Shop front fascia sign plywood

[MopeyGecko]

Hi all, we’ve just rented a shop that needs a bit of work to the fascia. It has been stripped back and a really old illuminated light box and the old rotten ply behind has been removed.

The sign company are recommending that before they take over for the new sign, that the fascia is re-clad with 18mm marine ply.

What’s going to be the best way to approach this (photo attached) with the least wastage and doing the job right?

The fascia framework has 2ft centres and is 810mm high so I was thinking a 2440mm x 1220mm board cut into 3 would work well. It seems this would be double the number of smaller boards than the larger ones that were there previously however.

If the boards are cut along the length there would be a lot of waste though and with the price of ply as it is that’s not good. I assume the off cuts when it was initially built went into the pillars.

In summary does anybody see any issue using boards that span 2 gaps (1 on the ends) rather than 4 as originally done or am I overthinking it?

Thanks.

Andy

 

[Mr diy a lot.]

I believe you are over thinking this one. Just screw that ply up any way that keeps wastage to a min. Add extra pillars if needed to help connect two boards together. Don’t skimp on the ply quality though. Do use marine ply! Ordinary ply will be delaminating after just one light rain shower.

(assumes you are putting a new sign box up there. If you are painting the ply and applying signage directly to ply, leaving your ply work fully on show you want to keep number of gaps to a min and fill and sand all the screw holes neatly.)

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You might want to ask the sign company how they feel about MDO or exterior grade MDF as alternatives to marine plywood - especially as marine ply is so expensive. In fact, if this is a modern sign (i.e. plastic with a metal frame) why do they need the plywood? Personally I'd want to do cover those timber grounds with as few pieces as possible - every joint is just another point at which you can get water ingress (also, what, if anything, is going to happen to that lead flashing above the fascade?)

 

[MopeyGecko]

Thanks. The new sign will be an aluminium tray sign and the lead flashing will be re-nailed. It’s in decent condition and has just been folded back.