Tips & Tricks: A block and tackle does the lifting

I often use a lightweight block and tackle to do the grunt work of lifting signs. They are easy to use and make an installation go faster. They also make it possible to install a sign without a helper in many cases.

I start by drilling a hole in the centerpoint of the sign I will be lifting into position. The hole will be filled by one of the fasteners in the end, so there’s no harm in this.

In this example, a new sign face was being installed over the old sign. It was relatively light, so I unscrewed one of the structural screws in the building’s façade and hung the block and tackle from it.