Installing Big Flat Signs to Corrugated Metal Buildings.

[Prizam]

Hello Fellow Sign Installers.

I have carefully checked this Installation Section and found no past discussions of installing signs to corrugated siding.

I guess many of us have had to install a sign on a corrugated metal sided building. The problem is the peaks and valleys and the thin metal, with nothing but insulation behind it.

For a 4 x 8 sign we can usually come up with something, but this job is very big at 40' long.

Instead of painting directly on the corrugated surface ( a tedious, distorted, less durable nightmare ) or attaching 3D letters ( too much small copy and graphics ) i want to install 10, 4 x 7 aluminum / PVC 3mm panels vertically and butted together. I can apply 3M vinyl graphics neatly to the panels and the sign will last a long time.

My current idea is to install 12' lengths of aluminum J-Channel along the bottom 40'. The vertical panels will rest in this channel and i will install a channel at the top as well. I will use long, fine threaded sheet metal screws with some sort of spacer device ( 2" lengths of PVC tubing perhaps ) and screw the J-Channel every foot at the deepest angled trough.

Where the panels butt together i will use small pieces of flat material, 2" x 2", that i will attach to the back side of the vertical seams with double stick tape. Probably 3 or 5 pieces per seam. This will keep the butt joints neat and tight.

Am i thinking right? I cannot come up with an easier or more practical technique. The bonus to this technique is there will be no visible screw heads and the J-Channels, once installed perfectly, will allow the easy slide-in and alignment, of each panel.

I will still need to secure the panels with a few screws so as not to rely solely on the channel due to flexing and temperature contractions.

I have found 12' lengths of black painted J-Channel that measure about 1/2" at the front and 1.5" at the back. I wish it had 1" at the front.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

This is my first posting to what appears a wonderful forum. I am a big fan of SignCraft magazine and have been producing signs for 30 years now.

Casper / Prizam!

 

[Prizam]

Corrugated

I have attached 2 jpgs showing the 40' sign, with all the tedious copy and logos removed.
And a drawing showing the edge of the corrugated metal and the attaching method.

 

[jasonx]

If you're meaning composite panel you'll want to leave room for expansion. So don't butt them directly together. Fill the gap with white silicone to hide it. Like on building cladding.

 

[Moze]

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Billct2]

Lots of ways todo it: fasten flat panels on the high spots using the same screws that they put the building together with or just make a big pan sign on 1x1 tube and fasten with clips on the high spots

 

[visual800]

I would use flat aluminum sheeting and make an aluminum frame maybe some 1x2 tubing. At least you can over lap the sheeting and placing it on a frame with suppot vertical braces you can make those braces hit right on your overlaps. go thru the first layer on your framing and attached that to building to hide the scews and keep a flat surface to mount sign to

 

[Bretly]

Rivets

I have used rivets on metal siding. It makes a lot of holes and doesn't hide the hardware but it holds well. The one that I did was pretty high up on the building so you couldn't see the rivets much from the ground anyways. the sign was 32" across made with 4 sheets of alupanel.

 

[Mosh]

I would build a pan box style sign with a foam backer, installed on hidden brackets with screws on the top and bottom only, none in the face. The logo part that sicks up hvb .060 aluminum to the front of the box panel.

 

[Gino]

We did this one about two years ago by applying a framework of 2" x 6" runners a few inches in from the edges. Precalculated where the seams would fall and run some vertical 2" x 6" in those areas. The sign is 12.5' tall by 40' long. By putting the boards up first, we could afford to be a little sloppy, but the aluminum composite panels fit snug all the way across and over 40' we only dropped about 3/16".

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[Pat Whatley]

I wouldn't trust J-channel top and bottom to hold the 7' tall panels in over time. It won't take much wind across the face to flex the panels enough to pop them loose. You'll need to add screws to the faces if you do it that way.

I'm doing a 3' x 24' sign right now. I'm having my frame welded up from 1" square aluminum tubing with ribs in the center where the panels will butt together. I'm going to attach the panels to the aluminum tub with VHB tape (I split the 1" rolls and lay a 1/2" strip all the way around) To install it I'll mount 16" pieces of 1" square tube to the building so that they fit just inside the frame of the sign. Pop the sign frame up, screw through the side of the frame into the mounting strips, finished look is nice and clean and will minimize the waving in the panels.

 

[WB]

I just recently replaced a sign I did about 4-5 years ago. it's roughly 16'x24' 4mm ACM we mounted it directly to the siding using metal siding screws. Took the old one down and installed the new one in less then 2 hrs.

 

[petepaz]

i had a new customer needed me to fix and re-hang a sign like this that sandy took down. the original installers only screwed in to the raised areas of the corrugated metal. after i fixed the sign by unbending and screwing the panels back to the 1x1 tube frame i hung angle metal ( L ) brackets to the building making sure they where secured to the beams. that's the important part. you can put as many screws or fasteners as you want but if you don't hit in to any of the support beams a big storm will rip it right off. then i screwed the sign in to the brackets i mounted and put a few extra screws through the sign in to the beams as well. i painted the screws white to match the alum. first now they are not so noticeable from the ground.

 

[Patrick Nickles]

Forgive the likely silly question but... How do you attach the panel(s) to the rectangular aluminum frame? Surely VHB tape alone isn't strong enough to hold the sign in place.?

I was assuming I'd have to glue the aluminum to the panel/HDU somehow (i.e. Dunabond HDU adhesive).?

I wouldn't trust J-channel top and bottom to hold the 7' tall panels in over time. It won't take much wind across the face to flex the panels enough to pop them loose. You'll need to add screws to the faces if you do it that way.

I'm doing a 3' x 24' sign right now. I'm having my frame welded up from 1" square aluminum tubing with ribs in the center where the panels will butt together. I'm going to attach the panels to the aluminum tub with VHB tape (I split the 1" rolls and lay a 1/2" strip all the way around) To install it I'll mount 16" pieces of 1" square tube to the building so that they fit just inside the frame of the sign. Pop the sign frame up, screw through the side of the frame into the mounting strips, finished look is nice and clean and will minimize the waving in the panels.