posted
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
-------------------- Tom & Kathy Durham House Springs, MO Posts: 654 | From: House Springs, MO | Registered: Apr 1999
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posted
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.
-------------------- Dennis Goddard
Gibsonton Fl Posts: 1050 | From: Tampa Fl USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
It's only a problem on top- could water or rain have got in & tried to swell the plywood?
Very peculiar...
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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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.
posted
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.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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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.
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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