Why interior signs matter more than they look
A building’s interior signs are small, but two things depend on them. The first is the certificate of occupancy: the inspector checks that every permanent room has a compliant sign, at the right height, on the right side of the door. The second is how the building feels to visitors, patients and tenants. A consistent, well-made sign family reads as a well-run property; mismatched plaques from three different vendors read as the opposite.
MorSigns builds both parts: the code-compliant signs that pass inspection, and the design standard that makes them look like one system.
What the ADA requires
For signs that identify permanent rooms and spaces, the Americans with Disabilities Act standards require:
- Raised (tactile) characters, uppercase, sans serif, 5/8 to 2 inches tall, raised at least 1/32 inch.
- Grade 2 braille directly below the characters.
- High contrast between characters and background, in a non-glare finish.
- Mounting with the tactile characters between 48 and 60 inches above the floor, on the latch side of the door, with clear floor space in front.
- Pictograms, where used, in their own field with the equivalent text below.
Directional and informational signs, such as “Suites 100 to 150” with an arrow, need legible characters and contrast but not braille. Overhead and projecting signs have their own size and clearance rules.
Texas adopts these standards through the Texas Accessibility Standards, which the building inspector applies. We design every sign in the package to them, and we keep the sign schedule so you have a record of what was installed where.
What a package includes
- Room identification: numbers and names for offices, exam rooms, classrooms, conference rooms.
- Restroom signs with pictograms and braille, including all-gender and family restrooms.
- Life safety: stair, exit, floor level and mechanical room signs, plus evacuation maps where required.
- Directories at entrances and elevators, changeable or fixed.
- Directional signs at decision points: corridors, elevator lobbies, building wings.
- Suite and door signs for tenants, with slide-in inserts where tenants change.
- Exterior wayfinding: parking, entrances, building IDs and post-and-panel directionals for campuses.
Materials and finishes
Painted acrylic with applied tactile characters is the standard and takes any color. Photopolymer signs have characters and braille formed as one piece, which is durable for high-traffic buildings. Metal-laminated faces, brushed aluminum, bronze or stainless, suit lobbies and professional offices. Frames and stand-offs add depth for a more architectural look. Every option is checked for the contrast and finish the code requires.
Who we build packages for
General contractors finishing tenant build-outs on a deadline, property managers standardizing a multi-tenant office building, medical and dental practices opening a new suite, schools and churches with many rooms and visitors, and hotels and apartment communities.
How it works with a build-out
Send us the floor plan and the finish schedule. We produce a sign schedule listing every sign, its message and its location, and a design standard for approval. Fabrication follows, and we install ahead of the inspection date, mounting each sign to code. If the inspector asks for a change, we handle it.
Mistakes that fail inspections
We see the same handful of problems on signs that other vendors installed, and each one has cost a general contractor a re-inspection:
- Signs mounted on the wrong side of the door, or on the door itself. Tactile signs go on the wall at the latch side, so a person can read them without the door swinging into them.
- Wrong height. The tactile characters have to sit between 48 and 60 inches above the floor; signs hung to match a picture rail or a chair rail often miss.
- Glossy finishes that pass for color contrast but fail the non-glare requirement.
- Braille that is Grade 1 or spaced wrong, which is common on cheap online plaques.
- Missing signs on mechanical rooms, stairs and storage rooms, because only the visible offices were counted.
- Directional signs with decorative fonts that don’t meet the character requirements.
A proper sign schedule, built from the floor plan before anything is fabricated, avoids all of them. That schedule is also what we hand you at the end, so the next tenant change starts from a record rather than a guess.
What affects the cost
The installed range below covers a typical suite or small building package. The drivers are the number of signs, the material and finish, whether the family is stock or fully custom to a brand, and exterior signs included. Single replacement signs are quoted individually.
Keeping the package current
Buildings change: offices are renumbered, tenants move, a storage room becomes an exam room. Because we keep your sign schedule and design standard on file, a single new sign matches the rest of the building and arrives in days, not weeks. Property managers with several buildings use us to standardize across all of them.
Timelines
Two to three weeks from an approved sign schedule for a typical package. Rush turnarounds are possible for build-outs facing an inspection date; tell us the date when you request the quote.