I stopped by my local used metal place and saw bins full of brass offcuts. They were the same size as a standard cedar shingle.. Because of the low price of scrap metal the owner was willing to give me a great deal on them and as it works out it would be just about the price of cedar shingles..
Is that an idea that sounds good on the surface but won’t work or have I potentially stumbled into something?
Why wouldn’t brass shingles work?
Replies
electrolosis comes to mind, lacking a decent fastener.
Woods favorite carpenter
I assumed stainless steel which you'd use anyway on cedar shingles
You said they were "like" cedar shingle size, how thick are these things? Stainless is very soft, that was my thought.
Woods favorite carpenter
Excellant question, They are .090 thick which should prevent them from flapping around in high winds..
Brass door hardware is generally lacquered when new, which prevents tarnishing of the metal for a few years when located outside (and indefinitely when located indoors). After this most manufacturers recommend that the lacquer is removed (e.g. with paint stripper) and the items regularly polished to maintain a bright finish. Unlacquered brass weathers more attractively than brass with deteriorated lacquer, even if polishing is not carried out. Freshly polished brass is similar to gold in appearance, but becomes more reddish within days of exposure to the elements. A traditional polish is Brasso.
I don't think I would do anything to them except let them weather to the softdark brown they will turn before they eventually turn green. The idea of getting up on that steep roof and polishing things with brasso makes my stomach turn..
Thats where a telehandler would come in handy <G>
Darn I know I got laid off too soon!
Frenchy,
I would still opt for nailing by hand to insure that the material was applied as good as possible.
Copper slating nails would be perfect for hand nailing.
They should have a 2" headlap at least so the exposure would the be 16" - 2" divided by 2 or 7".
I disagree with Grant that you should nail thru two layers though. Nailing thru one layer just over the top of the underlying shingle is how I would apply them.
Nailing thru one layer just over the top of the underlying shingle is how I would apply them.
Ah - I had cedar shingle installation in my head, but a slate nailing pattern would be more appropriate. In that case, the punch would be the tool and hand nailing with copper nails would be my preference as well.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
You and I don't often disagree , but on that one I thought you must be thinking like cedars with triple coverage - in which case you would be nailing thru 2 layers.
Hope you're approaching normalcy from all the storm damage !
Hope you're approaching normalcy from all the storm damage !
We had a lot of patches of ice left and now they're hidden under 4-5 inches of snow that fell in the last couple of hours. We tried to work yesterday, but the melt was dripping everywhere. We're not getting much done.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
4-5"? Damm, we got a dusting ( so far).Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
4-5"?
Yup - snowed about as hard as I've ever seen. Kinda spit off and on this morning and then about 11AM it got serious. I've got at least 5" on top of the 2" of ice that was left in front of the shop and on the hill.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
Neighbor's grand kid said Lex was whacked and downtown Richmond was too..just a dust here, but the temps dropped like a rock and wind.
Back to brass shingles, those diamonds we did at G-way would be an option, he has a turret IIRC.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I'm bidding another turret with diamond shingles. They want to clear coat them before installation.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
Coat with what? I can see issues with that if the finish isn't pretty elastic and very scratch resistant.
I have a product in mind tho', now that I think on it..Polyshield, a water based poly that is damm near indestructable. Available here.
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1241
I can attest, it is awesome stuff.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Car clearcoat. Gonna take them to a body shop.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
Best be real careful on install, it's liable to craze if bent after spraying. I'd at least test one before going whole hog.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Not doing the install or in any way responsible for coating. Just fabbing and delivering.
Got an ETA on the vents?http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
Thats good..LOL
5 Friday or Sat OK? Then 5 shortly after, like tues.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
hey Grant-- keep that stuff down there ,would ya?
we are just starting to see patches of bare roof here-- and going up into the 30's-40's at the end of the week. starting to get a nice little backlog of people who need roof proposals---and also building a normal backlog of actual paying work as well hope to start back up full time 4-6-09 and maybe 1-2 days a week by early-mid march.
stephen
Why wouldn't brass shingles work?
For any "shingle" system to perform properly, it needs to be 2 ply minimum with a headlap of 2" minimum if the shingles are simply overlapped. Locking them together is a different story and not what you're thinking of.
