Does vinyl require the same level of protection as paper?

[Disheveledamethyst]

I'm starting to take a liking to vinyl banners, although I haven't purchased one yet. Obviously a frame for a five foot banner would be huge and expensive and arguably completely unnecessary. But I would never display something that I didn't also want to protect. So I have to ask:

Is vinyl more resilient than regular poster paper? I know banners are often made to be displayed outdoors, so I thought perhaps they wouldn't require a UV protected pane of plexi. As discussed before, my living space is lit with florescent overheads, so all of my frames are UV filtered. I don't want to spend $100 on an awesome banner I might never find again only to have the color melt off like a kiddie pool left on the porch all summer.

[CJ138]

I will preface this by saying I do not own any banners.  However, from my experience vinyl banners are much less prone to fading and general deterioration than paper.  I am curious which banners you like.

[Disheveledamethyst]

I will preface this by saying I do not own any banners.  However, from my experience vinyl banners are much less prone to fading and general deterioration than paper.  I am curious which banners you like.

There is one for Superman Returns (we all know how I feel about Superman Returns) that is an unused vinyl sticker for Subway trains. There is another I'm looking at as well, but I'm not going to mention it yet. It's not particularly special but it's active.

[archie leach]

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 of these banners and only one has any kind of fading.  It's a Little Mermaid penis banner that was displayed outdoors for months.  One side was in direct sunlight, so it almost looks like a slight split-fade. 

Many of my other banners were displayed months at a time under direct florescent conditions without damage.  I would be more concerned about general damage (bumps, nicks, scratches) than light damage.

[ATLfun]

  I was kind of wondering the same thing about fluorescent lights since my office has mucho.  I ponied up for the non-glare/uv frames from Sue, but my linen backed six sheet, I just plan on hanging in the buff.  Here is an interesting fact about Fluorescent UV that I found.

How Much UV?

The ARPANSA studies found that it would take six hours of exposure at a distance of 10 cm (4 inches) from a compact fluorescent bulb for exposure limits to equal that of approximately six minutes in midday sunlight.


   It does not sound like the amount of UV should be much of a concern unless your banner is lying on a bed of bulbs.

  Brian

[kovacs01]

Vinyl will fade in time if exposed to direct sunlight.  Some types are worse than others.  What they call "marine grade" vinyl, for example, lasts much longer.  I do not know the difference, but I know that not all is created equal.

Just take a look at any older vehicle convertible top as an example of the process.  Use Duragloss 203 on it about every 6 weeks, and you can extend the lifespan a long time.  Also, it will make your banner look minty new :-)  Just do not use Armorall on it.  It actually causes vinyl to contract leading to eventual loss of malleability and cracks.

[Disheveledamethyst]

Very helpful posts from all of you, thank you so much. Shining up a vinyl poster never even occurred to me, but that sounds pretty awesome. Archie, I'm interested in your banner collection! Anywhere I could look at it? Or do you have a list?