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A cutomer wants a name change on a sign. The sign is made of 3/4" plywood-hand painted-brown lettering on a white background. The sign is 8'x16'. Lucky for me the name change is at ground level. The paint is pealing of, but the plywood seems to be in good shape. The customer wants the name change now with the possibility of a new sign in the near future. My delima, I have put Kilz on and one coat of whit paint. (the area is only 68"w x 3 1/2"h)The new white paint sticks out pretty good. I have made up vinyl lettering (in black) and was going to lay it. But it sure is not going to blend in well with the other two names or any part of the sign. I could wait until my brown vinyl comes in, or stencil it and paint it brown...What to do??? This job like all jobs could lead to a new job. So, I want it to look like it has never been touched....
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Do what YOU think is right. Maybe recoat the background with a creamy/coffee/dirty colour to roughly match the existing background first, then brown paint the letters.
-------------------- "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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Whether you paint it or do the vinyl, just be sure that the customer knows that it's a temporary sign. It already has some years on the wood and won't last as long as a result.
Word of caution...a great many customers will ask you to "change" a sign with the intent to get a better one later. Most will wait until the quick fix sign fails before they call you back for the better signage. I call this the "good 'nuff" mentality. If you give them a sign and it looks "good 'nuff" for a few years, it'll be hanging there for a long time.
Most jobs do lead to other work, but just make sure you don't develop a reputation for doing "good 'nuff" signs. You might want to spend a few minutes on a design for this customer's future sign and give them a peek at it. (Just be sure to keep the design when you leave.)
Hope this helps... Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Jim... Could you not panelize by painting the part you have just re-done in white with 1-Shot Medium Brown? You know, the whole bottom of the sign a brown rectangle...then just stick on white vinyl copy or hand-letter in white? Just a suggestion. I have to polish turds here all the time. Just a "good-enuff" mentality like Ray sez. But winter is fast approaching and we all need to buy Chritmas presents... Love- JILL
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I'm with Jill. The panel almost always works when your "polishing a turd" (funny Jill). It also eliminates the good-n-uff issue as you can design it plain or fancy.
-------------------- Terry Baird Baird Signs 3484 West Lake Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Posts: 790 | From: Canandaigua, New York | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Great post and great replies. All the things mentioned above are why we do "restore" old flatpainted work. Labor to redo an old sign is not that much cheaper than starting fresh and then the client has a brand new sign! Just say "NO" to repaints!
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New day with new information. The customer is a Realstate owner/agent, whom I owe a favor to. He said the property management company owns the sign. The customer said that it was brought to his attention when someone had called about the property and asked for the listing agent, (which had been fired). The customer said that he wanted his name on it and that the property may be sold within a couple of weeks. And if not sold then he would contact the property management company about a new sign. Thanks for all of your input, some great ideas...
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Sounds to me like you don't want to waste too much time on this baby. Since you already painted white, why not cut and apply a mask for the new lettering and paint a brown panel over it like Jill suggested. Peel letters, voila, all done.
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Job is done, well almost. I applied thin black vinyl lettering over my newly white painted background. It doesnt look to out of line with the rest of the sign. The problem I ran into was I installed the lettering in three sets because of the 50mph winds. I applied the first set wet. It did not stick. The temp was around 30. The other two sets went up fine dry with no bubbles. Can somebody tell me what lesson I have learned from this? thanks...
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