Carved & Sandblasted Signs in Baltimore, MD

Carved and sandblasted signs are a Pollitt specialty, hand-carved and fabricated entirely in-house at our Havre de Grace shop rather than farmed out to another vendor. We work in high-density urethane (HDU), natural wood, and stone to create deeply dimensional, hand-finished signs — raised carved letters, sandblasted wood-grain backgrounds, and finishing options like gold leaf and hand-painted detail that a flat-printed sign simply can't reproduce. It's the same craft behind projects like the carved Havre de Grace town welcome sign, and it's what we bring to historic district storefronts, estate entrances, HOA and community entrances, and businesses that want a sign built to last for decades. Because carved signs so often go into locations with design review boards — historic districts, town rights-of-way, HOA communities — our in-house permit department handles those applications and variances for you from start to finish.

Baltimore's neighborhoods each carry their own historic district guidelines, zoning overlays, and sign ordinances that require careful navigation. Fells Point and Federal Hill historic districts have specific review processes; the Inner Harbor and Harbor East corridor operates under its own overlay; industrial areas in Canton and South Baltimore have different allowances. Our permit department handles Baltimore City applications and knows which reviewers manage which districts. We've built signs across the city — from Hampden boutiques on 36th Street to Locust Point industrial tenants to Harbor East corporate headquarters — and we coordinate the city permit process from initial submission through final inspection.

All carved & sandblasted signs installations in Baltimore require sign permits through the Baltimore City Department of General Services. As a Baltimore City sign company with over seven decades of permitting experience, our dedicated permit department handles the application, setback compliance review, and any variance requests. Baltimore City's Department of General Services reviews standard sign permit applications on a roughly 3–5 week timeline, though projects in the city's historic districts — Fells Point and Federal Hill among them — require a separate historic district design review before a sign permit can be issued. Signs that exceed the applicable height, area, or illumination limits for their zoning district need a variance from the city's Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals. You focus on your business; we handle the paperwork.

Baltimore's dense urban commercial fabric shapes how we approach carved & sandblasted signs here. City historic districts frequently require sign materials that carved HDU or wood satisfy more easily than an illuminated cabinet, so carved signage is a common route to first-submission approval in a neighborhood with its own design review board.