How to Mount a Metal Sign on Brick, Vinyl Siding and Concrete
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Hanging a sign indoors is a question about weight. Hanging one outdoors is a question about water. Get the surface and the gap right and almost any reasonable fixing holds; get them wrong and good hardware still fails.
The rule that applies to every exterior surface
Leave a gap of about 1/4 inch between the sign and the wall. Use spacers, or a stack of washers behind each fixing. A sign mounted flat against a wall traps water behind it permanently, and trapped water finds any chip in the coating and rots whatever is behind it.
This single detail causes more outdoor failures than hardware choice does.
Brick
Drill the mortar, not the brick
Mortar is softer, easier to drill, easier to patch if you move the sign, and it will not crack the way a brick face can. Aim for the centre of a horizontal joint.
What to use
A masonry bit and a plastic sleeve anchor or a masonry screw. Blow or vacuum the dust out of the hole before fixing, or the anchor will not seat.
If you must go into the brick face
Use a hammer drill on the lowest setting and go slowly. Fast drilling is what cracks brick.
Vinyl siding
Do not drill through it
Siding is a water barrier. A screw through it makes a hole that will let water in behind the wall, and siding also expands and contracts with temperature, so a fixed screw will eventually deform the panel.
Use a no-hole siding hook
These slip up under the lap of the panel and hook over the edge. They cost a few dollars, hold several pounds each, and leave no damage at all. Use two, spaced to match the sign's mounting points.
For heavier pieces
Find the stud behind the siding and use a longer exterior screw with a siding spacer designed for the purpose, which maintains the gap and keeps the panel from being crushed.
Concrete and block
The bit matters more than the screw
A proper masonry bit in a hammer drill. Standard bits will glaze and stop cutting.
Clean the hole
Concrete dust packs into the bottom of the hole and stops the screw seating at full depth. Vacuum it or blow it out.
Use concrete screws rated for the load
Sized to the pilot hole specified on the packaging. Do not improvise the hole size — concrete screws depend on an exact fit.
Wood siding, fences and posts
The easiest surface. Exterior rated wood screws with a stainless washer, plus spacers for the gap. Pre-drill in hardwood or near the end of a board to avoid splitting.
Hardware: use stainless outdoors
Interior screws rust, and rust runs down the face of the sign in streaks. The coating on the sign will be fine and the hardware will ruin the look anyway. This is a two dollar decision that decides how the piece looks in year three.
Weight, and when to worry
A 24 inch laser cut sign is typically 4 to 7 pounds; larger pieces reach 10 to 14. All of the fixings above handle that easily when installed properly. For the indoor equivalents — studs, toggle bolts and drywall anchors — see our drywall hanging guide. For what the weather actually does to the sign itself, see our piece on powder coated steel outdoors.
When the mounting points are wrong for your wall
Standard signs come with standard mounting points, and sometimes those do not line up with what a wall allows — a mortar joint in the wrong place, a stud that is not where you need it, a gate that needs fixings at specific centres. If you are ordering a custom design, tell us the surface and we will place the mounting points to suit it, including spaced mounts for exterior installations. Custom pieces start at $69 and you approve a proof before anything is cut.
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