Want to direct your community to your Green Hub with a sign? Well then, you’ll need to know how to put it up! Horton Community Garden, one of our pilot hubs, have just installed their new sign and have provided a handy guide to installation:

Tools required
- Set Square
- Lump hammer
- Sledge hammer
- Saw
- Trowel
- Tape measure
- circular saw
- spirit level
- spade
You might also need:
- Buckets for collecting removed soil, stones etc, (or a sheet on the ground)
- Secateurs or loppers for cutting through branches or roots
- Knee pads
- Wheelbarrow

Instructions
1. Decide where you want your sign, look from a distance to see how it will look, and make sure the site is clear for the whole size of the sign. Dig the middle hole, making a diamond shape so that the timber will fit flush to the top corners, and then make it big enough for the spade to get in and move the soil (try a spade width on all four sides). The hole should be 1/3 the length of the post height)
2. Once the post is in place, use a spirit level down the side to check if it is straight, add bricks in the hole to secure it in place, check both sides regularly with a spirit level and add more bricks to the two sides of exposed timber in the hole. Once you have the first layer, add soil, use the lump hammer to tamper the soil into place, then add a second layer of bricks, making sure nothing protrudes above ground level, then add more soil, checking the spirit level and adding thinner slithers of stone and slate if needed to correct.

3. Measure the width of the sign from the first post and dig another diamond-shaped hole just as deep, use the trowel to get extra soil out once it gets beyond the spade depth. You might consider using a kneeler at this stage. Repeat as above, making sure that the outside edge of the timber is in line with the original Do the same on the other side to make the third hole.

4. Measure the cross piece of wood and mark it at the top of the post and at the bottom. This should be the distance that you’ve measured between the posts but it’s better to measure and cut against the reality in case there is a slight difference. We used a circular saw and a set square to cut the wood to size, but you could use a saw, utilising the handle as a set square to mark a straight line before cutting. We measured the wood to fit inside the gap so that the sign could sit flush against the upright timber and additional support screws in the middle of the sign. Think about what screw head, or countersunk may damage the sign so truss, pan, or round head may be better, or don’t tighten all the way in. If you have not got self-tapping screws, it may be worth making a pilot hole first by pre-drilling a hole to ease the screw in and reduce the risk of the wood splitting.


5. Next, we placed the sign against the upright timbers and marked with a pencil where we wanted the holes, which were about the middle of the upright timber. We made pilot holes in the Dibond (aluminum with plastic in the middle) frame using a metal drill piece that was the same size as the screws we were using. To make it aesthetically pleasing we made sure that all four corners were the same distance from the top and from the edge by measuring with a tape measure. Once the four corners had holes we offered it up to the timber frame and drilled it into position. Once attached we added additional screws in between to strengthen.




6. Stand back and enjoy!