• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Wrapping a trailer with... nothing

player

New Member
Why not find a temporary space to work in? Some warehouse, empty building... If you rent it for a week, and do your 2 trailers, the cost should be covered.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Doesn't hafta to be air conditioned. Just keep the sun off ya, no wind or breeze, no bugs or dust floating around. You can always hook up an exhaust fan or two. We have two huge exhaust fans and several rather large floor fans, plus we can turn out heating system into a fan system for summertime use. Not to mention we have 10 ceiling fans in which we can direct the air flow downward or upward. And all this helps in winter when it's frigid cold outside, we have several heating systems set up throughout the shop with zones.

It's in the upper 90s this week around here, with high humidity and lotsa rain, but lettering the trucks out in the bay area is somewhat pleasant. Three have gone through here this week already. No problems.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
I love you Gino, but PA is not TX and you have no idea.... nor would I expect you to.

I installed some wraps last week at a dealership in Houston in an un-air conditioned garage bay and it was far from pleasant. Humid stagnate 100 degree air = a trip to ER. It was nicer outside in the sun then in that oven.

If you'd like to experience what real humidity is, I suggest taking the family to Houston in August. Good food, 24-hour traffic jam, and you can lay out on Galveston's smelly seaweed covered beaches.
 

equippaint

Active Member
Right now the inside of our shop has to be at least 10 degrees hotter than outside and stays that way no matter what we do.
Its still not the same as working in direct sunlight though. The surface doesnt get superheated in the shade
 

HDvinyl

Trump 2020
I love you Gino, but PA is not TX and you have no idea.... nor would I expect you to.

I installed some wraps last week at a dealership in Houston in an un-air conditioned garage bay and it was far from pleasant. Humid stagnate 100 degree air = a trip to ER. It was nicer outside in the sun then in that oven.

If you'd like to experience what real humidity is, I suggest taking the family to Houston in August. Good food, 24-hour traffic jam, and you can lay out on Galveston's smelly seaweed covered beaches.
Hey Tex, you obviously haven't been anywhere but Texas.

I've lived in Houston, Michigan, and Missouri.

Michigan has worse humidity than Houston. Houston has the bonus smog that adds to the heat.
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
texcool.jpg
Tex, go to the dollar store and be cool.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I love you Gino, but PA is not TX and you have no idea.... nor would I expect you to.

I installed some wraps last week at a dealership in Houston in an un-air conditioned garage bay and it was far from pleasant. Humid stagnate 100 degree air = a trip to ER. It was nicer outside in the sun then in that oven.

If you'd like to experience what real humidity is, I suggest taking the family to Houston in August. Good food, 24-hour traffic jam, and you can lay out on Galveston's smelly seaweed covered beaches.


Hahaaa..... I can't say the feeling is mutual, but suffice it to say..... you're alright to have around. As someone pointed out recently, at least you work and get your hands dirty. Perhaps though, your hands are just soft and cannot take the heat. However, like I said, with exhaust fans and ceiling fans going, it's not pleasant like having a picnic or anything, but for working conditions, it sure beats working in the sun.

So, we've addressed the sun beating down on ya.... how do you handle rain out in the open..... or doesn't it rain there, either ?? We battle high heat, humidity, rains, snowfall and other inclimate conditions. We're basically prepared for it all, but all of it, inside where we can control it better than just working in the elements.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Hahaaa..... I can't say the feeling is mutual, but suffice it to say..... you're alright to have around. As someone pointed out recently, at least you work and get your hands dirty. Perhaps though, your hands are just soft and cannot take the heat. However, like I said, with exhaust fans and ceiling fans going, it's not pleasant like having a picnic or anything, but for working conditions, it sure beats working in the sun.

So, we've addressed the sun beating down on ya.... how do you handle rain out in the open..... or doesn't it rain there, either ?? We battle high heat, humidity, rains, snowfall and other inclimate conditions. We're basically prepared for it all, but all of it, inside where we can control it better than just working in the elements.

