Wall Murals at Indoor Swim School

[grafixemporium]

We are in the design stage of an extensive wall mural project for an indoor swim school. The common areas inside are climate controlled, but the 2 pool rooms are enclosed and not cooled. They do have cross ventilation with exhaust fans for the summer and heaters and radiant heat in the decks for the winter. Needless to say, the pool rooms will get very humid.

The walls are 20' high with waterproof sheetrock, primed and painted with an eggshell finish. No texture other than the very light orange peel from the paint. The murals will go up 12' from the ground.

We did install one 12' x 50" test panel of 180cv3 / 8520. We primed the outside edges and heat set it with rollers. It's showing no signs of failure at all after a week.

I am nervous about the heat and humidity conditions. We've done a ton of wall murals, but never under these conditions. Keep in mind, this is a new construction building so the pool rooms will not be super humid during our installation. I'm more worried about the extreme humidity later on.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience doing an install in similar conditions?

Thanks!

 

[BigfishDM]

Lol I just was looking at Ackland frame systems for trailer wraps but a frame system with banner might be the way to go for that application. I don't sell any of this stuff but looks pretty cool. http://shop.acklandmediaframes.com/

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I'd say paint the mural.
Barring that, convince the customer to allow you to install them on either thin aluminum or ACM.
Contractor's paints are rarely conducive to good adhesion.

 

[OldPaint]

I........ 2ND the paint it..............but then you would need to be a painter)))))

 

[Jwalk]

Yeah just give me a call and Ill come out and paint it for yah.

 

[player]

You need to know the exact brand and type of paint (and any additives) used on the wall. Research it. Some new paints have stain inhibitors that are not conducive to vinyl adhesion. You may want to source a vinyl friendly paint that will work and paint the area for your mural.

An issue you may find is getting the 20' strips to line up. There can be an amount of stretching that makes it impossible to line them up. I've had 1/8" to 1/2" misses over 8' billboard sections.

 

[grafixemporium]

We are only going up 12' with the mural. Not 20'.

 

[player]

We are only going up 12' with the mural. Not 20'.

Good. Then forget everything I posted...

 

[TimToad]

We are only going up 12' with the mural. Not 20'.

There still can be stretching just from running the print through the laminator. Just be prepared to have to adjust your overlaps a little and increase your tolerance of slight mismatches in the event something does stretch a little.

It will be very interesting to see how things hold up under that kind of humidity over the long haul.

 

[grafixemporium]

Good. Then forget everything I posted...

Will do.

 

[grafixemporium]

There still can be stretching just from running the print through the laminator. Just be prepared to have to adjust your overlaps a little and increase your tolerance of slight mismatches in the event something does stretch a little.

It will be very interesting to see how things hold up under that kind of humidity over the long haul.

We do murals, semi trailers, RVs and other things this tall all the time. I'm not concerned in the slightest about the 12' run.

I'm looking for feedback from anyone who might have installed graphics or murals that will exist in similar environmental conditions.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

We do murals, semi trailers, RVs and other things this tall all the time. I'm not concerned in the slightest about the 12' run.

I'm looking for feedback from anyone who might have installed graphics or murals that will exist in similar environmental conditions.

That's why I suggested installing on ACM or thin aluminum. They did some of these at my previous employer (right before I joined the company)- and they failed. Heat, humidity, and contractor's paint meant the vinyl came off relatively quick. Putting them up on a substrate allowed us to use the bleeds to "wrap" the edges and have a surface the prints were sure to stick to.

 

[TXFB.INS]

That's why I suggested installing on ACM or thin aluminum. They did some of these at my previous employer (right before I joined the company)- and they failed. Heat, humidity, and contractor's paint meant the vinyl came off relatively quick. Putting them up on a substrate allowed us to use the bleeds to "wrap" the edges and have a surface the prints were sure to stick to.

We also use this method for installations into questionable environments.

 

[CanuckSigns]

what about a product like Arlon DPF8000, which is a high tack vinyl.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

what about a product like Arlon DPF8000, which is a high tack vinyl.

It's a pretty decent media for the application, but you'd still be at the mercy of not knowing what the paint is.
Plus, the rolls of this I've used have invariable had glue on the edges- which I think happens when the media heats up a little (the glue "runs" if that makes sense). It reminds me a lot of the problems Avery had back in the 90s when they changed their adhesive- we constantly​ got rolls of the stuff with glue on the edges (and rejected all of them).

 

[grafixemporium]

UPDATE!

We completed the indoor swim school project a couple of weeks ago and I got back in to take some pictures once construction was complete. The murals turned out perfect and are holding up better than I could have hoped in the harsh, hot, super humid conditions. The client is ecstatic.

If anyone finds themselves in similar situation, here are the details on this project.

The wall were painted with a Sherwin Williams product in a satin finish with no texture.

To ensure good adhesion and no paint failure, we installed a test panel 144" x 48" and let it sit in the hot, humid conditions for about 10 days. There were no signs of problems, failure, paint peeling, etc. Everything looked perfect, so we proceeded with the rest of the project.

We used 180Cv3 / 8520 printed on a Roland XR640. We let these prints cure for a couple days because we had the time and it couldn't hurt to be safe. The walls were cleaned. Vinyl went up quick and easy, heat set and rolled. We added edge sealer to the top edges out of an abundance of caution. After a few weeks and over a month since the original test panel was installed, that vinyl is stuck. There are no signs of failure, lifting, bubbling, etc.

 

[GAC05]

End result looks great.
Seems like a missed opportunity to strip down to a Speedo install (AKA Old Paint).....


wayne k
guam usa

 

[scott pagan]

very nice project !

thanks for sharing

 

[T_K]

Looks great. How long did the install take you?

 

[grafixemporium]

Looks great. How long did the install take you?

Thanks! Two guys on the job site for about 2 days, give or take. Big wall installs like this with very few obstacles actually go pretty fast. It's heat rolling everything that takes forever.