Mesh banner media is perforated, so wind passes through instead of pushing against it. That is why it goes on temporary fencing and scaffold where a solid banner would tear out or take the fence with it.
A mesh banner is a printed PVC banner with an open, perforated structure, usually 270 to 340 gsm with roughly 30 to 40 per cent open area, which lets air pass through the face instead of loading against it. The base material is the same coated polyester scrim used in solid banners, either woven with gaps or punched with a regular pattern of small holes after coating. Print goes on the solid parts and the holes stay open.
Made by Melbourne Trade Signs, a large-format print and signage company on Unit 6/43 Orbis Drive, Ravenhall VIC 3023, in Melbourne’s west. Printed in-house and installed Australia-wide. Phone 0415 743 691.
Openness is the entire point, and it costs you image density. Because a third of the surface is not there, colours read lighter than the same file printed on solid vinyl, and whatever is behind the banner shows faintly through it. Fine detail and small text lose their edges in the weave. In exchange, a mesh banner survives a windy site where solid PVC would be flapping loose inside a fortnight, so on a fence it is not a compromise, it is the correct product.
We print mesh at the Ravenhall workshop and finish it with welded hems and eyelets in the same run. Fence-panel sizes come off the roll to match Australian temporary fencing, and long hoarding runs get welded to length. There is no minimum, so a single sponsor banner for a sports club and a full site perimeter are both normal orders. Our crews fix them on site where a builder would rather it was not their problem.
The only sensible way to explain mesh is next to the solid banner it replaces. Everything you gain and everything you give up is in this comparison.
| Property | Mesh banner | Solid PVC banner | What it means on site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 270–340 gsm | 440–650 gsm | Lighter media means less dead load hanging off the fixings |
| Open area | Roughly 30–40 per cent | None | Open area is the whole mechanism. Air goes through, not against |
| Wind behaviour | Much reduced load | Acts as a full sail | The difference between a banner staying up and a fence going over |
| Colour density | Reads lighter, background shows | Full solid colour | Push contrast up and accept that pale tints will not read |
| Minimum text size | Around 40–50 mm cap height | Whatever the distance needs | Small type and thin strokes break up in the weave |
| Eyelet spacing | Every 300 mm typically | Every 500 mm typically | Closer fixings spread movement along the hem |
| Outdoor life | Two to three years | Two to five years | Both fade first. Loose mesh edges fray where solid vinyl tears |
Order to the panel, not to the fence line. One long banner across five fence panels ties them together, so moving a panel strains the lot. Separate panels also let you replace one damaged section.
Mesh is a simple product with a few decisions that genuinely change how long it lasts. Most of them are about the edge and the fixing rather than the print itself.
A folded, heat-welded hem around all four sides is standard on our mesh. It stops the cut edge fraying, which mesh will do if left raw, and it gives the eyelets four layers to sit through. Raw-edge mesh with punched eyelets is cheaper and does not last a season on a windy site.
We punch every 300 mm on mesh rather than the 500 mm used on solid banners. Temporary fence panels flex and move, and every bit of that movement travels into the banner. Closer eyelets share it. On scaffold, where the structure is rigid, 500 mm is usually enough.
For long spans or permanent hoarding, a polyester webbing strip welded into the hem takes the tension instead of the mesh. It is the same idea as rope in a hem on a solid banner. Worth specifying on anything over about five metres or anywhere access for repairs is difficult.
The default fixing and the one every site already has. Fast, cheap, and rigid, which is the drawback. A cable tie holds the banner hard against one point, so all the movement concentrates at the eyelet. Use plenty, do not overtighten them, and check them after the first big blow.
Elastic ties absorb movement instead of resisting it, which is why installers who look after their banners prefer them. A 100 mm bungee loop through each eyelet lets the panel breathe in a gust and pull back afterwards. They cost more than cable ties and they roughly double the life of a mesh banner on an exposed line.
Mesh prints on one face only. Some ink migrates into the perforations, so the reverse shows a faint mirrored ghost of the artwork, which is normal and not a fault. There is no blockout version of mesh, because a light barrier would defeat the open structure. Plan for one readable side.
Where a site has solid hoarding at the bottom and open fence above, we often print Corflute or ACM for the solid section and mesh for the open section, keyed to the same artwork. It uses each material for what it is good at, and it means one damaged panel is a cheap fix rather than a reprint.
A different product that gets confused with mesh. Shade cloth is a knitted HDPE fabric printed by dye sublimation, softer, more open again and used where shade or airflow matters more than image quality. Mesh banner is a coated PVC and prints far sharper. Tell us the application and we will point you at the right one.
