This question was asked by the guy who bought our sign company in St. Louis. Here's his question.
Have a problem with a HDU sign we did. This is a routed sign that I installed about 6 months ago. It is mounted to a piece of MDO that was secured to the brick structure.
It was attached to the plywood with construction adhesive and screws that were hidden under snap caps. You may have to in large picture to see caps. The sign has split and now looks like a map of the US. At first I thought it was the paint that cracked but once I got closer it’s the HDU itself. Any clue what I may have done wrong?
My thoughts to him were, just guessing I'd think it was a expansion, contraction problem between the mdo and the hdu. Probably if you hadn't glue the pieces together it wouldn't of happened. Over size drilling the holes a little would let the hdu move. Any other suggestion
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
I've glued many pieces of hdu to mdo and never had this problem. What I see is that the sign is tight between the brick. I think that caused the problem. Expansion of the sign or the brick or both made it even tighter. Is it exposed to the sun? Being black would increase the problem.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
It's only a problem on top- could water or rain have got in & tried to swell the plywood?
Very peculiar...
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
I'm with goddinfla on this one...looks like the sign was too wide to fit the space so the left border was trimmed off...then I bet that the sign was forced in between the columns...if that is what happened then with heat the brick and sign expanded into each other...probably why we see the breakage in the center...pressure coming in from both sides of the sign.
[ January 30, 2014, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Rusty Bradley ]
Posted by Mikes Mischeif (Member # 1744) on :
Yeah. Eight bolts on a 4 foot sign? That's 4 too many.
That thing was pulled and pushed in every direction.
[ January 29, 2014, 10:56 PM: Message edited by: Mikes Mischeif ]
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
All valid suggestions. Why use a material that rots with one that doesn't? Using aluminum for a backer, not jamming the sign into a tight space and anchoring the sign with studs set into oversized holes with silicone most likely would have prevented it.
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Im with Wayne on this one, From the begining I never trusted using MDO as a backer, and in this install, it doesn't even need one. Im going with the tightness of the install, and the MDO.
Posted by stein Saether (Member # 430) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)