Heat Welded hems vs. sewn

[JoySigns]

I read somewhere that heat welded banner hems are much stronger than a sewn banner hem. That leads me to my question; for a 22' long by 6' tall banner my options are: 13 oz. digital with welded hems or 16 oz. sewn hems, the banner is to be attached to a wall at all of the grommets. Is the 13 oz. sufficient? OR the heavier weight always better in spite of the sewn hems?

 

[Sticky Signs]

How long does the banner need to be up for?
I'd go with 16oz because it will be more durable. Banners up against a wall take a good beating from the wind whacking it against the building. IMO the hems are about the same. Some say weld is better and some say sewing is better. I've used both with good results.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

BTW... Happy Birthday JoySigns!

 

[G-Artist]

Like Sticky Signs asked, what is the expected life?

No banner should be up for more than 3 months as they are designed to be temporary.

When engineering a banner always engineer it for double what your customer tells you.
If it is for 1 month, make it last 3. 13oz is fine. Anything longer, go with 16oz.

Some political subdivisions have regulations on how long a banner can be used so you need
to know what the regs are if any.


Screwed to a wall and for short-term use, I doubt you'd have a failure hemming with banner
tape and then installing grommets.

 

[JoySigns]

They will certainly hope for longer than three months, but have no specific time frame. They are waiting for permanent signage but the landlord has to remove a mess of old signage first and it is uncertain how long that will take. I am not talking taped hems, I'm talking heat welded hems.

 

[G-Artist]

What I am saying is that the hem really doesn't matter if the entire banner is
being fastened to a blg. side with screws. The failure point, if any, will be
at the grommets.

Proper screws with fender-type washers (you can cover the washers with a
piece of vinyl for appearance) should be used.

Sometimes we add a folded over scrap pieces of vinyl and insert them where
the grommets are placed, still using banner tape for hemming.

Hemmed vs. sewn is usually a topic when pole pockets or rope/webbing is
the manner used to affix the banner to its location.

 

[Sticky Signs]

Which do you have access to? Welder or sewing machine? Like I said, they're about the same so go with whichever is more convenient/cheaper.