Perimeter branding, safety messaging and screening on temporary fencing that stays up for the length of a project. Mesh is standard practice here because a site fence has no footings, and a solid banner across it is a genuine safety issue in a Melbourne southerly. It also screens the site visually while still letting supervisors see through it from the inside.
Printed mesh across scaffold turns a working facade into a hoarding that carries the builder branding or a render of the finished building. Scaffold is rigid and tied back to the structure, so fixing is simpler than it is on temporary fencing. Check the loading with your scaffolder first, because wrapping an entire facade changes the engineering on the structure underneath it.
Sponsor banners down a boundary fence, usually 3 metres long, usually several at once, and usually facing an open oval where the wind has nothing at all to slow it down. Mesh survives that. Clubs also tend to take banners down over the off season, and mesh folds and stores better than heavy PVC without holding a crease through the print.
Perimeter fencing at outdoor events, where mesh does branding and crowd screening in one pass across hundreds of metres. We print the artwork stepped across matching panels so the run reads as one continuous piece, pack it in labelled sets per gate or zone, and can install it. Our sister company Event Signs covers the rest of an event fitout.
Mesh throws away a third of your image, so artwork that works on a solid banner often does not work here. Design it bolder than feels necessary and it will read correctly on site.
Send what you have and we will adapt it. Most mesh jobs start from an existing banner file that needs its type enlarged and its contrast lifted. That adjustment happens here before you see a proof.
Mesh runs on the same equipment as our solid banners, printed, welded and punched here rather than sent out for finishing. Give us the site date and we will tell you whether it stacks up. Perimeter sets are packed and labelled by panel or by gate, so nobody is unrolling banners on site working out the order. Pickup Ravenhall, delivery across Victoria, freight interstate, install by our crews.
Mesh banner media is a coated polyester scrim PVC with an open structure, typically 270 to 340 gsm, with about 30 to 40 per cent of its surface area open.
Two constructions exist. Woven mesh is built with gaps between the threads. Perforated mesh is a solid banner punched with a regular grid of small holes after coating. Both do the same job. The coating is what carries the ink, and the open area is what lets wind through instead of loading the whole surface.
Because a solid banner on a freestanding fence is a sail, and mesh is not. Temporary fence panels have no footings and are only held by weighted feet.
A solid banner transfers the full wind load into those panels, which is how a fence line ends up flat on the ground across a car park. The open area in mesh drops that load substantially. It also reduces the strain on the eyelets themselves, so the banner stops tearing at the fixings.
They look lighter than the same artwork on solid vinyl, typically by around 10 to 15 per cent, because a third of the surface is open and whatever sits behind it shows through faintly.
That is manageable with artwork built for the material: strong contrast, flat colour areas and large type. It is not manageable with pale tints, fine detail or photographic backgrounds. If image quality matters more than wind, you want solid PVC on a solid substrate instead.
Through every eyelet, at 300 mm spacing, using ties that allow a little movement rather than clamping the banner rigid.
Cable ties are the site standard and they work, provided you use one at every eyelet and do not pull them fully tight. Bungee or shock cord loops are better, because they let the panel move in a gust and pull it back after. Fix the banner to each fence panel separately so a panel being moved does not drag the whole run.
No, not properly. Mesh prints on one side, and the reverse shows a faint mirrored ghost of the front artwork.
Ink migrates slightly into the perforations during printing, which produces that shadow. It is normal, not a defect, and it means reversed text on the back is unreadable. There is also no blockout version of mesh, since an opaque core layer would close the openings and remove the reason for using it. For two clean faces, hang two panels back to back.
No. Shade cloth is a knitted HDPE fabric printed by dye sublimation, while mesh banner is a coated PVC that is woven or perforated.
Shade cloth is softer, more open and lighter, and it suits shade structures, playground screening and long fence runs where airflow matters more than a sharp image. Mesh banner holds detail and colour much better and takes eyelets more securely. Tell us where it is going and how long it needs to survive, and we will recommend one.
Still deciding? See our sign and banner sizes guide.
The solid version. Full colour density on 440gsm PVC with welded hems and eyelets, for hoarding, walls and anywhere the wind is not the deciding factor.
See the detail →Rigid fluted board for site identification and fence-mounted panels, cut to size with eyelets fitted, and the usual partner to mesh on a construction site.
See the detail →The mandatory signage that goes up alongside the site branding. Warning, PPE, hazard and site entry signs printed on Corflute, ACM or self-adhesive vinyl to standard layouts.
See the detail →Browse the full list on our A–Z of everything we print, or see how this fits into signage in Melbourne.
Tell us the fence type, the run length and how long it needs to stay up. We will price the panels and suggest the fixing that suits.