National Signs (Houston) has earned quite a reputation; its work includes the most recent Best of Show winner from the International Sign Contest (see ST, April 2013, page 92). Approximately 30% of its work is devoted to monument signs; like many sign companies, repeat business and referrals are its lifeblood.
Before National fabricates a monument sign, a site survey is key to assessing the sign’s placement, accessibility and installation conditions. Where a sign will be installed in stable conditions, National implements a spread-footing foundation, which transfers the load across a shallow layer in the ground; in stable soil, it builds and installs a concrete pier underground to gird the sign for wind, drought and other environmental conditions. For the sign’s masonry components, National employs a dedicated subcontractor.
Churches represent a growing market for the company’s monument-sign market. Whereas car dealerships usually want their signs to stretch more than 40 ft. above ground, churches are located in residential areas and generally require more horizontal installations, according to Gregg Hollenberg, National’s CEO.
Champions Community Church, a Houston-based megachurch, wanted a monument sign to give it a prominent street identification. National fabricated the sign from 0.125-in. aluminum faces and 3/16-in. aluminum frames, which they routed on a MultiCam 3000 CNC router and backed with clear, push-through letters made from Plexiglas® acrylic with 3M diffusing vinyl. The logo was formed on a Computerized Cutters’ Accu-Bend® channel-letter bender, and decorated with 3M translucent-vinyl overlays. Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint decorated the face, and white US LED modules illuminate the sign.
To keep congregants and passersby informed about church happenings, National installed a Watchfire XVS 19mm-pixel-pitch 64 x 160-in. display screen that’s controlled by a wireless, radio-frequency modem that enables remote operation.