It’s been a busy storm season with three hurricanes (Lee, Idalia and Hilary) thus far.  Billboard Insider talked with Matt Schulze of Selective Structures about building signs to withstand storms.

What should you build to if you are concerned about hurricanes?

Selective builds to local building codes which means building up to withstand 175 mph winds  in some cases. If you want to be conservative build to 200+ mph. You would have to weigh the costs of steel versus insurance. There is nothing wrong with overbuilding your structure.

Hurricanes and billboards

Steel structures tend to survive.  The vinyls on wind frames for the most part tend to get blown out.  I recommend cutting an x in the middle of the vinyl if you don’t have time to take it down. We built maybe 40 + signs in Panama City. When the last hurricane hit, we didn’t lose one. There were probably 20-30 structures that went down but they were built in the last 30 years to a much less wind load and I would bet rust played a contributing factor. The question should be is if it’s built to the current code, ­­will it withstand a hurricane? It should be fine as long as the winds are under what it was designed to, but sometimes mother nature has other plans, and we get winds above the current wind load. Use a reputable fabricator and build to current code also.  If you’re in a coastal area paint-paint-paint-paint-paint.  You also should change head bolts every 10 years if you have high winds.

What if wind turns a structure.

For the most part, the most expensive part of a billboard structure is the base column and foundation.  Let’s say that the monopole gets turned and your concrete breaks loose from the column. Check you column and structure for cracks. If there are none  dig a cube around the column and fill it up with concrete and maybe even weld an I beam to the column to tie into the concrete. Thats just one example of a  fix. Always consult an engineer before you do anything.

The case for hurricane frames

 Non-hurricane [panels blow out in hurricanes. One company had a sign that went down into a Lincoln dealership, and it crushed several brand-new Lincolns. The panels flying around the lot did lots of damage.  Also, with the price of panels today it just doesn’t make sense not to buy wind frames.

Billboard replacement insurance has gotten very expensive in the Gulf States.

Annual Insurance premiums are averaging one-fifth of the replacement cost of a sign, so if you get a hurricane in the next five years you would have been better off buying insurance, but if you  don’t get a hurricane in the next five years you’re way better paying for a line of credit that you never use or you’re better off putting the premium into the bank.

Hurricanes aren’t the only risk to digital billboards.

It’s not just hurricanes. The real risk is a lightning strike.

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