Coroplast vs PVC: Choosing the Right Sign Material

Coroplast is a corrugated plastic — think of cardboard’s structure but made of polypropylene. It has flutes running through it, which is why it is so light and why it slides straight onto a wire H-stake.

What it is good at: it is inexpensive, genuinely waterproof (it does not absorb moisture, so it will not warp or go soft in rain the way a paper-faced board does), and it is light enough to handle in quantity. For lawn signs it is effectively the only sensible choice.

What it is not good at: the flutes show. Look closely at a coroplast sign and you will see faint vertical lines through the print — that is the corrugation structure. From ten feet away nobody notices. Mounted on a wall at eye level in a reception area, it looks cheap. It also has visible open flutes along the cut edges, which reads as unfinished up close.

Flute direction matters. The flutes must run vertically for a staked sign, so the stake slides in. If you are ordering a sign to be mounted rather than staked, tell us — otherwise the default assumption is a stake.

PVC sign board (often called foam PVC or by brand names like Sintra) is a rigid, closed-cell plastic sheet with a smooth uniform surface. No flutes, no texture, clean cut edges.

What it is good at: the finish. Print sits on a flat surface with no structure showing through, so the result looks like a manufactured sign rather than a temporary one. It is rigid enough to mount flat against a wall without bowing, holds screws and standoffs, and lasts several years outdoors. It is the sensible substrate for storefront signage, building identification and anything interior and customer-facing.

What it is not good at: price and weight. It costs meaningfully more than coroplast and it is heavier, which matters for both mounting and shipping. It also cannot be staked — there is nothing to slide a stake into.

One practical note: PVC expands and contracts with temperature more than you might expect. On a large panel in an Ottawa climate, mounting needs to allow for that movement rather than pinning it rigidly at every point.

Work through these three questions and the answer usually falls out:

1. How long does it need to last? A few weeks to a season — coroplast. Years — PVC. A real estate listing sign, an event direction sign or a job-site notice is temporary by nature. A shop’s hours sign is not.

2. How is it being fixed? Staked into ground — coroplast. Screwed or adhered to a wall — PVC. This one question resolves most cases on its own.

3. How close will people be? Read from a passing car or across a lawn — coroplast is fine, and the flutes are invisible. Read from a metre away by a customer standing at your counter — PVC, because at that distance the corrugation and open edges of coroplast are obvious.

Aluminium composite (two thin aluminium skins bonded to a plastic core) is the step up from PVC for permanent exterior signage. It is stiffer, will not sag on large panels, and lasts far longer outdoors. It is the right answer for a substantial building sign you expect to leave up for a decade.

Vinyl banner material is flexible rather than rigid — the choice when the sign needs to be rolled, hung between two points, or attached to a fence. Banners suit events and temporary promotions, and mesh versions let wind through, which matters on anything large and exposed.

Acrylic is for interior signage where you want a premium look — reception logos, office directories, standoff-mounted panels. More expensive, and it is an interior material in practice.

Vinyl applied directly to glass avoids the substrate question entirely. For hours, logos and promotional messaging on a shop window, window graphics are usually a better answer than hanging a sign behind the glass.

It is rarely the substrate. Coroplast and PVC both shrug off rain and cold. What degrades is the print, and the culprit is UV.

South-facing signs fade fastest, and saturated colours — particularly reds and vivid blues — go first. A laminate over the print slows this considerably and is worth specifying on anything you expect to leave outdoors for more than a season. It also protects against abrasion and makes the sign easier to clean.

The second killer is wind, and that is a mounting problem rather than a material one. A large flat panel is a sail. Adequate fixings, and on big banners either wind slits or mesh material, matter more than what the sign is printed on.

When you ask for a quote, tell us where the sign is going and how long you need it to last. Those two facts determine substrate and lamination, and getting them right up front is far cheaper than replacing a faded sign in eighteen months.