Question Sign Post Structure

[mikestickers]

I have a customer that has an LED sign board (13ft wide x 8ft tall) and the sign is 23ft from the ground up to the top of the LED board. The customer got approved to go 33ft (10ft taller) by the city. So my question is, does anyone know a sign engineer that knows pole strength and wind load? I'm on the coast in Gulfport, MS. and can't find anyone around here......

Larry

 

[JTBoh]

Try Murdoch Engineering.

It ain't gonna be cheap to build that... 27 cubic yards of concrete maybe

 

[Rick]

Not any engineer will work, you need to find an engineer licensed for your state...
You question is vague as to post size since we don't know what the total structure looks like. I would design the sign as far as you can take it. Send it in for engineering, but I imagine you need 12" min post size to start with.

I recommend YJ, they are licensed in 49 states and have great customer service.

https://yjinc.com

By the way, I admire the huevos you have in attempting this... most sticker shops screw up the simplest of electrical signs... I hope you are charging enough... and have the licensing for it.

 

[mikestickers]

Thanks guys, Yes we are Licensed Contractors and our sign shop is a division of the company and can tackle a big project like that but not to often do we take on projects like this. But sign height, wind load is a different story compared to building code. The pole now is a 14 to 12 inch tapered pole mounted on a concrete footing but the one major factor is, can the existing pole be added to or would a new pole be needed along with foundation. Taking the existing sign up another 10 ft. see attached photos....

 

[JTBoh]

You need to know what the existing foundation is - may be in archives somewhere, especially if that sign was built after Big K. If you find that, you may be able to use existing foundation and pole stump with boltplate for a taller pole. Feed them tat info and they should be able to spec pole cutoff point, boltplate size, etc.
If it's not in archives, digging up a parking lot isn't any fun.

IIRC Murdoch is listed in all 50 states.

 

[mikestickers]

Right!...........Your absolute correct. It was put in before Katrina for sure, they had another sign co. install the LED board and they cut off about 4ft of the original pole. When they installed the new LED. that claim it was to heavy for the existing pole and did not tell the owner they were cutting off 4 ft. the owner was pissed, not to mention he paid them up front and they will not fix it. Anyways thanks for your help, I contacted https://yjinc.com see what they say......

 

[Brandon708]

Try this site https://www.engineeringexpress.com/sign-post-footing-calculator-2/

I found it when I was trying to figure out what type of pole I should use for a sign.

 

[Rick]

So, the sign originally had an EMC - that was removed, another attached to it - but is now 10' taller?
(edit - so the cut off some of the post, and you want to restore it to it's original height?)

Were there drawings submitted to the city?
Like JTBoh states: are there drawings of the original footing/details archived?

You're going to find out soon enough that most likely if the post/footing was designed for the originally EMC - adding 10' will be problematic. If you are restoring it to it's original height, it's imperative you find the original submittal.

By the way, we discussed something fairly similar recently... https://signs101.com/threads/how-to...-pre-existing-pylon-sign.149499/#post-1400367

oh look, asphalt is covering the footing... hmmmmm, time to put another pancake on the rabbit...

 

[mikestickers]

Rick, the city has nothing. Come to find out it was a (under the table political job) non permitted job when it was originally installed. The city has nothing on record. But no, the sign was originally 25ft tall, then Lightning Fast Signs chopped off 6ft. of the top of the original pole. According to them, the existing pole wouldn't hold their new LED board they installed. LFS did not tell the owner they had to chop off 6ft. thus putting the sign below the tree line. They butchered the entire job but won't go into that...........Nonetheless we are now instead going to remove the new LED board, abandon the now shortened pole and moving the sign 6ft east and installing a new footing and 12" pole going back to 30tf tall....(engineered by Nationwide Sign Engineering). I am a licensed builder / sign shop in three states but when doing jobs like this we always get an Engineering Co sealed prints. The safety and liability is a huge factor. I originally asked, does anyone know a sign engineer because the one we used retired.