a 10% restock fee.
Privacy Policy - all customer information is kept in strict confidence. We do not release any information on any of our customers to anyone without that customer’s consent. For our full privacy policy, Click Here.