For the roof to be 2 ply, the fasteners for each course must penetrate the course they are fastening and the previous course. There's the problem. The course being nailed could be drilled, but it would have to be done as the shingles are layed to get the holes to line up. Then, expansion and contraction might wobble the nail holes out so they could leak.
It's an interesting idea, but I don't think I'd try it on anything but a pretty steep roof. I'm not sure it would shed slow moving water.
http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
I'm thinking it could be mighty pretty onc e tarnished up.Remermber the old diamond shaped asbestos tiles? Single ply except at the laps about 1-1/2'
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Remermber the old diamond shaped asbestos tiles?
The ones that I'm familair with had wire ties that went thru a hole in the bottom point to hold it down. And they were like most other "tiles". They needed a good underlayment since they leaked a little. The ones I've seen were typically installed over a cedar shingle roof.http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
wELLL The idea does indeed have some merit. After all copper shingles are currently sold as well as Stainless and a number of other finishes and coatings on steel
I just removed origonal metal shingles from 1892 on a large commercial building that had been converted to condominiums in 1983. They were in the most amazing condition that you could possibly imaginethe backs of the shingles were as though they had been manufactured last week when scratched with a nail. There are a host of companies that sell some truly great products in this area. Perhaps the most well respected would be Follansbee, and do not forget moms pots and pans... Revere still makes copper today. That takes a lot of "BRASS" to consider using brass in this instance..
agreed on the underlay
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I have no problem putting a great underlayment down.
My shallowest roof pitch is a 9/12 pitch.. the dormers are 12/12 pitch, the greatroom is a 17 /12 pitch, and the entrance room is 27/12 pitch.
I like steep roofs!
doing the two ply bit was what I'd assumed I'd do just like if I nailed cedar shingles up.. same sort of exposure same sort of overlap.. (they'd be 8 inches wide 16 inches long) I have accessto a punch used for sheet metal work that with a simple home made jig I could line up holes and pre punch them much faster than I could ever drill them out I assume if I elongated the hole slightly that would take care of expansion.
I could use copper nails but then I'd have to hand nail them because nobody to my knowledge makes a coiled roof copper nail..
Were they tapered like wooden shingles ? How thick were they?
Haven't you got enough to do already ??!!!!
Yes I think it would look outstanding if done correctly. Like Grant said use them on an 8/12 or above. Don't forget to take lots of pictures and post them here.
frenchy haas an eave edgfe rolling over on a convex curve. He could put some roll into these and whamo! instead of steaming each cedar
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They are .090 (an 1/8th inch is .125) 8 inches wide by 16 inches long..
The reason I'm considering this is because it takes me a full week to lay a bundle of cedar shingles because I have to steam bend each one to conform to my rolled roof edges..
I could use my roller to get the proper curve in them and prepunch each one so all I would have to do is align them up and nail 'em .
I suspect the whole process would save me about a months worth of 40 hour weeks..
How are you going to keep the wind from lifting them? I suppose you could tar the bottom edges down.
They are .090 thick that's too stout to flap in any wind short of a level F2 tornado..
worst comes to worst I could nail the bottoms down using copper roofing nails.. (I don't expect I'd need to these are really stiff!)
Why wouldn't brass shingles work?
Somewhere around here I have a book written by architect Alex Wade. Back in the seventies, he wrote about simple housing with low environmental impact. His favored roofing was site-built, standing seam terne pans.
In one of his books, he mentions recycling damaged terne pans by cutting the undamaged portions into tiles, then bending the edges in such a way that they would interlock. IIRC, he used 'clips' made from strips of the same terne to secure the tiles to the roof surface. Finally, he soldered all of the seams.
Pretty labor intensive, but if you have the brass and the time, why not? If I can find the book, I'll scan and post.
Bob
Frenchy, I use sheet brass once in awhile, very expensive to buy.If there are any garden locomotive clubs in your area, contact them.Sheet brass is used a lot in the construction of scale model locomotives.You can get an idea of what it is worth by gping to a couple of websites that specialize in small metal orders.Online metals,speedy metals,enco and mcmaster carr are a couple more.
I'd like to buy some myself if the price is not too dear.
mike