Founded in 1895, Renze (Omaha, NE) fabricates an array of promotional printed products: tradeshow graphics, exhibit graphics and POP represent comprise core businesses. Mike Compton, the company’s president, estimates that wallcoverings represent approximately 5% of Renze’s revenue.
The company supplies several large companies with wall graphics for their corporate facilities; Woodmen of the World Insurance Co., also based in Omaha, is a prime example. In addition to traditional, facility-renovation installations, Compton noted that more clients are implementing them with new construction. To prepare wallcovering surfaces, Renze instructs clients to tell paint contractors to sand walls to a Level 4 finish, for which drywall primer and low-sheen paints are recommended.
“Whenever possible, we send our own installers to inspect and measure walls for existing construction, or discuss new-construction wall prep with the architect,” he said.
Next – and most importantly, he said – the wall is coated with Zinsser Gardz, a clear primer that soaks into the paint and drywall, which binds all materials together into a hard-sealed surface. Compton noted that thoroughly coating the edges with Gardz prevents substrate lifting from the surface. He said the primer should dry a minimum of 24 hours before wallpaper or film is applied.
To create the graphics, Renze used its Fuji Acuity Advance HSX2 roll-to-roll, UV-cure-ink printer, set
at 2,200-dpi resolution, to decorate Korographics 54-in.-wide, Nassau Dunes matte-finish wallpaper. The wallpaper is adhered with an applied glue adhesive and doesn’t require a laminate, Compton said.
Renze also produced a series of wall graphics for corridors at Omaha’s Creighton Univ., home of the Bluejays’ successful basketball program. Compton said school officials asked them to embellish their locker room because players would be filmed before the game and displayed on the overhead scoreboard at the men’s basketball arena, CenturyLink Center.
The job entailed 1,040 sq. ft. of graphics, which were produced as 26, 4 x 10-ft. panels using 3M’s Scotchcal™ IJ8624 textured-surface film, and installed on concrete-block walls. Renze printed the job on its Seiko I Infotech ColorPainter H2-104S solvent-ink printer at 720 x 720 dpi. To preserve the school colors, installers applied Scotchcal 8524 glossy overlaminate that was shrunk with a heat gun to fit the walls’ contours.
The job’s original design intent called for perforated-metal, 3-D letters, brushed-aluminum panels
and a dimensional “Jays” logo. However, to meet the client’s budget guidelines, Renze cleverly
created these images using Photoshop and metallic inks to create the impression of dimension.