Applying “permanent” signage to an historic building without damaging it, or permanently altering it.

A client came to us with a unique problem. They had just acquired the perfect building for their needs yet it came with registered historic landmark restrictions.   This meant they needed to get creative if they were to put their name on the building as they were blocked from de-facing or permanently altering the building’s appearance.

This client’s building was a classic Roman style Corinthian order building. The entire exterior surface of the building is covered in white glazed terra cotta tiles that could not be altered. Our challenge was to find away to securely attach new signage to the building so that it would not be blown off during high winds or knocked off the building during small to moderate earthquakes and yet not damage the terra cotta tiles. The sign also had to match the surface of the building, so that it looked as if it was part of the original building.

We began with a photograph of the building to recreate the texture of the terra cotta tiles.  We then used the PMS color guide to color match the exact color needed to match the building.  For the letter style of the new sign, a style was chosen to be architecturally correct to the style of the building while matching the chiseled style of the original carved in letters.

A durable, stable and relatively light weight substrate was chosen for the “cover up” signage. This substrate was Dibond, an aluminum polyethylene composite material that has aluminum as the outer skin, and a polyethylene inner core and is a little over an eigth inch thick.

The image of the new lettering and the terra cotta background were printed directly onto the Dibond material with a UV direct printer, so there would be nothing to delaminate from the surface of the printed metal.  After printing the sign it was clear coated with polyurethane, for added finish protection from the elements.

When the new sign was installed, care was taken not to drill the anchor holes for the anchor screws into the terra cotta tiles.  All the anchors hit the mortar between the tiles, by design, so if or when the sign is removed the anchors holes in the mortar can easily be filled without being noticed, where drilling into the terra cotta tiles would be much harder to patch after the sign is removed.

When done and installed, the printed sign looked like it was part of the original building.  As a result, the client was thrilled with the quality of their custom building signage and the historical society was pleased that all this work was done according to their historic landmark requirements.