You’ve seen them even if you aren’t sure what to call them. They are the signs that are built from stone or brick or some form of masonry. They look solid and built to last forever.
But are they really stone or brick, or do they just look like that?
Increasingly popular are the quicker turnaround times and lower costs of high density urethane (HDU) foam that is formed or sculpted to simply look like brick, stone or masonry. And the foam-core style signs can be much much more complex in appearance than a comparable mason built sign for a lot less money.
While stone or brick look phenomenal, they do require a skilled mason, sometimes deep footings and a lot of labor. All of these items add cost and time to a project. Prices vary around the country, but some estimates figure $40 to $60 per square foot for a 6 foot tall brick wall, for example, in our Upstate. Installation time might be 50 to 60 hours. An equivalent foam-core sign, depending upon design, might compare at $40 to $45 per square foot and require only a few hours of labor to install.
But let’s say that you want a faster turnaround time, lower cost, and a lot less digging? An HDU based sign can be custom made or one can choose from a very large number of standard designs ranging from perhaps a mere 4 feet high and 5 feet wide to 7 feet in height and 15 feet long or higher and longer yet. All that and only two or three post holes! Yep, that’s right, these can be placed into the ground using post holes with some ground treatment of stones or decorative concrete or mulch or flowers or by any number of ways to decorate the base.
And believe it or not, one issue that may occur with natural stone is its reaction to harsh climates. A lot of rain and ice can cause chipping, spalling or cracking of the stone, and the expansion and contraction of water/ice can also affect brick and mortar joints that haven’t been properly made or sealed. Putting up a masonry sign base requires a good mason, if you want the job done right. What if the ground heaves and the stone or brick wall is no longer level? That is not a problem with a foam-core style sign, because it is more easily rectified should such a thing happen.
Let’s get back to looks. I have asked a number of people that I know if they can tell a foam-core style sign from a real stone or brick base, and so far, no one has noticed a difference. Finishes on foam core monument signs can be stucco, smooth, designer blocks, brick, stone or a combination. What is more, the manufacturer we use hand sculpts their product. They are as beautiful as the real thing. It is not digitally produced to look like brick or stone, but in-house artists handle the work.
The manufacturer also uses a proprietary hard coat guaranteed not to rot, rust, peel, crack, blister or deteriorate in any way, and they are the only monument sign producer whose product has been approved to withstand 175 mile per hour wind loads. They even have a coating so tough one can take a hammer to it – and it survives! The impact resistance enables the sign to survive everything from weed-whackers to the random stone being thrown from a truck passing by or a lawn mower blade.
Simply monumental.