Refinish on 10 year old sign

[SignManiac]

I made this sign ten years ago and it should have been repainted at least three years ago. It was nearly gone beyond repair as some of the paint on the HDU was gone, enough that the UV was starting to degrade some of the HDU in places. The client didn't want to spend money any sooner than he had to on getting it refinished. Ten years of direct sun in Florida with the sign facing south is pushing it.

Anyway, took the sign down, pressure washed it. Total re-prime and repaint and looks good as new. Just have to re install it once they finish painting the exterior of his building. Not sure who will be doing it in another ten years time. I hope I'm doing something else by then!

 

[signgal]

gorgeous! People are stupid... waiting to spend the money probably increased the cost!

 

[WOODSWAY]

Is that smaltz in the letters and lower panel?

 

[Gino]

 

[SignManiac]

Is that smaltz in the letters and lower panel?

Nope, it's just HDU blasted with a courser grit and a gloss paint finish. Poor mans smaltz you might say

 

[sign_student]

WOw

I can't believe how nice that sign is... It makes me want to look at it a lot LOL

 

[SignManiac]

Thanks student, I try hard to make every one of my signs unique and one of a kind. It's good for business, and the only reason I'm still making them. Not always an easy task when you've made thousands and thousands of signs over a lifetime.

 

[Dave Drane]

Lovely sign. You would think people would take enough pride in their business to keep their image upgraded.

 

[GAC05]

Does look brand new, nice work.


wayne k
guam usa

 

[SignManiac]

Thanks Wayne, truth be told, it looks better than the first time around. I tweaked the colors a little for stronger contrast...

 

[skyhigh]

dosen't get much better than that!!!
Looks like a perfect paint job. Great detail.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

i can't believe they didn't look at that gorgeous sign and wished they'd had it looking like that sooner!

it's just beautiful!

 

[Jillbeans]

I thought it was smaltz too.
You're sneaky....but I like that.
Looks fresh as a daisy.
Love....Jill

 

[Aaron SDF]

Very relaxing to see HDU lasting as it should. Most failures I have seen tend to involve a motor vehicle.

The paint will fade over time especially in Florida, but it has been resurrected wonderfully and should last at least another 10. Nice job.

 

[GB2]

Very nice job, I was wondering if you could elaborate a little on the refinishing process you used and what paint was originally used and what paint you refinished with.

 

[SignManiac]

Some of the original paint work was done with acrylic latex along with 1-shot enamel. The artwork was printed on an old encad and clear coated. The print was pretty well shot after five year and would have been easy and cheap to reprint, but the client didn't care.

This time, I pressure washed and sanded everything, then laid down two coats of primer. From there we put between 2-3 finish coats of each color. The digital print this time was done on a Roland SolJet with two good coats of UV clear. Originally I gilded the shells carvings with 23k gold leaf. This time I used a Krylon metallic gold and clear coated these as well to seal them so they will not tarnish and turn to a dark bronze.

That's pretty much all there is to it. The biggest problem with most signs it the clients put up a sign and never touch it again. Not even to wash dirt and road grime off. Signs will last a lot longer if customers would only given them even a minimum amount of care and maintenance. I tell all of my customers that they can extend the life of their signs twofold if they take care of them. They still don't do it.

 

[TheSellOut]

Nice Work Maniac, it looks great!! I tell ya, the layout is nice too, sometimes I look back at signs I made when I first started, which is close to the 10 years now, and wonder..."what the hell was I thinking with that layout". It is most certainly not the case here!

 

[GB2]

Thanks for the detail, I've moved almost exclusively to acrylic latex paints myself and have been very happy with the results. The one thing that sometimes still causes grief is aluminum.

 

[SignManiac]

GB2, how so with the aluminum? Not sure I get what you mean.

 

[GB2]

I simply meant that I find aluminum one of the most difficult things to get a good, lasting coat of paint on. Strangely enough, the acrylic latex paints yield some of the best results, though I did just get a call to check a job from last year that has something wrong with the paint on the aluminum posts. Also, I just tried a high quality self etching aluminum primer and paint 2 days ago, which completely flaked off yesterday. I literally stripped all the remaining paint with a vacuum cleaner....so much for specialized aluminum paint. I do attempt to do the proper prep too, I know that would be the first thing to be suspect in a poor aluminum adhesion issue.

 

[SignManiac]

The aluminum was acid etched first? That makes a big difference. Also if possible, I try to use as much factory painted aluminum as I can and lightly sand, careful not to burn through the paint if I'm painting with another color.

Another thing to consider with aluminum is powder coating. It's not that expensive and gives great results. I don't hesitate to powder coat on any high end jobs. Just build it into the price of the project and be sure to tell the client you're doing it because it is a superior finish.