Corflute signs

Corflute is twin-wall fluted polypropylene: two thin plastic skins with a corrugated layer of hollow flutes between them, like plastic cardboard. That structure is the whole point — it is what makes a sheet stiff enough to stand up as a sign while staying light enough to post, and cheap enough to treat as temporary. It is waterproof rather than water-resistant, does not rot or swell, and takes a printed skin on either side. In Australia it is what nearly every real estate sign, election sign, site sign and event sign is made of. Corflute is a brand name that became the generic word, the way Esky did; the material is sold under several names and the sheet is the same thing. We print on 3mm and 5mm, rated to 24 months outdoors.

Nothing, in itself — it is a trade name for corrugated fluted plastic that Australians adopted as the ordinary word for the material, so "a corflute" now means a sign made of it. If somebody asks you for corflutes they mean printed plastic signs, usually 600 × 900mm, usually on a fence or a stake. Overseas the same board goes by Coreflute, Corflute, Correx or simply fluted polypropylene.

Yes. Corflute is solid polypropylene rather than paper or board, so water cannot soak into it, swell it or rot it — a corflute sign stands in rain for months without softening. The one thing worth knowing is that the flutes are open at the cut ends, so water can sit inside them. Stand a sign upright rather than lay it flat and it drains and dries on its own. What actually fails outdoors is not the board but the print: UV takes the colours first, which is why the sheet is rated to 24 months and we tell you to plan for six to eighteen.

Five 600 × 900mm corflute signs are $160 including GST and delivery — $32 each — dropping to $24.70 each at ten and $14.30 at thirty. Printing both sides adds $8.80 per sign and four corner eyelets add $2.20. The courier is already paid in those figures and the sign design is included, so the price on this page is the price.

Corflute signs take 2-4 working days from payment, delivered. Need it sooner? Ask — a tighter date is quoted per job — talk to us or put the date on the order request. They are printed in the state they are going to wherever we can, which is what makes that turnaround possible on bulky board.

The board we print on is a UV-stabilised twin-wall polypropylene rated to 24 months outdoors on its published data sheet. What we actually see is six to eighteen, because a sign bolted to a west-facing fence in Queensland is not the sheet in the lab — UV makes the flutes brittle and the colours go first. Both numbers are worth having: the rated one tells you what the material can do, the observed one tells you what to plan for. If the sign has to stay up for years, use ACM instead — a ten-year board carrying a five-year print — and the comparison is here.

Yes, as a material. The sheet we print on is virgin polypropylene co-polymer — resin identification code 5 — and its data sheet rates it 100% recyclable. The catch is practical rather than material: rigid plastic sheet this size is not a kerbside item in most places, so it has to reach a facility that accepts polypropylene sheet, and that is worth confirming with your council before the job rather than after. Pull any metal eyelets out first; they are the part that contaminates the load. If the real goal is fewer signs in the first place, ACM lasts about ten years against corflute's two.

Vertically, on any sign taller than it is wide. The flutes are what give the sheet its stiffness, and they run in one direction only — parallel to the 2400mm width of the sheet it is cut from. A tall sign with horizontal flutes sags between its fixings and curls at the edges; the same sign with vertical flutes stays flat. We set this from the finished size without being asked, but if the sign is going somewhere unusual — slung between two posts, wrapped to a curve — say so and we will orient it for the job rather than for the sheet.

The standard corflute sign is 600 × 900mm on 5mm fluted polypropylene. Online you can order 600 × 900, 900 × 600, 1200 × 900 and the smaller 600 × 450mm, which is 20% less than a 600 × 900mm at every quantity. Anything else from 450 × 450mm up to 2400 × 1200mm goes under Custom size, priced as you type from those same rates, with delivery still included. Any shape can be routed from a vector path you supply. Allow 5mm of bleed rather than the usual 3mm, because router cutting is less precise than a guillotine.

With a sharp utility knife run against a straight edge. Cut in the same direction as the flutes and the blade drops into a channel and goes through in one pass; cutting across the flutes needs two or three lighter passes, or the top skin tears away from the corrugation. Score-and-snap does not work here the way it does on cardboard, because polypropylene bends instead of breaking. Change the blade more often than feels necessary — a dull one drags the skin. If you are cutting to fit a frame or a shape, send us the vector path instead: we route it on the machine to any outline, with 5mm of bleed rather than the usual 3mm.

Not online. Corflute is sold in fives, from 5 to 30, because a courier charges about the same for one board as for ten — on a single sign the delivery came close to the price of the sign itself. Five are $160 delivered, with the design included. More than thirty? Ask for a quote on the run.

Yes, and it costs nothing extra: up to five different designs in the same order, at the same price per sign. So five boards can be five different signs — a club’s sponsors, a campaign’s wards, a school’s event, a wedding’s welcome and seating signs — and ten boards across two designs are still $247. Choose how many designs above, send every file or every set of wording, and say which boards get which in the order notes; each design gets its own proof.

Yes, on every corflute order. Send your logo, the wording and the phone number and we lay the sign out, or tidy the file you already have, and you approve a proof before anything prints. What stays quoted is a logo redrawn from a photo or a screenshot, photo retouching, and a design concept from nothing.

Yes, in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Tick quote me to install them at the checkout and the desk comes back with a price before anything is committed — it is not charged at the cart, because what it costs depends on where the signs are going, how many there are and what they are being fixed to, and a figure guessed at before we know that would be worth nothing. Installation is quoted on the same email as your proof, so it is one reply rather than two. Most online sign printers cannot answer this question at all: they print and post, and where the sign ends up is your problem.

Australia-wide, at the same price in every state. Corflute is bulky and light, and couriers charge by volume rather than weight, so an interstate run can cost more than the signs on it; we make them close to where most are going, which keeps the turnaround at 2-4 working days, and allow 1 to 2 working days longer outside NSW, QLD and VIC. It is a freight argument, not a capacity one.

Yes. On a construction project worth $250,000 or more, NSW and Queensland both require the principal contractor's name, phone and after-hours numbers and the site office location on a sign visible from outside the site — the rule in full is here. You can print that on a plain corflute sign with your own artwork, or type the details into our construction site signs and we set the sign for you at the same price. The whole safety board — danger, PPE, induction and access notices together — is a third option.

Tell the desk as soon as it lands, with a photo of what you received. If the fault is in the making, it is remade under the reprints policy; if it is in the artwork, we say so straight rather than reprinting the same mistake. When your print arrives wrong walks through what to photograph and what to expect.

Yes, every corflute sign here is custom: your wording, logo and colours on 5mm board in 600 × 900, 900 × 600, 600 × 450 or 1200 × 900mm, or a custom size. Choose the size and quantity above, upload your artwork or design it online, and approve a proof before it prints.