Doesn't rain much...but garages and carport protect from rain.
Hahaaa..... I can't say the feeling is mutual, but suffice it to say..... you're alright to have around. As someone pointed out recently, at least you work and get your hands dirty. Perhaps though, your hands are just soft and cannot take the heat. However, like I said, with exhaust fans and ceiling fans going, it's not pleasant like having a picnic or anything, but for working conditions, it sure beats working in the sun.

So, we've addressed the sun beating down on ya.... how do you handle rain out in the open..... or doesn't it rain there, either ?? We battle high heat, humidity, rains, snowfall and other inclimate conditions. We're basically prepared for it all, but all of it, inside where we can control it better than just working in the elements.

Gino, your the perfect person to hep me. We both have access to un-air-conditioned garages, and according to you have the same heat and humidity (although I checked Reading's weather and I would KILL to have temps like that right now)

With all that in mind, do you have an issue with unlaminated cast print media when wrapping, given it's 110 degrees inside the garage? That's really my questions, what material would be best, considering the temperatures) for wrapping in plain white.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Well, I haven't given my 2¢ yet, because you still haven't answered my question from post #3.

It's like pulling teeth around this place. :sleepin:
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Therefore, it's not flat as you've indicated all along.

We just did one about 2 months ago and we used 40c, but it had very few rivets, so we removed them. I believe it was 40 some feet long. Took us about 1.5 hours per side to put the vinyl on and make sure it was down really good. I pre-cut the vinyl into 8' lengths ahead of time. We pre-washed it, then wiped it down with alcohol and then put the vinyl on. After lunch we put the graphics on.
 

signage

New Member
I love you Gino, but PA is not TX and you have no idea.... nor would I expect you to.

I installed some wraps last week at a dealership in Houston in an un-air conditioned garage bay and it was far from pleasant. Humid stagnate 100 degree air = a trip to ER. It was nicer outside in the sun then in that oven.

If you'd like to experience what real humidity is, I suggest taking the family to Houston in August. Good food, 24-hour traffic jam, and you can lay out on Galveston's smelly seaweed covered beaches.

Have you ever tried doing it in a garage rather than assume it wouldn't make a difference?
 

player

New Member
I would do that but I have no idea who would rent an air-conditioned garage.
Check the industrial areas. Find a space that's for rent and contact the owner/manager/realtor. If they get the feeling you're legit, they may see you as a potential tenant who needs a little boost. Who knows, you may find a space, get more business, and grow into it.
 

jon vital

New Member
Do they not do KPMF polymeric wrap vinyl with air release over there? That's what we use for covering big flat sides.
 

tylercrum

New Member
I would do that but I have no idea who would rent an air-conditioned garage.
Depending on how big these trailers actually are, we may be able to fit them in our air conditioned install bay. If they won't fit here, I know of a couple, not exactly climate controlled, bays that they could be pulled in for sure. If all that fails, there's one other option but I really don't care for the dude and I'm not 100% sure he'd even help...but send me a message and let me know how big the trailers are and I'll see what I can do about helping you getting them in here or elsewhere.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
I appreciate the replies but I abandoned this thread. I was simply asking a question about what material would be appropriate, and expressed CONCERN about applying in heat... that lead some folks way down a road that I wasn't on.
 

signman315

Signmaker
Pressure wash and paint it. There has to be a ton of equipment painters over in your area.
I will get chastised for saying this but if it was flat and had to be vinyl, Id use oracal 3165gra with 2 people or 3551gra by myself, no laminate. It'd be around .35/sq ft and has some weight to it. Its an oilfield trailer, Im honestly surprised that they'd even want to put a penny into it.
Not a bad suggestion...skilled installer could lay either by themselves, but I’m in NY so with the heat in TX probably good to have a second set of hands, if nothing more than to serve cold beers haha...the 3551ra is thicker and more rigid than a true cast and performs well over rivets if necessary and is cheaper than 3m 1080 (which would be my personal preference in a situation such as yours) but I’d say equippaint is on the money and if not painting any of the three should be fine. What are the customers expectations of durability on this job? And do they ever plan on selling them after they are done with them? I’m not at all familiar with the oilfield industry so I could be off base but answers to these questions might offer good reason to talk them into paint, better resale and durability and likely similar cost to vinyl (if you price it accordingly haha)...
 
Top