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advice please on fitting a shop facia?
i have a prospective new client with a 5m wide regular sign frame/acrylic panel sign, and he has just taken on the shop next door with the same set up.
he would like to have a new sign right across 10m width, but beween the shops is a brick pier which projects about 3" so how best would i go about bringing a new signframe panel assembly out to miss the brick pier? is it better as a wood or metal frame, or are there off the shelf assemblies for this purpose?
Dont know how best to tackle this for pricing so anyone with experience comments welcome
thanks in advance – John
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12 Replies
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I would speak to a local metal fabricator about some stand off brackets. Usually a pretty cheap and definitely the strongest method. Also, I would box in the edges to prevent the wind getting behind the sign. Wood is Ok but requires regular maintenance which will inevitably be neglected.
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you could go big g’s route mate or you could also just buy some 3″ by 2″ dressed wooden batons run them the length of the job and up each side.
some equaly spaced verticle spars… then face the lot with 1/5 inch ply. that should give you a perfect surface to work on with the sign, trim etc
a tip would be to run some felt right along the top of the wood and over hanging sides to pervent the rain getting to the wood.
or, get off cuts of alluminium and run it along the top & sides etc to giove a better finish.
the whole thing would not cost much and pretty straight foward to do… -
Big G and Rob Thanks both for your advice 😀
Rob by “dressed” do you mean pressure treated?? 😕
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We’ve just had exactly the same problem on a couple of High Street sites and the easiest way of ‘bridging’ the brick column was to use a couple of fabricated stand off brackets just as Big G suggested (we got a metal fabricator near to the site to fold some up for us – he only charged us a fiver each). If you want our drawing of the brackets we used let me know.
Robs idea for making up a timber/plywood fascia is fine and dandy but IMHO would be quite a bit more costly and time consuming ( 😥 sorry Rob)
Guy
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I would say the same as Rob.. 3″ X 2″ pressure treated across the top, bottom and sides a few vertical uprights then mount the frame directly to it, i wouldn’t bother with ply or flashing..
Might be dearer but no f*nnying around positioning brackets and the like..Simon
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Simon thanks for your thoughts M8
Guy yes id like your drwg if thats ok, email me john@vsigns.info
Cheers all – john
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Hi guy
No problem mate I actually agree in some ways. It would be more costly & probably more time consuming but we aren’t really talking days. Ide think more hours…I would think Building out and concealing would give a stronger & better overall finish. Fair enough of if you have to draft in a joiner to do the work, he will take his time and cost a few bob at that. But this isn’t really finishing joinery work & something I would do myself…
Just a straightforward frame and sheeted. Like Simon has said, you wouldn’t even need the sheeting ide just suggest that to give a better/flatter bridging join over the wall that’s stepped out. This would give you a perfectly flat area to work with & fasten too.All well me saying this mate, I obviously haven’t seen the brackets you are talking about, so excuse me if im way off track, but if you have 3 inch brackets dotted here and there suspending the sign. From the underside of the sign and sides, you will see a cavity. To hide this you would have to fix strapping to seal. Sealing them will leave a cavity at the top allowing rain water, birds etc to get down the back. To seal it all around the outside you would be as well just running the dressed 3”x 2” around in the first instance giving a stronger support and boxing it all in, in one?
Imp guessing this but ide think john will use something like a panatrim frame?
If this is the case and on fastened here and there I think this may cause gradual waves along the whole length making the butting up of each sign section pretty difficult to get flush…Again, please correct me if im wrong guy, not saying your wrong just throwing ideas back and forward here. Always good to get various solutions to this type of thing. 😀
John when I say dressed mate, I mean with smooth finish. Not off saw… there maybe different terms of describing this… basically off saw is rough finish to the wood. Dressed is nice smooth ready to paint surface. No need to sand or anything. (hope i got that right now :lol1: )
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Rob thanks again, yes I would probably use cherwell proframe same as panatrim I think and I can see what youre saying about having a flush surface making life easier joining up etc, dressed timber I ‘ve heard it termed as “planed” amounts to same finish – thanks for explaining
😛
John -
John, I use a really reliable steel fabricator in Crayford – Unitek Fabrications. Give them a call if you can’t get stand off brackets ‘off the shelf’
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thanks tan man
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you could consider a dibond or ally folded pan with 4″ return, just notch out for the pier, quick and easy.
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Cheers Elite
I’m spoiled for choices now 😀
John
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