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  • non wooden swing sign planning issues

    Posted by Gary Green on 16 January 2013 at 12:58

    Hi All, Sorry for not being a regular poster on the site but life been a bit hectic since I joined. I need some advice on a possible problem.

    I have a customer that wanted a wooden swinging sign for her cafe. As the building is listed she is only allowed a swinging sign and no facia sign. The sign that went through planing along with the main application was for a ‘timber sign 800mm x 600mm but no thickness mentioned.

    I originally quoted her for a painted sign as she wanted an exact colour match to the paintwork. She has now said that she wants to save some money on the labour and have a sign flood coated in vinyl. I have advised her that the colour match might not be there. I also have to find a wooden A board that can be coated in vinyl.

    My concern is that if I flood coat it with vinyl and use vinyl for the lettering and logo am I going to come up against the council? Their office is next door.

    Also with the size of the size and given that no one will see the wood could I get away with using a lighter material.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

    Gary Green replied 12 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    16 January 2013 at 17:12

    How does the customer know she is going to save money on labour?
    Is this a swinging sign or an A board?? A swinging sign would require a fixing on the building & if it’s listed & they don’t want holes I am guessing it will be an A board.
    Don’t think the actual construction material will be of to much concern to the council, it’s more to do with having permission to display a pavement board than anything but if your in doubt why not pop in the Council office & ask.
    Don’t forget that you will need a certain amount of weight in a pavement board or some way to fix it to something to stop it blowing down the road.

  • Gary Green

    Member
    17 January 2013 at 08:10

    Sorry, I’ll clarify a bit.

    They have planning permission for a timber swing sign 800 x 600 but no thickness mentioned and one A board. They are not allowed any form of facia boards or even anything on the windows.

    They wanted to reduce the labour time by having the swing sign vinyl coated and lettered rather than the time we quoted to hand paint it.

    My query is that, if I’m just going to flood coat the sign is anyone really going to notice if it’s not made of wood and given the size of it, would it be better to use something else to save weight?

    The sign and bracket was designed by an architect who I don’t realises just how heavy wood can be.

  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    17 January 2013 at 10:19

    Ok well the actual material used to manufacture the sign will be completely covered either with paint or vinyl so it is highly unlikely that someone is going to know if it’s a wooden substrate or not but what would you use instead of wood? Don’t forget that swing signs need to be heavy to stop them blowing about in the wind.

  • Martin Cole

    Member
    17 January 2013 at 12:20

    I find when you apply vinyl to wood you get the grain coming through and when you stand back you can’t tell its vinyl half the time.
    I doubt the jobsworths at the council would notice.

  • Gary Green

    Member
    17 January 2013 at 12:52

    Martin, your absolutely right. I think I’m going about this the wrong way. I just going to stick with a timber sign and have a bracket made locally sturdy enough to take the weight. Thanks again.

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