Block Wall for School

Pretty sure they make a vinyl that is designed to go on concrete

 

Arlon 6700 is made for conforming to masonry. But, If it is painted with this new Low VOC crap, then nothing will stick.

 

In schools, day care centers, hospitals and most grocery stores and food establishments, you now hafta be careful what ink you use. Eco-sol is not one of them. I don't know about latex.

 

We just wrapped a block wall just like this at a local University. We used 3m's LX480mC and it turned out great!

 

Something like this? This is something I've seen recently

 

I use 3M 480 with the 8548 lam. Works great.

 

I use the same 3M cast I wrap vehicles with. Just make sure to heat it well. I bought a stiff paint roller so I could push hard into the grooves and get it to sink in.

 

https://www.fellers.com/fellers-sho...-tsa-4-two-handed-textured-surface-applicator

Not sure this'll help or not.

 

that looks like a pretty nifty tool, i might have to get one.

 

This thing is stupid expensive but very much worth it. We had to do some ATM's that were painted with a finish similar to stucco. The sign company that did the wraps before did nothing in the way of heating, let alone actually pressing the material into the substrate, so that only the peaks of the stucco actually adhered to the film. The first one I pulled up to was waving in the breeze.
The TSA-4 will receive harbor freight's brand of heat gun well, and does a great job of conforming/mashing the vinyl into the peaks and valleys of the surface.
Here is a picture of the top of an ATM, half has been heated and rolled, half just tacked in place.

 

Also, small bit of advice for people new to this tool. Make sure you don't put the heat gun all the way into the TSA-4. Set it back as far as you can, then clamp it down. You can get heat streaks from throwing 1000 degrees at the wrap as you roll it if the heat gun is too close to the surface.

 

Yeah I agree, I believe the heat gun is supposed to be mounted so that it is an inch away from the substrate and move at a speed of 4" for second.

 

The schools around here specify that the vinyl can be removed with no damage to the wall. They use a low VOC epoxy which sticks to the walls and cleans easily, but can pull off easily with household tape (teachers are required to use blu-tak and cannot tape things to the wall).

Removeable adhesive might work but test first. If you have this language in your contract (it is more common than you might think), check with the building engineer and add the cost of repainting into your bid. Make sure you advertise the fact you are doing this, and contact the building engineer so they get involved, otherwise you will be undercut in your bid by somebody who is not taking re-painting into account.

 

This is good advice. Also, definitely talk with the Superintendent (or whoever is paying for the project) and building engineer about painting themselves. We work with ALOT of schools, and I very rarely paint. The Superintendent has the engineer and his maintenance staff paint to keep costs down. They don't want to pay my hourly rate for painting.

Also make sure you find out the exact paint used so you can look up cure times.

 

Or if you like to save yourself a lot money do we did and made our own tool. Get a roller replacement head, a paint roller handle, a clamp and a heat gun with an extended 50' cord all for less than $75 total and it works perfect.