Installation on glass covered facade?

[unclebun]

Another day another weird installation. New store moving into an old building, long disused. It was originally a 19th century/turn of century brick building, that some time after the lake was dammed in 1930 was refurbished with the then-modern black architectural glass that is stuck to the masonry with asphaltic mastic. You can see marks on the glass that show the original signage had been individual letters that were adhered to the glass. The previous sign had been a giant internally lit boot that was mounted to a metal structure bolted to the flat roof, which had caused lots of interior damage from leaks. They removed that structure and foamed the roof. They hung a temporary sign from a couple of 1/4"x2" metal straps hung over the parapet and attached to the back of the parapet. But since it wasn't secured at the bottom, it flapped in the wind and they lost the sign in a storm.

So now they want us to make and install a new sign. They just want a flat sign, and they are thinking 4'x16', not lit. They just had the awning installed, and the awning company used a diamond drill bit to drill into the glass and brick, cooling it with water. Then they used what look like 1/4" or 5/16" screws to put the awning up.

Anybody have any experience putting a sign on a facade like this? Would it be better to do what the awning company did to mount some stringers to screw the sign to or to weld a series of angle iron hangers to mount over the parapet on which to mount stringers? Or something else I haven't thought of?

 

[Billct2]

If it's just a flat sign I would think mounting tape & lexel would hold. Maybe take advantage of the surface and design something that has really complex
shapes, Letterhead style and apply straight to the glass like it was painted.

 

[unclebun]

If it's just a flat sign I would think mounting tape & lexel would hold. Maybe take advantage of the surface and design something that has really complex
shapes, Letterhead style and apply straight to the glass like it was painted.

Possibly, but what I was wanting to do was something that doesn't make it harder for the next tenant. If I stuck it up with a bunch of Lexel and VHB, that would be a mess. That and the sign being right over a sidewalk. Granted, the awning would slow the sign falling...

 

[unclebun]

Well, in this area average life for a business like the one going in there would be 2 years. And chances are I'll get called to change the sign when something else goes in. Now that the building is refurbished and usable again. Though they were dealing with a sudden underground plumbing leak when I went there to look at it...

 

[Johnny Best]

Go to Brooklyn Hardware https://www.panelclip.com/ for hanging hardware on new sign and future businesses can use same hardware.

 

[bowtievega]

I think I would much rather bond a new sign up then drill a bunch of holes thru those glass panels. GE makes a silicone adhesive specifically for bonding to glass panels. We mounted a bunch of rpc letters to some window by bonding some letter backs to the windows then clip mounting the letters. Use a thicker tape 1/8” and adhesive. Gives you enough room to wire cut the backers off the windows for removal

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm glad someone out there is willing to take these jobs... I wouldn't of

 

[unclebun]

I think I would much rather bond a new sign up then drill a bunch of holes thru those glass panels. GE makes a silicone adhesive specifically for bonding to glass panels. We mounted a bunch of rpc letters to some window by bonding some letter backs to the windows then clip mounting the letters. Use a thicker tape 1/8” and adhesive. Gives you enough room to wire cut the backers off the windows for removal

But would a bonding method work for a 4'x16' sign as they want, or only for individual cutout letters?Seems like it would take a lot of adhesive to put up a sign like that securely, and could you wire-saw a 4'x8' off the wall later?

 

[ad41061]

I have a job like this coming up soon, shop front covered in Black Glass I tryed to drill with dimond drill but it shattered in thousands of pices luckly it was a spare panel they had for me to test, looking to glue the sign on but they want a halo effect sign

 

[Yeahgor]

I think you are more then lucky. Guys from Awning company already did most dangerous part of your work.
Their construction definitely has the horizontal metal square pipe on top. And all construction nice mounted to the glass wall.
Now you need just make metal stripes from their top metal rafter to the top of parapet (as previous installed did), paint it in front-side color matching paint and mount your sign on this vertical metal stripes.

 

[unclebun]

If anyone is interested, here are pictures of the finished sign. We did it Saturday morning. Finally decided to drill holes. Used 5/16" diamond tipped hole saw bit. Used a paper template to locate the holes. Then used a masonry bit to drill the brick for the1/4" tapcons. Mounted the brackets, then used nuts and bolts to attach the sign to the brackets. From arrival to final drive-by took less than 4 hours. One bit lasted through all 16 holes in the glass (a lot better than the last time I used diamond hole saws on a granite monument). The customer was ecstatic with the result. And I liked it too.

 

[Billct2]

Looks great

 

[Johnny Best]

That came out really nice UncleBun!

 

[signage]

nice job!