Our customer came to us with the idea of adding graphics to the walls of their new manufacturing facility in Hartland, Wisconsin. The facility covers just over 100,000 square feet so there are a lot of walls. The problem for our customer is that they had talked to painters to create the images and the prices were outrageous. They also talked to a number of sign companies that told them that because the walls were rough concrete (a blend of concrete block, bricks, and poured slabs) vinyl would not adhere. When our customer finally got to us, they expected the same story. They were pleasantly surprised.
When we met with the owner, he was very clear on what he wanted. He was also very clear that others had told him he could have what he wanted. We started by touring the facility, measuring each area and checking out the walls. We noticed that they had just finished painting all of the walls. This was very important because some industrial paints have additives in the paint to add a level of stain resistance. It also makes it close to impossible to get vinyl to adhere for a long period of time. We got the paint information and placed a call to our local Sherwin Williams store. We walked through the specs on the paint and noticed that there wasn’t any type of stain resistance added to the paint. It was just a very hearty industrial wall paint. We also brought about 20 strips of vinyl to test each wall. We applied a test strip to each location that was identified as a place that the owner wanted graphics. The vinyl held beautifully and actually took on the look of fresh paint (even over the rough areas). This was exciting. When we presented the owner with our findings, he was amazed. The level of detail and information we were able to gain and share with him on exactly how the vinyl will hold and what it would look like had him smiling from ear to ear.
Shortly after our walk through, the owner starting sending us photos that he wanted to use. We were hopeful that the level of detail would match what we knew we would be able to deliver and we weren’t disappointed. The photos were all professionally done and in high resolution. Excellent. This also created a bit of an issue in that the level of detail we were about to print showed the pores in the men’s faces and individual hairs on their faces. It was incredible.
Our installers went to work on a Monday and after two weeks, finally installed the final print. Overall, we installed 14 wall sized prints from 52″ tall to just over 220″ tall. The photo above covers 22″ wide. If you look closely you can see the mortar and the individual details in each concrete blocks. For more photos please visit our website at www.optimumsignswi.com. Please give us a call if you need help with your wall graphics. We can be reached at 262.289.9481.
