Hello,
My wife and I took a big plunge and bought a beautiful piece of property in the northwest hills of Connecticut. We are in the last stages of completing 800′ of drive and I have accumulated so many toys in the process of doing that (tractor, woodchipper etc) that we decided to build a barn before we tackle the house.
We bought plans for a carriage house style barn complete with cupola which is the reason for this post- I would like to clad the cupola roof with copper but I am not sure how to go about seaming it. The roof has a gentle sweep (50″radius) and will, of course be crowned with a weathervane. Should I seam the copper on the corners? Can I solder the seams? (the copper will be on top of a 1/4″plywood roof deck) Any advice would be welcome.
Chip
Replies
Is the radius concave or convex? And how many sides?
gl
Work hard, play hard, sleep hard, wear glasses if you need 'em.
Edited 4/30/2002 6:18:29 PM ET by grantlogan
Four sides with a concave radius. The botom of the square is about 37" and the height of the roof is 27".
Thanks in advance.
Chip
The easiest method would be to flat lock the seams at the hips. It gets a little trickier to do standing seams. If at all possible, it would be best to do the roof while the cupola is on the ground. No soldering should be necessary.
Here's my method - someone else here might have a better one.
1)Buy or fabricate a piece of copper drip edge for the eave and install it.
2)Cut a piece of copper larger than each roof plane. Form a 1/2" flatlock at the bottom to connect to the drip edge. Hold one of these pieces on the roof plane where it will be installed. Mark along the hip on the back of it. Cut 1/2" proud of these lines and form a flat lock along each side (hips). Do the same thing for the opposite side. Install these pieces by forming 2"x3" copper cleats with a flange on the end to hook into the flatlock. Nail these cleats down with copper nails. Use as many as necessary to hold the copper to the curve.
3)Do the same thing for the other two sides, but cut 1" proud of the hips. Fold the flatlock under on each side and slide them into the upward turned foldes on the hips. When everything is positioned properly, hammer the locks tight.
Good luck.
gl
Work hard, play hard, sleep hard, wear glasses if you need 'em.
Sounds like a plan Grant. Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Chip