Dimensional letters used for lobby and reception walls are a very popular product here at Viscom. But in certain situations, drilling 49 holes into a wall for stud mounting can not only be a bit intimidating for both you and your customer, it may just not be physically possible or is frowned upon by the building owner. Even using tape and adhesive can damage a wall upon removal.
Individual dimensional letters and logos on a reception wall, either stud mounted or adhesive mounted, always look awesome. We manufacture lots of them that way. But sometimes, this mounting method may just not be feasible for one reason or another.
No, we haven’t created some magical anti-gravity machine to hold the letters up… yet. No matter what, attachment of some kind is necessary. This doesn’t mean that your customer can’t have the dimensional letters his or her heart desires. Mounting your customers’ dimensional letters and logos on a backer that requires way fewer holes to mount, makes for a much easier installation by eliminating damaging tape and adhesives or lots of potential holes in the wall and also allows them to move it easily if they change their location.
But wait, there’s more…
Even though the backer will add an additional cost to the project, it eliminates a whole lot of installation time and the associated potential problems that can come with it, especially when there are many components to the logo that would make things tricky to install. Depending on the project, this may wind up being a wash, or, better yet, it could wind up being even cheaper overall. When you order a dimensional logo on a backer from us, all the letters are already placed saving you tons of time and effort. Yay! A backer can also allow you to incorporate part of the logo right on the backer itself, for instance a digital print or some etched graphics on an acrylic backer. Here is a simple example…
You’ll notice these particular pieces have just 4 mounting holes for some good looking stand-offs, an easy installation. So here the logo is part of the backer and we eliminated a lot of potential holes in the wall.
Below you can see that a backer can also come in handy when there is a lot of dimensional copy and small letters. You can imagine that this dimensional sign was quite a bit easier to install than individual letters on a wall.
Sometimes, you can use clear acrylic to help eliminate some of the holes by mounting letters to a small inset backer. This examples shows the smaller letters “Bentzel Mechanical Inc” all applied to a single strip with only 3 studs to mount all of them at once.
Here is another example of a clear acrylic backer to eliminate quite a few holes. All the little elements that make up this star logo are attached to a thin, clear acrylic backer that has been inset contour cut to hide it as much as possible. Loads of installation time savings here…
By far, the most popular backer we see is thicker clear acrylic. This not only serves as a backer for all the letters and logo, but adds yet another layer of dimension that looks impressive and substantial, and you can still see the wall behind the logo. Typically, these panels are stood off from the wall a bit using really nice looking decorative stand-offs. We offer several different edge treatments like beveled egdes and polished edges. A small added expense, this adds a completely different feel of quality and beauty to the overall sign.
The acrylic backer allows for the use of relatively small letters also, eliminating having to try and adhere them to textured drywall, etc. All these factors actually add up to savings in the form of labor and the potential for letters falling off the wall over time, due to their lack of adhesion surface area. We manufacture clear acrylic backers ranging from 1/4″ all the way to 1″ thick. However, if using thicker acrylic, you must consider the weight and the proper use of stand-offs. We are here to help if you have any concerns about mounting these heavier signs.
There are virtually unlimited options when it comes to backers for your customers’ dimensional letters and logos. Materials like acrylics, metal and wood laminates, combined with digital graphics, contour shapes and multiple layers, allow for a great amount of creativity. So the next time you come across a situation where drilling a bunch of holes in somebody’s wall just won’t cut it, consider the use of a backer to hold everything together. You might actually save money in the long run. Don’t forget, we not only love making your signs, we’ve also got your backer!