Went to Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace where all they have are flimsy nail-to-the-tree style signs.
I want to sink a post and put up a sign similar to the type of construction that the public roads use.
Where do you get your "private road" and "private property" signs that are sturdier than the type that you can buy at the box stores?
You fasten the flimsy signs to a sturdy backing.
The farmers around here (central Nebraska) just buy the plastic ones then nail them to a chunk of lumber. I made one out of an aluminum pan from Walmart and some mailbox lettering. Tractor Supply might have something. Gemplers and Amazon do for sure.
Silly wabbit. . . I'll bet that you didn't try:
Well, I did try sawing down a few of the state's road signs, but for some reason none of them had the "private road" signs I wanted! :)
And, I went to the box stores (which only had no trespassing and fake stop signs).
I was hoping to have a type of store (like Grangers) that I can actually visit so that I can hold the sign in my hands to check the sturdiness.
If a good quality sign is only available online, then that's what I'll do.
But buying online takes far more skill because you have to know the specs (and I don't).
- Size e.g., 12x18" or
- Material e.g., Aluminum or Steel?
- Thickness e.g., .063"
- Standards, e.g., ASTM Type I, EG, MUTCD, DOT, etc. ????
- Reflectivity, what's best.
So, buying online takes knowledge I don't have yet.
For example, what's the standard to look for?
Here is a quick price survey for 12x18 "Private Road Keep Out" signs made to whatever specs they're made to (which is the hard part when buying online).
$15-$25
The site provided by UC sells the same type of signs used by city and county districts. They are aluminum grade and very durable. If they are appropriately sized for the districts, they should work just fine for you.
If he feels he must deal with someone in person, his local DPW or road commission would be a good place to start.
[snip]
As Meanie said, numerous sites sell the signs he's looking for and they supply the municipal, etc., highway departments. If it's THAT important to him, he can go out, drive down the street and measure a sign like the one he wants to get.
All this about thickness, durability, etc. is kind of dumb. We're talking about a $20 sign for crying out loud, not selecting a spouse, investment vehicle, or choosing a nursing home. Buy the damn sign according to the best estimate and be done with it. If it's not exactly what he wants, he'll at least have the specs and can upgrade the next time out.
It took a while but I found the signs I wanted and ordered them. I'll get some poles from Home Depot.
I notice road signs use a square two-piece breakaway perforated pole (for impact absorption almost certainly).
What do you think about a 2" round pipe as the pole? How high do you think these things are put? Would you cement them in or just bury them 4 feet deep?
I like the black and white signs. I like the reflective signs. I like the concept of "private drive" instead of "private road" because it makes it more of a "driveway" than a road. And I like the "no trespassing" and "no public use allowed".
a. Private Drive - No Trespassing b. Private Drive - No Public Use Allowed c. Private Drive - Private Property d. Private Drive - Keep Out
The closest I can find in black and white are:
Private Drive No Trespassing
Private Road - No Public Use Allowed M Engineer Grade (Standard)12x18"
Private Drive, Private Property 3M Engineer Grade (Standard)12"x18"
Private Road - Keep Out
You seem to be changing the need/requirements as you go.
Why not just have roadtrafficsigns.com create EXACTLY what you want. I'm betting that they (or another supplier) can and will do exactly that. Sure there will be a premium price attached, but just think. . .
you can be the first on your block to have a sign that says "Stay the F**K out! ;)
(Standard)12x18"
LOL! I always liked "We Don't Call 911"
...and, for the anti-gun folks....
"Please don't hurt us. We are unarmed."
Here is a picture of my little "line of death" roadblock.
The people I turned back yesterday were very nice about it. It's as if they knew what they were doing was wrong.
I told them all to tell all their friends that a mean guy with a shotgun kicked them off, even though I was very nice about it and so were they.
I apologized for having to kick them off, and they said they didn't know it was private property.
Thank you for the advice.
I thought about custom signs, but I want the signs to be taken seriously. And, I can't believe my needs are any different than most.
BTW, yesterday, I sat all day with a barrier across the road kicking people out where most professed that they never read the sign at the junction of the private road with the public road.
In a way, I believe them, sort of, because it turns out that more than half of them were coming in the opposite direction, which was from a county park about 5 miles away, which has an access path that is only marked at the county with a sign saying "do not enter" but they go past that, and then in that direction, there is not a single sign even though the path goes through at least a half dozen back yards. This is heavy mountain country so everyone has twenty to fifty acres, most of which is unusable except for a bulldozed acre, if that.
