Anyone give me some tips for soldering copper flashing, minimum gauge, technique, etc. I have a chimney to flash and would like to to use something that I can solder the joints. I’ve seen other people do it a awhile back but don’t really remember what they did.
Is there another metal that works well that can be soldered? Galvanized?
Replies
Either 16 or 20 ounce copper will make an excellent chimney flashing.You could use galvanized but it will rust and stain your shingles over time.
You'll need your copper,copper rivets,50/50 bar solder ,flux,and soldering irons and a way to heat them up.
After you fabricate and rivet together or lock seam your pans you can flux the joints to solder,heat your irons and then use them to heat the copper until the solder will flow.
If you're only doing one small job, you can get by with sweating the solder joints like the plumbers do. Designs with a lot of bends tend to work well that way, large flat regions are miserable to sweat because they warp apart. For that you need loads of those vise-grip clamps with the small contact area. You can also use spring clamps, but wrap the ends of the jaws in thin sheet aluminum from beverage cans. The aluminum prevents soldering the clamps to the workpiece. Use just enough fire to get the solder to flow, any more just distorts the metal.
-- J.S.
Sorry, I read the title wrong!
Bear
Dogfish; if you follow Slatemans excellent advice you will be able to do the flashing soldering properly. use the copper iron technique.....forget about 'open flame' soldering. (distortion)
This method (tin-smithing) is an almost forgotten art.
Make sure you lap and solder, and rivet where necessary all joints. A good flux agent is essential (muriatic acid solution diluted"(killed") with small pieces of galv works best. Good luck.