exterior life on textured surface vinyl

[mtrider]

i have a question regarding exterior mounted textured surface vinyl... what is a realistic life expectancy on these .. we have installed quite a number of these on interior applications, some over 1.5 years, with little or no noticeable change, or lifting...and a few that were up for short term exterior ...we have used both 3m ij8624 with 8524 over laminate, and mactac roughrap with rayzor overlam... i know 3m says 6 month outdoor, not sure what mactac stated durability is... the reason im asking, is we have a customer that wants to wrap a entire red brick building (3600 sq feet), with larger than life images of their athletes... but im sure they are looking for more than a 6 month life out of them... they also want these contour cut with some of the red brick exposed... my first thought was , thats alot of exposed edges, and we would probably pitch a full wrap with the bricks printed as the background, minimizing the seams.... but it is gonna be really had to justify the cost of this job, if they are going to only get 6 months- a year out of them??? is that a realistic life expectancy ? they would be in freeze/ thaw zone are, and i'm sure that would be a factor... anyone with any real experience with this ?? i did see that Arlon claims a 7 year outdoor durability, but am a little hesitant with their products, especially when they have a disclaimer that knocks it down to 6 months if it is printed on ( ?? like we're gonna just put it up without printing on it ??)... if anyone can chime in with their experience, it would be much appreciated... Thanks

 

[CS-SignSupply-TT]

mtrider, first, confirm the client's outdoor expectantcy. When I say expectantcy, I mean "...how long do they want each player's image to appear..."?

 

[rob128]

We did 12 of these (12'x30') in Southern Florida with the same vinyl and lam combination on stucco and they still look great. We are replacing them now due to an art change but they have not faded or peeled. Ours are rectangles though so I'm not sure about the effect of the contour cut.

Hope that helps,
Rob

 

[Letterbox Mike]

We've used both the MacTac and the 3M. I think MacTac states 18 months outdoors, 3M states 6. We did a job where we used both on stucco, outdoors. The 3M has been up for about 2 years now and still looks good, the MacTac failed within 3-6 months.

I'd go with 3M, but make sure your client knows it's a "promotional" grade material and there is no guarantee it'll last outside.

Also, not sure if you've installed it on brick but if not, be prepared to spend A LOT of time installing this, it goes painfully slow on anything with any serious texture or mortar joints. Quote accordingly.