Signs #5147325

The Americans with Disabilities act of 1990 is a law that prohibits discrimination based on disability, under certain circumstances. The particular areas that the act covers include employment, public entities, and public accommodations. Public accommodations refer to places of recreation, transportation, education, and dining, along with inns, hotels, stores, care providers, and places of public displays. If your business falls into one of these categories, your business is a public accommodation. Even if your business does not fall into one of these categories, it still benefits your business to be ADA compliant. Let us be your experts on the requirements of signing your locations for the Americans with Disabilities Act. We've studied the law and have determined that, in certain instances, signs alone can bring you closer to compliance. In general, almost every sign that would be considered an architectural sign must comply with one or more of the ADA guidelines. In other words, if a sign identifies a permanent room or space of a facility, including exits, directs or informs about functional spaces of the facility, or identifies, directs to, or informs about accessible features of the facility, it must comply. Signs for advertising and marketing purposes, temporary signs, company logos and names are examples of signs or sections of signs that do not have to comply. However, if your signs that fall into the second category DO comply with ADA guidelines, that means you are reaching more customers! Here are some of the general rules for ADA sign compliance: All signs must have non-glare backgrounds and characters.All signs must have a high dark to light (or vice versa) contrast between characters and their background.All signs must have "easy to read" typefaces.Signs that identify rooms and spaces are to be located adjacent to the door they identify so they can be located by persons who are functionally blind.Braille must accompany the characters (usually placed below the characters) and must be Contracted Braille (formerly called Grade 2 Braille).

There is quite the stir these days with the growth of Electronic Message Centers (EMCs), or otherwise known as Digital or LED signs. A number of communities have placed restrictions on these signs being placed in certain locations, but the real bottom line is that they are one of the most effective advertising tools that are available. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), for a small business to enhance their current signage to an EMC they can see an increase in business of up to 150%. In one scenario, the SBA looked at a car dealer's business and looked at a 15% increase, and the LED sign paid for itself in only 10 months. At Blue Water Signs, we are affiliated with the premiere manufacturer of digital signage, Daktronics. Daktronics has been dedicated to the display industry since 1968. Since 2001, the independent market research firm iSuppli Corp lists Daktronics as the world's leading provider of LED displays. Daktronics LED signs are manufactured in the United States in Brookings, SD. How many times have you driven down the street and seen an EMC that is not functioning correctly? There are a number of off shore manufacturers that can give low prices, but have an issue with service and quality. With Daktronics, they offer a comprehensive set of service options and maintenance agreements to keep customers' display systems operating. These signs, also known as Digital Message Displays, come in many different configurations. There are monochromatic signs that are available in red or amber. There are tri-color displays that can be configured for red, amber and green. Lastly, there are full color or RGB (red, green, blue) displays that can provide up to 68 billion eye catching colors. The signs can be as simple as lines of text to signs that can play live video in an auditorium. Check out the EMCs in our photo gallery below to see what these signs can do for your business.

Architectural signs also include exterior signs that are used to emphasize your business. When choosing exterior signs, the outside environment and lighting both need to be considered. You would not want to use aluminum dimensional letters on your building that is located at the beach, as sign corrosion may be an issue. However, certain stainless steels and titanium would be great choices, as well as some plastics that are available. Blue Water Signs can help you determine the best interior lobby signage or exterior building sign configuration for your location, making certain that your facility and business always appear professional and well maintained.

When we manufacture two sided hand-carved signs, we sandwich a 34" marine grade plywood (MDO) layer between two HDU signs. The signs are bonded and mechanically fastened to the center board to provide a strong stable sign. The center board is used to attach the sign to the posts or apply hangers. Two sided hand carved signs have a final thickness of 2-34" and are manufactured to last for many years. Painting is first started with 3 coats of primer to all surfaces. Then the sign is carved or blasted and the exposed areas again have three coats or primer applied. After this your sign has the finish coats applied and any of the gilding is completed. All of these steps are followed to assure that your sign will last well beyond the life of a digitally printed or cut vinyl sign. Also, the depth and detail of a hand crafted sign will stand above simpler flat panel signs. When designing your sign we will work with you to develop a beautiful sign that will advertise your business for years to come. The touch of gold leaf on your sign will continue to shine and glisten for years, helping your business' advertising and bottom line.

There is no other type of sign that can be used for a small business that can show the character and quality of the company more clearly than a hand crafted, custom carved sign. These signs are designed to last for years and can have such distinguishing touches as raised 3 dimensional letters or objects, as well as gold leaf, copper or other metal gilding that will sparkle in the sun for years. To take advantage of modern materials and provide a more durable and lasting sign, in most cases we now manufacture our carved, routed or blasted signs from High Density Urethane (HDU) instead of wood. HDU signs use a dense, closed-cell foam with recycled content that is resistant to rot and insects, and is also fire retardant. It has exceptional paint adherence and is very resistant to blistering and peeling. HDU is a stable material that can be sculpted or painted, and will accept gilding just like standard custom wood signs, but with better longevity and a longer lasting appearance than wood. Custom wood signs can be be made using redwood or cedar, but these materials are not as stable and the finishes are not as resistant to weather as the HDU signs have shown.

Traffic and property restrictions signs assist in directing your customers effectively. The signs are made of durable, heavy-gauge metal that guarantee a long life and are lettered with reflective materials for easy visibility. We warehouse a full library of common signs such as "STOP" to the more specific "Dumpster for Tenants Only". Browse the hundreds we have in our catalog to see if we stock the sign that fits your needs. If for some reason we don't, we can work with you to customize signs to your situation.