Warehouse Sign Installation Help

[tintguy31794]

My father just purchased another warehouse and he is wanting me to put some Signs up for him.

I do vinyl graphics where I work, but we generally don't do big signs.. we have competition for that .

The building is 70 feet wide and I want to make a sign approximately 45 feet wide. the building is appoximately 600 ft from the highway.. He really wants it to be big.

My idea on this ( I do not do big signs help!lol) is using a ton of 4x10 polymetal sheets.

I think my biggest questions are how are we going to install these? lol.. The Beams that run through the building are in 4 ft intervals and at first thought I plan on hitting the beam all the way across. i'm even going to ask what kind of screws or anything else will I need to "screw these in place". Creating the signs are absolutely no problem.

will screwing in through the aluminum cause water leakage? do I need to caulk before I screw.

I appreciate any responses, because like i've said I am way out of my league on this one.

I'm including the text that will be on it.. I will be changing things on the signs themselves, but added it anyway. I'm also google mapping how far we are ... really need to be seen back there

Feel free to let me know the downfalls of taking on this project for him. I appreciate any input.
:signs101:

 

[washingtonsignguy]

The very First thing i would do is check with city/county sign regs, they might have a problem with a sign that big. Not sure on the building size, but around here the sign can only be as big as a certain percentage of the building. Be safe check with them and then design from there.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Get someone to paint it directly on the building. Unfortunately, even at 40' long it's not gonna be seen much less read at a distance of 600' by moving traffic.

 

[tintguy31794]

Thanks guys,

I have spoken with Planning and they tell me I have a limit of 600 square feet of signage. They are very relaxed in this town.

My hopes was to get the "moving & storage" large enough(4 ft tall) to hopefully be seen from that road. it looks tiny in Google maps, but its a little bit clearer in person.

According to the Dot Letter visibility chart a 4 ft letter should be visible from 1,000 feet away.

edit: I do understand that he does have limited visibility, which is why I am trying to make this absolutely as big as possible. Lots and lots of traffic on this road and if one person sees it and uses him then the material will be paid for ... if two people see it then the sign has made him money... The buildings backdoor is walmarts parking lot. He is looking into getting a billboard there as well.

edit again:

Washington, lol I really wish I could have a sign like that posted above my machine.. my bosses (yes two of them) know nothing about running these machines and they always blame the stupid people that sold them the stupid machine told them it would be easy.

 

[daveb]

Get someone to paint it directly on the building. Unfortunately, even at 40' long it's not gonna be seen much less read at a distance of 600' by moving traffic.

He has enough sq. ft. allowed to do 6'x100'' letters? Is that right? Visibility is a problem right? I'm sorry, you just can't do some things in vinyl (economically). A decent wall dog could put 8'x75' letters on the side... I don't think visibility will be a prob. And yes, 8' "MOVING & STORAGE" will fit in 75' in a nice condensed font like Swiss921 (I checked)

 

[Gino]

Agreed. Painting directly on the wall would be the way to go. With a 6' letter, you'd only be 90' long which is still under your regulated size. Anyone could paint a 6' letter with rollers and some tape on any wall. Even if you puttered around doing it, you could get a few letters done a day. You could have it finished within a week for about $100. worth of tape and paint and whatever the boss wanted to pay you. To get a physical sign that large, you'd be into $3,000 cost for materials alone and then you'd still have to hang it.

It will also last a long time...........

 

[MikePro]

+1 to painting
less expensive, less issues than penetrating the building, and I don't think you have to pull a permit for a paint job.

also, install some flood lights on a photoeye to light up the building when its dark. Cheapest illuminated signage you could hope for.

maybe also look into street-side signage? Someone may be willing to let you have a slot on their monument sign at/near an entrance to your lot.

 

[tintguy31794]

Great input guys. I can definitely see painting as an economical way of going. The problem with that is that I know nothing about painting and the sides of the warehouse is with the aluminum (not sure what to call it, but its ribbed and not flat).


I have actually estimated my cost of doing this (of course no time or shop cost added into this) at slightly less than $2,000 I'm assuming 10 sheets of polymetal, 3 rolls of oracal 951, 3 rolls of application tape and added $100 for misc tools/ screws/caulk. (we have a 24 30 and 52" cutter, but I chose 24" rolls since I was going to have to splice the installed vinyl anyway)

I like the idea of the lights too, there is tons of traffic on that road at night as well.

Anyone think this is just a downright bad idea to want to put this many pieces of polymetal on the side of this warehouse? I chose polymetal, because its the best I've used (i've used a very limited amount of substrates) The application of the vinyl on the substrate is nothing to me.. not a problem at all lol, i'm mainly worried if I chose the right materials and want to see if Anyone has an idea for a better material to be used.. I do not want this to have to be redone in 3-5 years.. I chose 951 in hopes that it would last closer to 10 years.

 

[Allied Digital]

Im for the painting idea! Not really much to know about it - just research what kind to use. Use your cutter/plotter for pouncing design onto paper - blue chalk and then paint. The nice part about this is if it doesn't turn out to your liking... just paint over it! Not a whole lot other than time lost! I just have a hard time with that much metal, as you say, over a great, white, empty canvas!!!
Good luck. Send us a pic when youre done!

 

[Allied Digital]

. . . I chose polymetal, because its the best I've used (i've used a very limited amount of substrates) The application of the vinyl on the substrate is nothing to me.. not a problem at all lol, i'm mainly worried if I chose the right materials and want to see if Anyone has an idea for a better material to be used.. I do not want this to have to be redone in 3-5 years.. I chose 951 in hopes that it would last closer to 10 years.

I would just use 0.040, if it were me.

 

[ProWraps]

paint. i dont know jack diddly about signs like that, but its pretty obvious paint is your best and SAFEST bet.

 

[round man]

alot of people use billboard wraps for this type of work here when they cannot afford painters rates for wall work,...they just have the banners printed and then hang them with fender washers and screws directly into the wall. its alot cheaper than most other solutions

 

[Gino]

Your 10 sheets will never, and I repeat, NEVER, lay perfectly level with each other unless you build a frame for it first. That'll be one hefty frame and expensive, too. No matter how much you try... eventually one here and there will sag from stress or some other unknown factor and your sign will look like crap quickly. When doing things of this size, just like someone else recently on this site, installation sometimes plays a bigger role than merely making a big sign. You need to factor in all the components and then approach it with your best possible try. If your best possible try isn't good enough, then you shouldn't be working outside your comfort zone. You surely don't want to piss off your Dad or have a sloppily made and installed looking sign hanging there.... especially one that big.

Painting that big is like painting a house. You only need to make a template [on your computer if you prefer] and trace it up there. For the corrugations, you just use the old game.... connect the dots. It's really very simple and once you did your first letter, the rest would just become easier and easier.

 

[daveb]

You're getting a LOT of good advice here, I would listen. The MAIN thing I was concerned about with your 4'x10' is the size of your letters are going to be under 4'. A 4' letter on the side of that building is going to look like a postage stamp. 4' sounds huge when that's all you're used to working with. The first time I had to do a layout for a 12'x30' high rise flex face I thought it was ridiculous, then I saw it out on the interstate and was very disappointed... it looked SMALL and my 6' lettering for the main line was just barely big enough. Trust me, 6'-8' letters on that building are not going to be too big. Second, if you do decide to go with the 4' material (we can get it in 5' now, check suppliers in your area) use 8' material. Since wall supports are on 4' centers it might be handy to have your material seams there.