Float mounting an asphalt shingle...

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David St Lawrence

David St Lawrence

True Grumbler
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Sep 21, 2007
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Floyd, Virginia
A new customer came in with a 12" x 36" asphalt shingle, suitably inscribed, and asked if I would do a custom frame for it.

"Of course", I said

He is a contractor, an artist, and a photographer and together we designed a tasteful contemporary shadowbox which will show off the shingle beautifully. This will be a shingle showpiece. :)

My question for you all is what adhesive and substrate would you recommend to keep this shingle secure?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.
 
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Rick, I just spit out my beer.

David, you get the Post of the Day award for using "tasteful contemporary shadowbox" and "asphalt shingle" in the same post.

Sorry I don't have any good advice for you - not that that has ever stopped me in the past :) - but I enjoyed reading your post. And remember, nothing makes the cash register jingle, like framing a shingle. Hey, I warned you.
 
I had a tough project not too long ago, something heavy and thick. I used offset clips with stips of luann behind it. In my case, I had a 40x48" piece. I used leather to cover the clips so that it looked like part of the design. You would just need to cover the clips with something that would look good with a shingle, screw the clips to a piece of luann behind the mounting board.
 
Dang, Rick beat me to it - I was gonna suggest roofing nails.

I mean if the customer is both a contractor and an artist - wouldn't at least the appearance of roofing nails (you could cut them down before installing them) make sense?

And as long as rain, snow, wind and sun will not be a factor, this framing job should be able to have a whopping guarantee. 50 years? 100 years?
 
Candy said:
I had a tough project not too long ago, something heavy and thick. I used offset clips with stips of luann behind it. In my case, I had a 40x48" piece. I used leather to cover the clips so that it looked like part of the design. You would just need to cover the clips with something that would look good with a shingle, screw the clips to a piece of luann behind the mounting board.
Click to expand...

This country girl has never heard of luann.
What the heck is it?
 
Luann is plywood made from Philippine mahogany, usually quite thin.

I was going to suggest Henry's 204 roofing tar, 208 if the substrate is wet ;-)
 
My first thought was roofing tar

This will hang in an office, so roofing tar might work...for a while.

I could just charge him an annual maintenance fee. As a contractor, he could probably live with that.

My hope was that some of you more adventurous framers had played with using epoxy or FabTac to hang heavy semi rigid material. He gave me a second blank shingle to experiment with, so I am open to even more suggestions.

I personally like the roofing nail touch, but this is not the usual business material framing job.

This customer was very specific. He wanted smart contemporary framing for this object. The contrast in materials was essential. This inscribed shingle needs to float in space with no visible means of support.

(I can't wait to see what my customers bring in next.)
 
Another thought......Since this isn't going to have to be specific to conservation framing, what about using a good amount of E6000 or Goop. Great "glue" that holds forever. I have even used it to glue wearable art that goes through the washer many times. It is thick and will hold.
 
OK - seriously now - use tar to adhere it to a slightly smaller piece of whatever plywood you deem proper (paint edges black before you do this), add or don't add decorative roofing nails, then mount onto acrylic through holes drilled into the acrylic and screw into the plywood from behind. Use museum glass, of course, on top.

I would think that if tar holds a shingle onto a roof in all weather conditions, an office interior wouldn't be kwite so harsh. And asphalt shingles are essentially made out of tar so tar would be the best product to bond it.

We will, of course, expect to see photos of the finished project.

Have fun!
 
Goop is a great idea!

I don't there is a FACT standard for framing roofing shingles. In fact, I think the shingle will outlast the frame and backing material, so a tenacious adhesive might give me the right combination of performance and ease of application.

The only cautionary note will be to make sure that the adhesive does not emit noxious gases, Like carpet adhesives often do. Leaving the assembled part out in the open for a few days should handle the worst of any odor. Then a sealed frame should handle the rest.

I will start tomorrow using some Goop type adhesives and see what happens.
 
couldn't you take the plywood cover it with the mat, and screw through the back into the shingle? I have done it with non valuable baseballs and wooden plaques that all needed to be mounted into a big frame with no visible mounts. But then again I really have no clue at all what the shingle looks like and my input on this matter may just be wayyyyyyy off base.
 
There are two issues that might be considered. Holding the weight of the shingle, in such a manner that it won't tear if the frame gets a blow and keeping the interior of the frame from being visually polluted, by the shingle. If the shingle is on any paper based board, its chemicals could produce stains in the paper, so tar paper is not a bad idea. If it is nailed, however, it might tear if the frame is dropped. You could use a metal/plastic backing, like D-lite, Alumalite, or Econolite, as the backing, since the shingle should not stain the coating on those boards, too much. If you cut through the board, along a line where the bottom of the shingle should sit, the lower side of the cut can be gently pushed forward, to create a shelf that will carry the weight of the shingle. Hinges of any strong material (synthetic cloth, spun bond, etc. can be secured to the shingle and the panel with a roofing adhesive to create a flexible, secure attachment. The same board that is used for the support backing can be cut to form spacers.


Hugh
 
Tar is going to take a long time to set up. It is normally in a semi-plyable state and designed to expand and contract with weather changes. (to say nothing of the stinking mess!) It's also used in conjuction with good nailing techniques.

Get a tube of good construction adhesive and goop it up good! I wouldn't be too concerned about keeping the package "archival" We're talking ASPHALT shingles here.
 
There is nothing that you can do to an asphalt shingle that can harm it (except spilling gasoline on it. Through caution to the wind and have at it anyway that seems appropriate.

Jack Cee
 
"Luann is plywood made from Philippine mahogany, usually quite thin"

I dated Luann, for a time, she was NOT quite thin, and she was NOT stiff like plywood( but very supple)....nice girl
 
Maybe you could use QPO's bark painting method! Seriously. Run it by your guy - I bet it would appeal to the contractor/artist sides of him.

Rebecca
 
Hugh,

Perhaps you could offer that advice as an article in FACTS.

Rebecca,

Do you conservators have training in restoring old shingles?

I love the Grumble - where else can you get advice about shingles from the likes of Hugh and Rebecca?
 
Thanks to all who helped!

The shingle framing went off without a hitch and the customer was absolutely delighted!

The biggest hurdle was finding the right adhesive to mount the asphalt shingle to the 1/4" plywood mounting board.

After testing three types of construction adhesives, I chose PL Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive made by Henkel Corporation www.stickwithpl.com. This produced a stronger bond than their Polyurethane Premium Construction Adhesive because the Heavy Duty PL brand contains petroleum solvents which penetrated the back of the asphalt shingle.

If I had a similar mounting challenge with non-asphalt construction-grade material, I would use the Polyurethane Construction adhesive because of the superior strength.

The frame is a Turner L7300 moulding with a jet black top mat. The bottom of the shadow box was lined with a russet mat to pick out the color of the shingle. The backing board was 1/'' oak plywood to support the weight of the shingle without flexing. The 16x40 inch frame was impressively rigid and weighed about 20 pounds when completed.

Here is the final result which I captured using my IF Visualization system. The name has been altered to preserve customer privacy.
Framed-shingle-example-550.jpg
 
Ahw I thought this was a thread about an x girl friend in the 80's her nick name was Shingles, nuk nuk.

Nice job BTW
 
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