Recently we painted the exterior of our house and when we did I removed our old outdated address numbers… and well I never put them back up. That was until I got a notice from the city saying I needed to get them back up or I would get fined.

This post is NOT sponsored. QT Home Decor did gift me the numbers. All opinions are my own. This post DOES contain affiliate links. For more information on my affiliate programs see my DISCLOSURES page.

I couldn’t put the old ugly numbers on my freshly painted house so I decided to get some new ones. These are the ones I used…. Modern Black House Numbers QT Home Decor. But when they arrived I couldn’t find a spot in the wood part of my house that I liked them, so I decided I would build a backer to put the numbers on so that I wouldn’t have to drill a ton of holes in my block wall.

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And if you’ve been following along you know I recently built new shutters for my house… you can see them here. So I thought it would be cool to make the backer similar to the shutters. Plus, I think it will add to the curb appeal have some of the shutter cedar color on this part of our house. Kinda balance it out. So let me show you how I made them.

Blue Tape is so useful for so many things!

Step 1: Layout

I laid the numbers out on a 1x6 cedar fence picket and love how the black pops next to the cedar, but thought that they needed more space around the numbers. The vertical slats on my shutters we 2 1/2” wide, so I knew I wanted to try and keep that the same on the address sign. So I also put some blue tape on my workbench so I could visualize the spacing.

Numbers are gonna look good on the cedar, but I think it needs to be wider.

I decided that the 3 of the 2 1/2” slats would work perfectly. It gave about 1 1/2” around each of the numbers. I had a bunch of scrap cedar fence pickets laying in my burn pile outside and I decided to use them rather than purchase new ones. That is why they look so weathered. But with a good sand they should look as good as new.

Oh yeah, this is starting to look awesome!

Step 2: Frame

So now that I have the size of the backer it was time to frame it out. The fence pickets are only about 5/8” thick, so I put some spacer pieces on the back to give it some thickness to accommodate the hardware for the numbers. The frame pieces were ripped to that thickness 1 1/4”.

Ripping down the frame pieces at the table saw. If you don’t have a table saw you could use 1x2’s for the frame and 1x3’s for the vertical slats.

Step 3: Assembly

The backer pieces not only give room for the number hardware but they also help hold the back together. Using some wood glue and 18ga brad nails I assembled the back. First I attached the backer pieces to the slats and then attached the frame.

This is the view from the back. The cross supports help hold everything together.

I’m using some fast dry wood glue and my cordless 18ga brad nailer.

Step 4: Layout and Install Number Anchors

I laid blue tape down the middle of the backer so that when I went to drill the holes there would be less chip out. Plus, it gave me somewhere to write all the layout lines and I wouldn’t need to sand them off later. I didn’t do any scientific method of layout…. I used the width of one of the boxes that the numbers came in as the space between each of the numbers. Then laid the numbers between the lines and made a mark where the holes were.

The blue tape helps prevent chip out and gives me somewhere for my layout lines.

I then did a couple of practice holes and tested out the anchors in it. Luckily they give you plenty of extra anchors if you don’t get this right at first.

Then I hammered all the anchors into the backer. They was one hole that happened to line up to were the cross support on the back met, so for that hole I did have to make the hole a little bit bigger for the anchor to fit.

Awesome Oscar acting as supervisor once again!

And after hammering the first anchor I realized that the anchor stick out farther than the frame I had made for it. So I could make a complete new frame for the piece or instead I just added some scrap pieces of wood I had laying around and that gave the piece enough thickness so the anchors won’t hit the wall when installed. My frame was approximately 1 1/4” and I added about 1/4” with the scrap. If I were to do it over I would have just made the frame 1 1/2” thick.

Anchors were longer than I thought, so added some scraps to make frame thicker.

Also, when I laid out the holes for the numbers I thought they would all line up in the middle. Well they mostly did, except for the number 4. If I left the holes in line with the others the 4 would be inline when the numbers were installed. So, I had to move them over slightly and fill the holes with some wood filler. It was a bummer I didn’t catch this sooner. But between the wood filler and the number covering most of the holes you can’t even really tell in the end.

Damn #4!!! I wish the numbers came with better instructions so I would have know to do this from the start.

Step 5: Install Backer to House

Since my house is block I had to use the hammer drill setting on my drill and a masonry bit to drill the holes first.

Be sure to use a hammer drill or the hammer drill setting on your drill when drilling into masonry.

I always like to drill the first hole, partially install the anchor screws, level the backer and then mark for the second hole. These is the best way I have found to line up holes in block.

These shorter levels come in handy for so many things are the house, especially hanging pictures.

You have to use special masonry concrete anchor screws when drilling into block/concrete. I used these ones…. click here.

I used 3 1/4” x 3/16 concrete anchor screws.

Step 6: Install Numbers

I tried hammer the numbers in when the sign was hanging up and it didn’t feel very secure. It felt like I would bend the metal, so I ended up taking down the backer and installing the two numbers that weren't where the holes for hanging the sign were. Also, I am using a tool and a scrap piece of 2x material to hammer onto so that I don’t scratch the surface of the numbers.

Hammering these in on the ground made it easier to drive them in straight and not bend the standoffs.

Then once those were on, I rehung the backer and installed the last two numbers.

Almost there…. love how the numbers have a stand off and create a shadow effect.

Oh… btw I finished the backer with three coats of Halcyon finish from Total Boat before installing it.

And all in a days work I have a completed House Address Sign and no fines to pay.

I love how this project turned out and how it adds to my curb appeal. I also hope it inspires you to try and make one for your home. And if you do, I’d love it fi you would share a picture with me.