Metal letters onto brick

[Hot Vinyl]

I have a potential customer that wants to put metal letters onto a brick wall. They were attached to a brick wall not attached to the building with studs but when Hurricane Harvey came they popped them off. So we can not reattach with studs. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what I might use to attach them to the brick wall of the building? The letters weigh probably around 2-3 pounds each.

 

[2B]

Why can you not re-attach with studs?
if the studs are broken in the letters, do you have the ability to re-tap / make new threaded holes?

are these flat or cast letters?
if flat, coat the back with liquid adhesive and "stick" to the wall

 

[Hot Vinyl]

Why can you not re-attach with studs?
if the studs are broken in the letters, do you have the ability to re-tap / make new threaded holes?

are these flat or cast letters?
if flat, coat the back with liquid adhesive and "stick" to the wall

Thank you for responding to me. Unfortunately the studs are broken in them and I could retap them but even if I did this the wall the customer wants the letters to go on is about a foot thick and I would have to drill several holes through brick. They were wanting it to be just applied to the outside. These letters are not a solid flat backing they are hollow. Any suggestions?

 

[2B]

hollow back letters have limited contact points, so the adhesive backing will not work.

* re-tap the current letter
* make new letters
I'm sure there are options, but I cannot think of one that is going to offer structural integrity

Why would you have to drill through the brick?
unless these are very large letters, several inches into the surface should be enough.
all studs need to be in the surface for best support

a hammer drill and good bits will make short work on drilling.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Thank you for responding to me. Unfortunately the studs are broken in them and I could retap them but even if I did this the wall the customer wants the letters to go on is about a foot thick and I would have to drill several holes through brick. They were wanting it to be just applied to the outside. These letters are not a solid flat backing they are hollow. Any suggestions?

I have NO idea how you'd stick letters to brick without studs...that makes no sense. Get a hammer drill and redrill the holes? Unless I'm missing something I don't see any issue here?? Do you just not want to drill hoes?? If the customer is saying not to drill holes then tell him good luck with that and walk away. It was a hurricane, shit happens.

 

[Johnny Best]

Get the right size drill bit and a screw extractor and get the broken studs out.

 

[Gino]

After reading your profile, I believe you're in a little over your head. Therefore, rather than trying to fiddle around with these used letters which are broken and beat up, tell the guy you can't do it because you don't have enough to go on. You'll need to order new letters and have them formed properly with studs and an installation guide. If putting in new studs is too much for you, making a new pattern will be totally out of the question. All the guy can do it walk away, but at least you were honest with him.

 

[MikePro]

missing some specs here, or at least photos. what are the letters made of?

my first thought is to simply add new studs, as stated above. the pattern is already drilled-into the wall so re-mounting should be a breeze. if holes are filled with old broken studs, then rip them out.... no, you do not have to drill all the way through the wall unless your intent is to bolt it from the backside, a process reserved for much much heavier construction applications. 1-2" into the brick is plenty.

if adding new studs to letters is outside of your scope, then how do you intend to make a new pattern? however you do, then mark a bunch of spots at ~10" spacing around the perimeter, get some 1" angle iron and cut some 1" tabs & tapcon drill them into the brick, cap it with the letter & secure with screws through the return of the letter.

if you're hoping to simply tape/glue these to the building..... stop right there. never ever think that way again.

 

[Moze]

A picture is worth a thousand words....

 

[ams]

Put new studs in them, if possible use 10-24 or 1/4" X 3" or if you want to go crazy use 4". If you use the proper hammer drill and masonry bit, it'll go through like butter.

 

[signage]

Sounds to me like the OP in over his head on this job! Telling him what to do is only going to lead to more questions. If they don't understand the basis of something like this they may be in the wrong industry/profession.

 

[Gino]

I had gotten the feeling the letters were not going back to the original wall. The run-on sentences make that a little hard to decipher.

 

[petepaz]

what if you mount the old letters to some sort of panel/backer then mount that to the wall with anchors?