METAL HOUSE NUMBER FAQ

There are a few things to look at to determine the quality of house numbers. Some items are obvious, while others are not. Many address numbers will look good at first glance, but upon closer inspection you will notice the quality may not be as you expected. We'll list some of the main things to look for when buying address numbers for your home or building:

1. Are the numbers made from plastic, a plastic/aluminum sandwich layer, iron, or a premium metal such as aluminum?

2. If the address numbers are made from metal, how thick is the metal? Is the metal hollow on the backside (such as some castings), or are the numbers solid metal?

3. For metal house numbers, are they coated or uncoated? If they are coated, are they powder coated or painted?

4. For numbers that are coated, are they finished on the backside (often not visible in product photos)?

5. Are there exposed holes on the front of the number for mounting screws, or is the mounting hardware hidden on the back?

6. If the numbers have hidden studs, how are the studs secured? Are they glued in place or solidly threaded in?

7. Is the mounting hardware plastic, iron, stainless steel, or aluminum? In the next 3 questions we'll explain in detail why each of these things plays an important factor in quality.

We'll break this one down into sections:

1. PLASTIC, IRON, OR ALUMINUM

When choosing the material that your house numbers are made from, plastic will be by far the cheapest. It's a low cost material that can be cut quickly and does not require finishing. This makes plastic house numbers very inexpensive to manufacture. The downside is that plastic address numbers look like plastic, because they are! This gives them a low quality aesthetic. The colour of plastic will fade in the sunlight as it has limited UV resistance, so with time the numbers will not look the same. Plastic is also flexible, so with time plastic house numbers may change shape as they are subjected to heat, cold, and sunlight. the most common type of plastic numbers are made from HDPE plastic.

Alumapanel is also a plastic material, but with the addition of a thin aluminum skin. Although this may be slightly better than HDPE plastic, it's common to see the plastic and aluminum layers of the Alumapanel when looking at the numbers from a side angle. The layers will most likely be quite noticeable, which in our opinion is not a great look. Iron or steel is definitely a step above plastic as it's a strong durable metal. Unfortunately it's prone to rusting if any part of the coating is scratched off, or if any of the metal is exposed to the elements in areas such as the mounting holes. The most superior option is aluminum. It's lightweight for easy mounting, extremely rigid, and does not rust. Not only will it last a lifetime but it can be coated with a high quality powder coating for a great looking finish.

2. METAL THICKNESS

We've seen many metal house numbers constructed out of very thin wall metal. If you see a product photo that is taken at a straight on angle you might not have any idea how thin the numbers are until you receive them and see them in person. Unfortunately at this point it's likely too late to choose different house numbers. Although metal house numbers are a good option, if they are too thin they will be able to bend, and the mounting hardware will likely not be as sturdy as it should be. Saying all that, we personally think the biggest drawback of thin metal house numbers is how they look, and in our opinion they don't look great. If a product is cheap to manufacture it's likely the aesthetics of the final product will reflect on this.

Here's two things to consider when looking at the coatings on house numbers:

1. COATING TYPE

Plastic house numbers typically will not be coated and will be left in a raw plastic form. Coatings are generally on metal house numbers only. There are 2 main types of coatings; paint ,and powder coatings. Although they might look the same, the main difference of these two coatings is the durability. Paint has varying levels of quality ranging from cheap off the shelf products that won't last long, to more high end epoxies. If you're purchasing house numbers that have been painted you'll want to find out what type of paint has been used. Powder coatings are baked on, creating the most durable finish available. Powder coatings will last for decades and has the same great finish that you expect from a high quality paint. Ferosa uses only top of the line powders from the most reputable manufacturer globally.

2. ARE ALL SURFACES COATED

It's easy to be fooled when purchasing house numbers online. We've seen house numbers online that look good in the product photos, only to find out that they weren't coated on the backside. We've also seen brushed aluminum house numbers online that claim to be coated, only to find out they weren't coated at all. Simply put, coatings that have been applied to all surfaces of a house number will protect it from corrosion and scratches. Although aluminum is a high quality metal, it's a soft metal that will easily scratch if it's not coated. Needless to say, all of our modern house numbers have a high quality powder coating finish on all sides of the numbers.

There are three main factors to consider when looking at how address numbers are mounted:

1. EXPOSED OR HIDDEN HARDWARE

The old standard was to have holes in the front of each house number that you could drive a screw through to fasten the number to your house. This is simple and fast, and no specialized hardware is required. However that's where it stops, because appearance definitely is not a consideration with this style of exposed hardware. Does anyone really want to see the head of a phillips screw head in their house number?

2. HOW ARE STUDS SECURED

Most higher quality modern house numbers have adopted a hidden hardware mounting method. This is a much better cosmetic choice, and if designed properly is very strong. However there are some things to look for when inspecting house numbers with hidden hardware. If the studs are glued into the number they will not be as strong as studs that are threaded into the numbers.

3. HARDWARE MATERIAL

Like the material of the house number, the material of the hardware is important too. Plastic hardware is weak, can flex, and will become brittle with time. Iron or steel hardware will rust if not coated (typically studs are not coated). This rust can then leave rust stains on your numbers or house. To get scientific, if the metal house numbers are made from a different metal than the metal hardware, galvanic corrosion will likely occur. This is when two different metals are in direct contact with each other, which causes an electrochemical reaction as electrons move from the anode to the cathode. An example would be if the house numbers are made from aluminum and the mounting hardware is made from iron. In short, don't mix metals. At Ferosa we use aluminum numbers, aluminum studs, and aluminum spacers so that all metals have the same electrical potential. We want your house numbers to last a lifetime.

4. SPACER COATING

The purpose of spacers is to create an offset from a surface (such as a wall) so that you can have visually appealing floating house numbers. Although it's not intended for spacers to be seen, they will always be visible to some degree when looking at the numbers from an angle. It's common place to have uncoated spacers that do not match the colour of the house numbers. At Ferosa, when we say the difference is in the details, we mean it. This is a detail that we did not overlook, and that's why all of our spacers are colour matched and finished the same as our address numbers.

Absolutely! With each and every order we include a custom drilling template. We design this to match your mounting orientation preference; either horizontal or vertical. This is a 100% scale CAD drawn template which shows you where to drill holes to mount your numbers. It has both horizontal and vertical lines that are centered and used for alignment and levelling.

Each template is custom created in our studio with proper kerning for your specific address. Kerning is the spacing between individual letters or characters to create spacing that is as visually appealing as possible. This ensures your address numbers as a whole look great mounted on your home.

Without a custom drilling template that's kerned to your entire group of address numbers, it would be extremely difficult to space each number properly (for best visual appeal). There would be a good chance you wouldn't be happy with the end result of how your numbers look together. This is a common problem when ordering house numbers that each have their own individual drilling template. When ordering from us you will never need to worry about this, as we always include a properly kerned template with every order. When placing your order just let us know what your address numbers are, and whether you'll be mounting your numbers horizontally or vertically. We'll take care of the template.