House of Signs is LED'ing The Way Forward With HDU

House of Signs in Frisco, CO is leading the way forward in sign technology with LED-lit exterior HDU signs. "It's not often you see HDU signs that incorporate LED lights," states Roger Cox, owner of House of Signs. "Or, for that matter, channel letters that are made out of HDU. We used both to create an ultra-dimensional fascia sign for a local Mexican restaurant chain that opened a new location in Frisco."

House of Signs is an impressive operation, having won multiple awards for their creations in both USSC and Signs of The Times contests. This sign for the Rio Grande restaurant features an impressive combination of CORAFOAM HDU and LED technology.

"We prefer using HDU for our channel letters instead of metal because we can achieve an additional dimensional layer with HDU," states Cox. "This makes the sign more unique, and eliminates the somewhat sterile appearance of traditional channel letters.

The background of this sign is made of 20lb CORAFOAM, all cut on Roger's Gerber Sabre 408 CNC router with Vectric's Aspire software. The letters are also CNC-cut from 20lb HDU, and each houses a string of LED lights. "Each of these custom letters was made with an interlocking design," describes Cox. "We used acrylic push-throughs, gold stepped down accents, and black returns, with the end result being very high-end channel letters."

A custom blend of over 10 different colors comprises the glaze seen on the back of the sign, a technique learned by Roger after his attendance at one of Dan Sawatzky's well-known workshops, and perfected by Periandros, senior designer and fabricator at House of Signs. "I've always looked up to Dan's style of signmaking, and found his classes to be very beneficial," recalls Cox. "I've fused many of the techniques I learned into our signs, and we've had excellent feedback on them. The Rio Grande sign is no exception! All of the paint we used throughout the sign is high-quality Sherwin-Williams, Modern Masters and Ronan acrylic paints."

In addition to the numerous, layers, textures and glazes, installing this sign was also a feat of great magnitude. "We fabricated a custom welded L-shaped armature to attach the sign to the building, which was a work of art itself," states Cox. "Installation took about 4 hours with the help of a crane."

New techniques and a unique style make House of Signs an industry leader in innovation.

"We always try to push the envelope as far as new techniques in signage, and incorporating LED's with our HDU signs is just one of the ways we do this. Moving forward, we look to continue blending ultra-dimensional signage together with a vintage-modern feel," says Cox.

Asked about why he prefers CORAFOAM, Roger responded: "When it comes to HDU, CORAFOAM is all we use. We've tried every brand on the market, and for us, the amount of finishing time we save made switching an easy choice. It's also a lot easier to control when hand-carving, and appears to be much less porous."

House of Signs was founded in 1989 and is located in beautiful Frisco, CO. In addition to House of Signs, Roger also operates SignTech, a sister company that focuses on vehicle wraps, storefront graphics, or any other form of visual communication that differs from the 3-D market. Please see additional information about Roger and House of Signs at: houseofsignsco.com