|
|
|
Storm
Drain Stencil
Browse our collection of
Marking
Inks and Rollers to use with Storm
Drain Stencils
Instructions and information
on Storm Drain Stenciling are below:
GONE GREEN…Stencil Ease, the environment and Storm
Drain Stenciling
Stencil Ease has been manufacturing stencils for 27
years. In recent years, we have taken several steps
to become a more environmentally conservative company.
The biggest step has been our decision to purchase recycled
plastic in “raw material” form to manufacture
95% of our stencils. This decision makes a huge impact
on the environment by reducing our overall carbon footprint
indefinitely. Here are some other ways we help the environment:
PLASTIC: Manufacturing
stencils in all shapes and sizes from recycled polyester
plastic film.
LIGHTING: We recently partnered with
our local utility company to install energy saving,
compact fluorescent bulbs in all of our warehouse, office
and LED lighting fixtures.
PACKAGING MATERIALS: Employees use
boxes and packaging materials over and over again. Many
bring boxes, air pillows, papers, packing peanuts and
foam inserts from home to be reused here at work. Many
times the order you receive will contain recycled material
which we hope you in turn can use again rather than
dispose in a landfill.
RECYCLING: Our office and manufacturing
facility recycles everything it can: office paper, cardboard,
paper towels and more. All of our office paper has recycled
content, most of it 100% post consumer recycled.
Our latest “Help the environment”
project is to manufacture a collection of STORM DRAIN
STENCILS. Storm drain stenciling consists of stenciling
a message next to a street drain reminding people "Dump
No Waste - Drains to River" with the image of a fish,
wetland creature or other marine life. (Stencils are also
available for lake, stream, bay, groundwater, ocean or
simply "protect your water" with the image of
a glass and faucet.) Projects like this are ideal to create
community awareness about underground piping areas that
actually flow to streams, rivers, lakes, oceans or even
public water supplies. A storm drain is usually a network
of underground pipes designed to control flooding by transporting
stormwater from urban areas to a waterbody. A storm drain
may also be known as a curb, gutter, channel, ditch, pipe
or culvert.
Many people assume that these drains or gutters flow into
“treatment” facilities. In reality, storm
drains can flow directly into rivers, lakes, streams,
sounds, or oceans. Stenciling messages next to storm drains
is the best way to alert people that NOTHING should be
dumped into these (storm) drains.
Even if your’re not directly dumping anything
into a storm drain non-point source., pollution can
occur. Rainwater washes soil, street litter, oil, leaves,
grass clippings, pet wastes and fertilizers into storm
drains. Material flowing into storm drains does not
get treated before emptying into streams, rivers, lakes
and oceans. This untreated material can pollute the
waterways in your community. Although individual storm
drains may contribute small amounts of pollutants, the
combination of many storm drains can cause a negative
impact on water quality. For more information on
these issues visit the EPA web site.
Funding and Support for Storm Drain Stenciling:
Local: Contact your local town officials, businesses,
civic organizations and neighborhood associations to let
them know how you will be helping the environment by stenciling
storm drains. Request their support through donations
of money, supplies and volunteers.
Media: Storm drain stenciling makes
a great story for the media to report on environmental
issues. Promote how children, adults and community organizations
can come together for a good cause. Invite you local
newspaper, radio, television or bloggers to publicize
your volunteer event.
For help with outreach materials visit the EPA web
site and search for non-point pollution
Here are some simple steps and instructions for
storm drain stenciling:1) Get permission from
your city public works office, town officials or business
owners in private parking lots before stenciling storm
drains.
2) Gather all supplies needed for the project
including:
a. Your choice of Stencil
Ease storm drain stencil templates
b. Marking paints or a good non-spray
alternative like our one-shot
ink rollers. (Inks come in black, white,
red, orange, yellow, green and blue cartridges)
Marking paints should be fast-drying, acrylic and
used inverted (spray with can upside down) Some
brands are Krylon, Rust-Oleum, Emedco
c. Tools to clean the drain area
before stenciling like wire brushes, brooms, etc.
d. Map of storm drain areas from
public works department or town water company
e. Stencil
Adhesive Spray to keep stencil securely
in place while using ink roller or spray can. If
it is windy, you may want additional tape to hold
the stencil in place while applying paint.
f. Pieces of cardboard to practice
stenciling on before application. (cardboard can
also be used to transport a wet stencil) This will
ensure that you are applying the right amount of
paint. Many first time stencilers will use too much
ink or paint on the roller (the same with spray
paints). Less paint/ink is better and will look
better overall. You are much better off with one
light coat, let it dry and then apply a second coat
to darken paint or ink if needed.
3) Make sure you do the stenciling
project on a sunny, dry day between 40 and 80 degrees
Fahrenheit. Make sure the surface you are stenciling
has been swept clean with a brush or broom or even cleaned
with a wire brush for hard to remove dirts, oils, tars,
etc. Pick up any trash in the area around the drain.
4) Place stencil on surface (you may
want to use the stencil
adhesive spray on the back of the stencil
first) and make sure this is where you want the lettering
and image to go. Apply spray paint or ink roller. Remember
Less paint/ink is better and will look better overall.
You are much better off with one light coat, let it
dry and then apply a second coat to darken paint or
ink if needed
5) After storm drain stencil is completed,
lift stencil off surface and place wet stencil in between
two sheets of cardboard to carry to next drain. It is
OK to let the paint or ink dry completely on the stencil.
Most paints can flake off by rolling the stencil after
they have completely dried. The inks will not build
up on the stencil as thick as acrylic paints and can
handle more applications. If you still wish to clean
the stencil after multiple ink applications, try anything
from simple green to solvent-based cleaners.
All of the Stencil Ease storm drain stencils can be made
from 10 mil mylar plastic or our new 40 mil Ultra Flex plastic. 10 mil is our standard heavy duty reusable plastic and 40 mil Ultra Flex is our new
industrial grade, super-duty reusable material.
Browse our collection of
Storm
Drain Stencils
Marking
Inks and Rollers
|
|
|