So I realized that where I put the signs is probably too late for say, half the people, because I only own one end of the private drive, and by the time they come to the other end, they've already hiked or biked (only 4 wheel vehicles could make it otherwise) 5 miles, and they're not likely to turn back since it's private property on both sides of them by the time they get to my property.
I have the flimsy kind shown below nailed to about fifty trees.
Those "No Trespassing" signs don't seem to work all that well.
I need something that is black & white and official looking and feeling, since the road "is" a private road, and the public is not allowed.
Looks like a full time job keeping people out. How about a toll booth? If you have to spend the day at the intersection make it worthwhile.
I measured the existing signs.
On a 2 or 3 inch wide round pole with a street sign mounted on top, are two more signs.
Below the street-name sign, there is a 30"x30" amber sign at the one junction at the public road. This amber sign is mounted onto a 2 or 3 inch sign pole with the points on the cross, and is owned by the county (it has a sticker in the back saying that they own it and that it's a criminal offense to remove it).
On that 30x30 sign are 11/16th inch wide black letters 5-1/16th inch tall saying "NO THROUGH TRAFFIC".
Below that amber county sign is a 12x18 white and black "Private Road - No Through Traffic" sign with the black PRIVATE ROAD letters being 3/8ths inch wide and 2-7/16ths tall. The NO THROUGH TRAFFIC letters are 5/16th inch wide and 2 inches tall.
The biggest problem is that the residents at the end want their mail to stay at the end, but the post office won't do gate codes.
Today a foul-mouthed self-entitled set of bikers came through and wouldn't go back whence they came.
They told me I could shove my private road up my (anatomical part), right in front of my kids. They were even foul mouthed to the police where they said I pushed them off their bikes when all I did was tell them to turn back and they went right past me.
The police came, and they told me that on their maps it's not a private road, and that it's not signed except at the beginning and end. They showed me section 602 of California fenced, cultivated, or trail rules (or something like that which I need to look up) which shows what the signage rules are (something about 3 signs per mile and at the entrance and exit).
EDIT: Found this:
According to this document:
Legally, apparently, California no-trespassing signs must say the explicit words "Trespassing/Loitering Forbidden by Law", and the letters must be at least 2 inches in height, and the sign must be at least 1-foot square posted at no less frequency than 3 per mile and at the entrance and exit to all entrances to any property that wants to enforce the no-trespassing rule.
A suggested legally accepted text is: PRIVATE PROPERTY TRESPASSING/LOITERING FORBIDDEN BY LAW VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE 602
In addition, and only after adding the legally required signage, homeowners "could" send an official form every six months to the police who can enforce the rules in their absence (but they will only do so if the appropriate signage is already in place).
Here is a summary...
PROBLEM:
- People trespass
PROPOSED SOLUTION: A. Fix the maps B. Improve the signage (include input from local utility & county parks) C. Police the property
FIX THE MAPS:
- Private-road related maps apparently *start* at the deed!
- The County Assessor's office turns the deed into a County Map!
- The assessor correctly shows the road with a dotted line
- On an Assessor's map a dotted line is a private road, no public access
- However, Google, DeLorme, Egri, Here, etc. use the GIS maps
- The County Geographic Information Services use the Assessor's maps
- Unfortunately GIS shows the road with a solid line (aka ambiguous)
- So the GIS guys will fix that by adding a PVT attribute to our road
- Over time, that will propagate to Google, DeLorme, etc.
- In addition, I filed a Google map error complaint on the web
- Google won't do anything over the phone (trust me, I tried)
- The police get their maps from GIS so that will also propagate
IMPROVE THE SIGNAGE:
- Work with local police, utility, & local county parks
- Understand California Penal Code 602L signage requirements
- Sign 3-to-a-mile and at entrances & exits
- One-foot square, 2-inch letters saying either: a. Mandated: "TRESPASSING/LOITERING FORBIDDEN BY LAW" b. Acceptable: "PRIVATE PROPERTY (or Private Road or Private Drive, etc.) NO TRESPASSING" c. Preferred: "PRIVATE PROPERTY (or Private Road or Private Drive, etc.) TRESPASSING/LOITERING FORBIDDEN BY LAW VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE 602"
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