posted
I have had several people lately call wanting nice farm/ranch type signs but they always seem to want something that will withstand the blow from a baseball bat. Apparently these damn kids have nothing better to do than destroy peoples property.
We do our share of sandblasted signs, mostly from HDU. I don't think that a wood sign would survive any better.
Anyone have suggestions for a stronger sandblasted/dimensional type sign??
Thanks!
-------------------- Amy Brown Life Skills 101 Private Address Posts: 3502 | From: Lake Helen, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Amy, those crazy kids that make HDU, have come out with a VERY dense product made for Golf Course Markers, these will withstand alot, but yes, a baseball bat WILL do damage. A baseball bat will do damage to a Tombstone. Tell em to insure it and after it's out there awhile, kids get bored and move on to the next "new" object to wreck.
-------------------- Mike Meyer Sign Painter 189 1st Ave n P.O. Box 3 Mazeppa, Mn 55956
We are not selling, we are staying here in Mazeppa....we cannot re-create what we have here....not in another lifetime! SO Here we are!!!!!!!
posted
These "trends" seem to come and go. Today the bat, tomorrow the spray paint and then something else the next day.
I have had people (in fact a village) that requested a particular type of sign for the entrance to the village. They did not want Gemini letters because they felt that "letters of that style" could promote vandalism. I explained that they had a lifetime warranty and that seemed to do the trick. That was years ago and the signs NEVER had any problem.
What about INSURANCE? Could some of these residential signs be covered by a home owner's policy?
Sometimes I think that these people are REALLY just balking at the price of the sign.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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-------------------- Mario G. Lafreniere (Fergie) J&N Signs Winter did show up! Posts: 1257 | From: Chapleau, Ontario | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
If this is like the practice of Ball-Batting mailboxes from the window of a moving car - can't they install the sign a little farther from the pavement? Like maybe inside the fence a few feet? I'm pretty sure the kids are choosing the easy targets. ________________________________________________________
A few years ago somebody one night went throughout several local towns throwing objects at lighted signs and destroyed hundreds of them. Rocks, bricks, bowling pins, etc. I was accused by quite a few business owners of doing it to drum up business. I don't do lighted signs, but I did replace a few plex faces for them. ________________________________________________________
So what are you using? Ash, hickory or aluminum?
Posts: 1859 | From: / | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Amy as Mike M has said, maybe installing the signs closer to the house or higher. We do a lot of ranch gate signs that are hung over the drive. Short of that tell the ranchers and farmers to get meaner ranch dogs. Also some C-4 burried in the ground at the base of the sign, connected to a presure sensitve detenator set about the right preasure for the impact of a baseball bat.
posted
painted a window in sarasota one day, got a call from the owner the next day....his 1st words were...."damn joe, i know i didnt pay a lot for that window paintin, but you dont have to come by and smash the window to get more work!!!!" seems the night after i painted it....they tried to break into the pawn shop, unknow to the thives, he had installed a double thick window like in autos, and all they did was break the glass, but never got inside.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Inspired by the "bullet holes" thread, maybe someone could come up with the look of splintered redwood (imitation HDU splintering of course)& dented, damaged paint. These faux dings could be available for a slight cost increase & applied as an after-market componant that could be removed after the genuine weathering takes the "new" sign out of the higher risk bracket.
posted
Slightly off the topic about the sign, but someone mentioned mailbox baseball. There is a cure for this, but it is only to be used by the vengeful.
Get a big giant mailbox. Put a normal size mailbox inside it and pour concrete in the space between the 2. You'll know it has worked when you find pieces of baseball bat laying around the base of the mailbox.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
We just finished two new monumental signs for Cultus Lake. Price wasn't an issue in the design as we were donating them (with help on the cost of materials from my suppliers.
I was determined to build a sign that was as vandal proof as possible... so I did.
We first built a concrete block wall... 24 feet long and curving. About 8 feet tall. We filled the blocks with rebar and concrete to make it tough to al except a direct blow from a very big truck.
We applied our fiberglass reinforced concrete and carved wood grain and lettering into it... and then acrylic paint. The base was finished with the 'fake' rock... a river stone. In the front of it we built a planter that is full of flowers and keeps the honest folks at least 10 feet from the sign.
We've had a bunch of beer bottles, paint balls and I'm sure a few other things slung from moving cars. Someone even took a rock and beat on it until they got tired. The scratches they produced in the paint were quick to fix.
Other than washing off the remnants of the paintballs and beer and touching up a few scratches the sign is in perfect shape... just like we planned.
At our adventure golf we construct things much the same way... bullet proof. And then we arm ALL our guests with golf clubs (Rubber coated heads of course) to give it all the torture test. So far, after over 100,000 golfers we haven't had one failure.
-dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8764 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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