Calculating How Much Bed Liner Is Required
For the bed of a pickup truck or any item to be coated, four issues matter:
- Amount of actual “spray-able liquid”,
- Qualities of the liquid,
- The application method,
- Final price of product, system or service.
Although there are coatings for “general” applications there are also specific coatings for exacting requirements. So for a successful Pickup Truck Bed Lining, requirements include very high strength and a slip-proof texture; other issues like UV stability for long term protection and color should be obvious. Specific application, i.e. spray-on technique may also differ; no bedliner of any quality is ever rolled.
When deciding on what product and/or application professional to use, while certain qualities should be clearly stated, printed or displayed, the actual amount of sprayable liquid can be seemingly unclear. In USA this amount translates directly to the thickness known as “mil height” (thousandths of an inch which may be in millimeters in Canada). Mil height is measured with a mil gauge, or you’d simply grab a thick needle with pliers and push the needle through the liner until it hits the metal bed, mark the needle to measure that distance.
This article sheds light on this grey area, of the actual, sprayable liquid required for a given spray-on bed lining to function correctly.
ACTUAL COATINGS COVERAGE FORMULA: 1 gallon covers 1,604 sq ft at 1 mil high. A mil = 1/1,000 of an inch.
AVERAGE TRUCK BED: Using a wall height of 24 inches this dimension chart (for pickup bed tops) will suffice. http://www.truckaddons.com/tonneau-bed-measurements-guide.html … Average size pickup truck bed area for a spray-on bed liner can be 65 square feet. Other relevant images or specs on size of various truck bed: http://www.esautomation.com/Size%20Chart.JPG http://www.dimensionsinfo.com/truck-bed-dimensions-comparison/ http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/shopping/35250/truck-bed-breakdown.jsp
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JUDGING THICKNESS FOR A QUALITY OF POLYUREA / POLYHYBRID* BEDLINER FROM EXPERTS:
- Under 1/16 inch or 63 mils is lower quality
- 1/16 to 1/12 inch or 63 to 83 mils is good quality
- 1/12 to 1/8 inch or 83 to 125 mils is high quality
- Over 125 mils is best quality
* Polyurea or Polyhybrid material has usual range of tensile or tear strength specs of 1,400 to over 4,000 PSI along with high levels of elasticity, elongation & hardness.
CALCULATION OF AREA AT EXACT MIL HEIGHT:
MULTIPLY AREA IN FT² BY MIL HEIGHT, DIVIDED BY 1,604,THEREFORE: THE # OF GALLONS TO EQUAL 65 ft² AT 125 MILS IS 65 ft² X 125 mils / 1,604 = 5.06 GALLONS
Finally, truthful quality related to Spray-Lining and Coatings thickness has been revealed ***
* Averages within USA & Canada, mill heights are recommended by polyurea manufacturers, spray-lining bedliner vendors and professional applicators.
* Shop applied sprayed linings only were reviewed, not DIY bedliners or kits as spray lining complaints exist on DIY notwithstanding spray lining-industry, DIY scams.
* Professional spray-on lining applicators; Line-X, Ultimate Linings, Rhino Linings, SPI, Speedliner, Langman, Scorpion Coatings, Vortex Spray-Liners with Spray-Lining were reviewed.
