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problem with Dibond panels warping
hi guys – recently put up 2 Dibond panels with printed faces above restaurant, approx size 4450 x 975 overall, screwed into wooden fascia behind as i have done many times before. Unfortunately these babies are warping all over the place and look terrible. It has been severely cold here and below freezing most nights, but i understood Dibond to be impervious to shifts in temperature.
Any solutions?
Martin
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8 Replies
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Is it proper Dibond or another brand of composite and if so do you know the specification (i.e face thickness)
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ouch, never seen that before, not even on the cheap hoarding. well, I tell a lie… I have seen it ‘look’ warped but it’s only when the wood to which it’s attached has moved.
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like Hugh I have only seen and experienced very mild distortion on cheap hoarding grade and even then you have to look at the right angle to see the deformed profile in the right light.
Martin post a photo please
John
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Hi
i think you will find that it is not the Dibond warping of its own accord but the timber which is expanding & contracting. This causes the panels to warp in between the mounting points. I did an hoarding of 170 meters and when it contracted it shrunk by approximately 10mm-15mm every couple of 8×4’s. This was obviously cheap grade plywood but most unprotected wood will have some sort of expansion & contraction.Kev
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What sort of condition was the wooden facia in when you installed the panels Martin?
I would think this had more to do with the actual wooden facia rather than the panels. If you have insalled a lot of these sort of panels all the same way & you are only having problems with one of them then chances are the cause is not the panels themselves but something else like the wooden facia or movement of the whole building. -
Have to own up, they are not genuine Dibond panels but "generic" composite stuff – probably from the far east. Been on to supplier and they sound as if they are going to replace them + printed graphic, which makes me think I’m not the first complaint they’ve had. As far as the wooden fascia goes, there were already composite panels there when i came along and they were sitting fine, so it seems like the cheap substrate is the culprit (won’t be doing that again!)
As for fitting new panels, I’m tempted to just fix the top and let them hang in a decorative frame like you would with Perspex…what do you think?
Photo’s to follow….
martin
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Long as it’s a brand you know is OK you are normally alright Martin, was this hoarding board that you used? Hoarding board has a thinner aluminium face covering which is why it is unsuitable for trays. Possibly also has a higher air content mixed in with the foam/plastic core.
It’s the air expanding/contracting with temperature changes that causes the warping with foamex boards. Generally the cheaper the foam board the more air it contains & the more it is affected by temperature. Not come across it myself but possibly the same applies to composites especially hoarding board that has a thinner face film. -
Use oversize holes and capped screws ”not quite tight” to allow movement.
The only ones I would do up dead tight are the ones at the middle join. Dissimilar materials will always expand/contract at different rates, wood absorbs moisture like a sponge and will expand more than composite. Likewise as it dries out it will cause the panels to buckle if they’re fixed tight.
Funny how people use the term Dibond when referring to any type of composite.
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