Sidewalk Printing

There’s a new material out there that allows us to do large format printing that can be applied to sidewalk and road surfaces. The material is a heavy aluminum foil with a white non-skid face and a very rugged adhesive on the back. We print on it with our UV curable printer, and the results are terrific! The image at the right has been on the sidewalk in front of our door for the last several months. The product exceeds OSHA’s requirements for slip resistance.

My first question was- how will this material wear? As you can see, pretty well, although on the very highest points the ink has worn through to the white face. The high spots are pretty small, and will not be terribly noticeable in a large image. The material is still very well stuck to our sidewalk. The manufacturer says that it’s good for a year, and I would say that most sidewalk images will look pretty good for that long.

Our belief is that this material will be great for temporary sidewalk signs. Announce events, promotions, festivals, etc. Probably not so good for permanent way-finding signs, although if you are doing sidewalk signs that really can’t be done another way, replacing them yearly is not so bad. I first saw this material used in Old Phoenix telling people to turn here to get to the museum, etc. When I go back on my golf trip this fall, I’ll still see if they are still there!