I have been lucky to get to work on this incredible project recently. I am helping to create a copper cladded gable on the peak of a house I have been working on all summer. While it definitely isn't a tiny house, it is an incredible place and my skilled craftsmen have worked on it over the years.
This is a Sketchup model of what we are doing. It is composed of nine copper panels that will be crimped and soldered together on the wall, creating a weather tight system for the next couple hundred years. The top diamond is a window but the other three will have designs applied to them. This whole piece will transition into the cedar shingles below.
It takes lots of careful planning, pattern making and imagination to figure out how to cut and fold a flat sheet of metal into one of these three dimensional components.
From pattern, to copper,
past the brake, to a piece ready for final tuning and soldering.
This is a shot of my shop where we built a full size model of the wall to to our layout and assemble on. When the pieces are finished we will assemble what we can in the shop, then take it to the house and put it up!
More pieces after sheering and bending, ready to be mitered and soldered.
Terry of George A. Bardnard Co, one of the oldest roofing companies in Worcester, teaches us the proper way to tin a soldering copper using sal amoniac.
More trimming and fitting.
Soldering.
Pieces coming together.
Finally, this is what Dermot and I affectionatly call "the zoo". The small twists of copper that come off the sheers as we trim the pieces seem to take on a persona of their own. They come from the land, sea and air but seem to agree with each other in the confines of the pen.
Once we finish this, the copper roof for my house will be no problem!
Beautiful Photograph!
ReplyDeleteelegant system, nicely illustrated
ReplyDelete