✦ Which signs need braille, and which don't
ADA Signs & Wayfinding in Sun Valley, CA
Not every sign in a building needs braille. Signs that identify a permanent room or space — restrooms, stairwells, exits, numbered offices — must carry raised tactile characters and Grade 2 braille under §216.2 of the 2010 ADA Standards. Directional and informational signs, the arrows and floor directories people picture when they hear "wayfinding", are held to the visual character rules in §703.5 instead, and putting braille on them is a common and expensive mistake. Angels Print makes both halves: tactile plates in acrylic, photopolymer and brushed aluminum, and the printed directionals that go with them, so one building gets one visual system from one supplier.
48–60 in · Required tactile mounting heightSpec sheet
- Materials
- 1/8" Clear Acrylic P95, 1/4" white or frosted acrylic, 1/8" Brushed Silver Dibond
- Tactile copy
- Raised characters 1/32" minimum, 5/8"–2" cap height, sans-serif, non-glare finish (§703.2)
- Braille
- Grade 2 (contracted), domed or rounded, positioned below the text; clear, white or full color
- Sizes
- Stock 8 x 2 and 9.5 x 9.5; custom plates cut to your floor plan
- Mounting
- Double-tape, no drilling into finished walls; 48" min to lowest / 60" max to highest tactile baseline
- Turnaround
- 3-5 business days standard; 24-hour rush available
- File formats
- Vector AI, EPS, PDF or SVG with outlined fonts; a room list in a spreadsheet is enough to start
What you get with ADA Signs & Wayfinding
- Tactile plates with raised characters and Grade 2 braille for every permanent room and space — restrooms, stairwells, exits, elevator lobbies, numbered offices
- Directional, informational and floor-directory signs built to the §703.5 visual character rules, without the braille they do not need
- Whole-building sign schedules: send a room list or a floor plan and get back one plate per door, numbered and boxed in install order
- Laser-cut or printed lettering on acrylic, frosted acrylic and brushed aluminum, with 70% light-reflectance contrast between characters and background
- California Title 24 builds where the state rule is stricter than the federal standard
How your ada signs & wayfinding job runs
- 1
Send the room list
A spreadsheet of room names and numbers, or a floor plan. We turn it into a sign schedule and price it per plate.
- 2
Proof the schedule
You approve one proof showing every plate, its copy, its braille and where it mounts, before anything is cut.
- 3
Produce & verify
Plates are cut and the braille checked against the schedule — character height, dome spacing and contrast are measured, not assumed.
- 4
Ship in install order
Signs arrive labelled and boxed floor by floor, so the installer works down the list instead of sorting a pile.
Popular uses
ADA Signs & Wayfinding, shipped anywhere in the U.S.
Every order is produced in our own shop at 8511 Lankershim Blvd, Sun Valley, CA — and ships from there to any state. Upload your artwork online or request a custom quote — most jobs ship in 3–5 days, with 24-hour rush available, and U.S. orders over $100 ship free.
Order ada signs & wayfinding essentials online
Questions about ADA Signs & Wayfinding
Which signs actually need braille?
Signs that identify a permanent room or space: restrooms, stairwells, exits, elevator lobbies, and numbered rooms. Those need raised tactile characters and Grade 2 braille. Directional signs, floor directories and temporary notices do not — they follow the visual character rules instead. Adding braille to a directional sign is not a violation, but it is money spent on something no inspector asks for.
How high do tactile signs have to be mounted?
Between 48 inches above the floor measured to the baseline of the lowest tactile character, and 60 inches measured to the baseline of the highest. The sign goes on the latch side of the door, and where there is no wall on the latch side it moves to the nearest adjacent wall. An 18 by 18 inch clear floor space has to sit in front of it, outside the door swing.
Can you do a whole building at once?
Yes, and it is the cheaper way to buy them. Send a room list or a floor plan and we build a sign schedule: one line per plate with its copy, type and mounting location. You approve that once, and the signs ship labelled in install order.
Do you ship outside California?
Yes — ADA plates are small and flat, and they ship anywhere in the U.S. from our Sun Valley shop. The 2010 ADA Standards are federal and apply in every state. California adds Title 24, which is stricter on some points; if your building is in California, say so and we will build to it.
What contrast do the characters need?
Characters must contrast with their background — light on dark or dark on light — at 70% light reflectance value, with a non-glare finish on both. That rules out most polished metal faces and a lot of mid-tone color pairings that look fine on screen.
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