Formed Lettering but the customer wants it glued instead of drilled

[Jo Hill]

A customer wants some text to be installed on a brick surface. "RESIDENT LIVING" in 7" tall letters.

I'm going to do acrylic lettering from Gemini.

I would normally stud mount these using a stencil but my customer wants to know if I can just hang them using f-26 construction adhesive.

I have never done an install using just f26. Is this a reliable install method?

I'm thinking I'll just get a stencil mount and maybe tape the letters to the wall using some duck tape until the construction adhesive dries?

 

[Moze]

So Leech doesn't recommend ANY of their products for acrylic but the CUSTOMER is recommending what to use?

If he's just worried about the brick being drilled and the brick is smooth/even enough, you can tape-mount them along with Lexel. It will hold.

If that doesn't work for him, hand him the letters. He obviously knows what he's doing.

 

[Billct2]

Yea, you can do a combo vhb/lexel and make sure you have good coverage and the brick is clean and that will probably work...probably

 

[unclebun]

We've done Gemini plastic letters pad mounted on corrugated metal buildings with just GE 100% silicone. over 20 years later, they are still up. Seems like on brick it might hold even better as the brick has irregularities that would hold the silicone even better.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Lol, I had to VHB and Lexel some letters a month ago on a brick monument...never done it before. I have my fingers crossed that they last. The customer requested it and I told them I've never done this before on brick so we're taking a chance here.

 

[Z SIGNS]

You could have the studs to line up with the mortar lines.
If your worried what the wall looks like with small stud holes after the sign comes down just think what it's going to look like with all the glue to clean up.

 

[fixtureman]

I did a memorial wall letters for our fire department and just use GE silicone using a card board templet to hold them until the silicone set up had to remove them when they moved the wall to new location and had one heck of a time getting the letters off

 

[MikePro]

VHB tape tabs on backs of letter will hold long enough for 100% silicone or whatever adhesive you use to set. the thickness of the VHB tape also allows for the adhesive to have some substance as well rather than just mashing it thin/flat to the wall.

tape paper pattern to wall, and just slice away the majority of the center of the letters away, so that you just have to align baseline/corners of letters during install.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I always shake my head when a client doesn't want to drill because it will "ruin the wall" I wonder what their face looks like when they have to try to scrape polyurethane construction adhesive off the wall...

 

[signbrad]

If you can't stud mount make sure you use an adhesive that does not dry hard. Silicone or Lexel has a much greater chance of sticking to the acrylic. These adhesives allow movement, whereas a hard glue does not. The bond to the brick is not nearly as much a problem as the bond to the plastic.

My preference would be to use the smallest size perforated glue pads (Gemini GI-005), adhering them directly to the backs of the letters with Weld-On 16 (no studs) and then adhering the pad to the brick with silicone or Lexel. I am assuming your letters are flat cutout letters. There would be a slight stand off created by the pads, of course, but I generally prefer a standoff as opposed to a flush mount. Unless the letters have skinny strokes, you should be able to hide the pads behind the strokes. Of course, if your Gemini letters are dimensional, you can simply order them with small glue pads already installed.

Brad in Kansas City