How To Install Plain Safety Strip
Plain Visibility Strip Installation Instructions
Applying a plain vinyl visibility strip is a little bit different to (and much easier than) our other styles of visibility strip, as these are designed as a single piece and thus come without application tape applied to them.
Please Note:
These instructions are for applying Plain Safety Strips.
For instructions on how to install the graphic safety strips (including the Geometrix and Simple Ranges), please visit the How To Install Graphic Safety Strip page found here.
Plain vinyl visibility strip should be applied wet, and as long as the instructions are followed precisely, you should have no problems at all!
Required Tools:
- A sharp knife (a craft blade or Stanley knife with a sharp blade will do)
- A vinyl applicator (these can be purchased from our store here, otherwise a window squeegee will do too. Some people also use flexible plastic cards like a credit card, however the amount of pressure required to applicate the vinyl to the glass can snap the card and we do not recommend this)
- Windex or other similar window cleaning product
- Spray bottle with mixture of warm water and detergent / baby shampoo of a ratio of 1 gentle squeeze per 100ml of water
- Masking tape
- Measuring tape
Step 1:
Clean the glass where you want to apply your strip using the Windex.
Make sure that any foreign objects like small dots of paint are scratched off, as these will affect the appearance of the surface of the vinyl.
If you have a tint on the internal side of your glass, you will want to apply the strip to the external side of the glass both to maintain required visibility of the strip and so that you do not damage the tint when trimming the strip back to the edges.
Step 2:
Use your measuring tape to find the desired height of the decal from the floor, and mark this location on both left and right sides of the glass using strips of masking tape.
Remember that the lower edge of the strip must be located between 900mm and 1000mm from the floor.
Step 3:
Spray your mixture of warm water and detergent / baby shampoo on the glass where your safety strip will be adhered to.
This will allow you to reposition the decal on the glass if needed before it permanently sticks.
Step 4:
Temporarily place the non-sticky side of the vinyl strip up against the glass, allowing the soapy water to hold it in place.
Please note that this refers to the non-sticky side of the vinyl itself not the back of the wax paper, and definitely not the adhesive side of the vinyl either as you should not have peeled the wax paper off yet.
Step 5:
Peel back the vinyl safety strip from the wax backing paper, and spray the adhesive side of the vinyl with the warm soapy water mixture as you peel back.
Make sure you maintain a hold of one corner of the strip while doing so, and take extra care as you approach the end of the strip that should still be just sitting on the glass. Here, you can spray more liberally to ensure that the soapy water will spread across the last bit of adhesive as you peel the strip off the end of the backing paper.
Step 6:
With the backing paper now completely off and the strip’s adhesive side fully covered in soapy water, you can flip it around so that the adhesive faces the glass. Line it up to the masking tape height markers you applied earlier, and use your squeegee or applicator to applicate it to the glass with long outward strokes.
You want to always work out to the edges from the centre, starting with a low pressure to ease the soapy water out while maintaining the correct height. Apply more pressure to your strokes once you’re happy that the strip is correctly positioned.
Remember, the soapy water will allow you to reposition the vinyl, but once all water has been pushed out, it will be much more difficult.
Step 7:
Allow the strip to fully dry, then trim back the excess vinyl on each edge of the glass and clean off the dried soap marks using a window cleaner. Any bubbles under the strip can be pushed out to the edge of the vinyl using your applicator. Alternatively if they won’t move, you can pop them using the tip of a very sharp blade, and push the water or air out toward the hole allowing the vinyl to fully adhere to the glass.
This should be only done once the soapy water is as dry as possible. This can sometimes be an overnight wait.