I love working on projects that involve older buildings. This building was built in 1913 in the Town of Nashotah. For a great number of years, this building was the public school building for the Nashotah and the surrounding area. The interior of the building today houses a number of local businesses and the property owner wanted to give an “old school” look to a monument sign.
My graphic designers went to work on this by looking at the property from all sides. They looked at the brick, the lines of the building, even the interior of the building. Once we had a good understanding of the building, we went to work designing the sign to reflect the time period of the building and the exact needs of the property owner. Our first two designs were much more rustic. We used old barnyard lumber and field stones. It was a great look but a little too rustic for the owner. That’s when we came up with the design you see above. We used brick that closely matched the building and the face of the sign reflects a simple yet elegant look.
This sign is built around an aluminum tube system. We frame the box using 1″ hollow aluminum tubes welded into a solid frame then skin the frame with aluminum. A quick visit to the paint booth and we have a finished box. After the box was built, we built the two columns completely independent of the frame. This allows us to transport the sign in three pieces and assemble the sign onsite. The columns are again aluminum frames with concrete board that we then add the faux brick. The brick veneer we use actually has corner pieces so the brick looks like solid brick even at the corners. It takes a little skill to line everything up but it is well worth the additional time. At the job site, we dug two holes about 48″ deep and placed two galvanized posts into the holes and backfilled with concrete. We take a prebuilt frame with us that we place over the posts to ensure that they stay perfectly straight while the concrete is curing. Normally we give the concrete 24 hours to fully cure.
The columns were lifted over the posts and set unto place. Because the columns are what is referred to as “floating”, which means the columns don’t rest on the ground. We placed the box between the columns and attached everything with exterior grade hardware.
If you are looking for a custom designed/made monument sign please give us a call. We can design/manufacture and install your entire project. We can be contacted at 262.289.9481 or emailed at info@optimumsignswi.com. We would love to help you with your project.
