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Street Banner Woes

TheSnowman

New Member
Just did my first street banner. It was 4' X 15'. Did it out of 13oz material, and had grommets every foot. My intent was for the "installer" to run cables top and bottom and zip tie each grommet to the cables. I just got a call from the customer and apparently, the city (aka installer) just zip tied my banner to one that was already there that was the same size (cabled on the top) and then just hooked a rope to the bottom two corners of my banner, and it lasted a whopping 3 hours with the 50MPH winds we're having today.

So my question is...am I crazy to think that it was installed wrong because when I do them I have a cable top and bottom, and they last months w/o any wear? I know this is going to turn into "we do it this way all the time and they're fine"...but A) whoever decided to install it on the stormiest day we've had in years, should have thought that out a little, and B) wouldn't it make sense that when you DOUBLE THE SIZE of what was hanging up there "fine" before, you could be asking for mega more wind load, and it has zero chance of lasting with only TWO out of 16 grommets on the bottom, and it not even being tight, and just sailing in the wind?

The customer called and wasn't mad at me, they were trying to figure out why the city would install it w/o cabling the bottom. It only had to be up about 5 days, that's why I went w/ 13 oz and not going overkill doing 18 oz and grommets every foot. I told them I'd make it right if they feel it's my fault for not using the correct material, but I told them to me, since I can install them every time without having issues, it seems to make sense that it's more of a problem on their installation, since the top that's fastened with every single grommet, is holding up fine.

Thoughts?
 

iraney

New Member
Yup need to go to a higher oz banner 13oz is to fragile 18oz or more with reinforced corners and sewn hems is the way to go.
 

TheSnowman

New Member
Ok, so I make it out of 18 tomorrow in an emergency, and they hang it the same way...it's going to hold up that much better that it can be installed with nothing supporting the bottom to spread out the load, and it'll last?
 

J Hill Designs

New Member
Ok, so I make it out of 18 tomorrow in an emergency, and they hang it the same way...it's going to hold up that much better that it can be installed with nothing supporting the bottom to spread out the load, and it'll last?

no, city ALSO needs to install correctly
 

Mosh

New Member
18oz with webbing in the top and bottom hem would help, still do agree needs cable top and bottom.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Two wrongs won't make it right.

You should have cable top and bottom and it should be furnished on 18oz or better. Also, zip ties is totally wrong.

You want spring clips mounted about every two feet top and bottom clipped to the cables and tied off in the four corners, which should be double if not triple gusseted to prevent back & forth movement.

You mention 50mph winds. You can never go wrong with over-kill. However, not enough and you will go down, just as you said, you never expected those winds. It can happen any day of the year anywhere... if the right conditions take place.

Fault is spread around evenly on all counts for this one.
 

player

New Member
You might want wind vents cut in as well...

Is this for the town? You might want to print a newer, improved version fast so you can stay on their list of preferred sign makers.
 

FatCat

New Member
I had a thread a year or two ago where I made a 4' x 20' over the street banner on 18oz herculite banner. We sewed seat belt type webbing into the hems around all 4 sides, double reinforced all 4 corners, and used extra large grommets (their request) every 2' all the way around.

Guess what?

City employees ran 1 cable across the top using spring clips on every grommet and then simply tied the bottom 2 corners off with cable to buildings on opposite sides with about 3-4' of slack/loop. 3 days after it went up we had a major storm with 60+ mph winds, and the banner whipped itself to death. Hell, the flagpole at the city hall actually bent from this windstorm and yet they blamed us for not using billboard material like the other company did and wound up eating that one. Since then, any over the street banners we do we let customers know from the get-go there is no warranty and no fault on us if it isn't installed correctly.

Lesson learned...
 

TheSnowman

New Member
All good thoughts. I'm going to reprint it and just suck up the cost. This wasn't for the city but the city had to hang it. I do feel if it was installed right I'd have been fine, but I'll go all out to keep people happy and it's no huge deal to me. I believe in making things right.

I'll just tell them its way better material but if installed wrong will still be trashed.
 
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