Clay Tile Roofing & Coppersmithing

Summary provided by video transcript.

Hey, thanks for joining us on RestoreMasters TV. Man, I love my job. We do some really neat, interesting projects, like this one.

HOMEOWNER
I and my wife, Barbara, have lived in this house since 1985. The house was built in 1905. We had the wherewithal and knowledge to restore the house. We hired RestoreMasters to redo all that work for us, have done very accurately.

Coppersmithing is a dying tray. Unfortunately, there’s not too many people that do it anymore, one, but two, finding good ones is even harder. You’ll notice all of our craftsmen are wearing gloves. That’s for safety reasons. Just like any metal, there’s sharp edges where it’s trimmed. In addition to that, with copper, the oils in your fingers, when touching or leaving fingerprints, can actually stain natural metals, like the copper here. We break them on the ends so that they can actually seam and cleat together, so that they form a locking flat seam in this case. On all of our seams, we have to chemically prep them before actually soldering them, so that the solder stands the test of time. And so that it’s properly sealed all the way through.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again, they just don’t make them like they used to. Replicating these historic features is not an easy task. Something that we fortunately specialize in. Common practice with some of these 100 old homes to have awnings that are supported by chain versus support from the ground. Unfortunately, there was a lot of materials that were rotting, wood, et cetera. So, what we had to do is jack this up from the floor, reattach this eye bolt and this chain system, so that it could support it once we pulled that away.

Going back to the details over here, you’ll notice we have these cleats with natural copper anchors, so that no intrusion into the main portion of the copper has to be done. We have some fastening that needs to be finished up here, solder all these seams. And this section will be complete.

All the tile that was removed, we took and carefully removed and palletized it over here. These historic clay roofing systems are a work of art. You cannot just go get these at any big box store. So we have to custom hand make all these pieces to match the existing project. So, these tiles are all meant to interlock. We’ll notice here that the customer chose to go back with a little brighter green, but as far as the profile, an exact match.

With a traditional, built in guttering system, to address this channel, we actually have to remove the roof. So, to get to it, the tile has to come off and we have to send our roofers away and bring in our coppersmiths. So, this custom channel has to be built, soldered, anchored in place, ice and water shield, so that we can come back and send our roofers, so that we can get the tile put back on. Just look at some of the detail and craftsmanship that goes into the downspout strapping. The anchor points have these signature pieces to them that were custom made, and this custom collection box.

HOMEOWNER
Our house is in a local historic district, so we had to get approval with the Landmark Commission through the city. And that commission approved the RestoreMasters to do all of our work.

Using copper pipe boots and flashings ensures that all the transitions are going to last for hundreds of years. We’ve done a custom pan here, where it meets and could be potential ponding water. We don’t want any chance for issue.

So, we looked at that section down below, that was in progress. This section is actually completed with all of the seams that are already soldered. In fact, we’re not going to wait for mother nature to put her touch on this. We’re going to do a manual copper patina, so that it gives it that aged look, so that it matches the historic tile that’s going to be going back on.

You’ll notice here, at the wall where the flashing of this section runs into the siding. It runs up underneath the tile and nail over anchored above at least one course. So, all of this siding, to be properly done, has to be all removed, to get up the wall and properly sealed.

Glad you were able to join us for the walkthrough of this project. I will say that this project, in particular, started as an insurance claim. That being said, a lot of these historic projects take time, even more so when it’s a claim through your insurance carrier. In upwards of 12 to 24 months, once we reach a full approval, it takes as much as six months just to hand make those tiles. So patience is key.

HOMEOWNER
I would highly recommend RestoreMasters to do any work on a tile or slate roof. They’ve done a very good job with replicating our original roof, as to the tile and the built in copper gutters and the down spouts.

If you’re fortunate enough to own or manage one of these historic properties, whether it’s residential or commercial, and it’s been through a storm or not, it’s wise to have these inspected, either on an annual basis or right after the peril. We’d be glad to do that. We have no obligation to you. We enjoy what we do. I’m glad you were able to take an insight or look into what we’re doing right here on this project. We look forward to serving you in the very near future. And we’ll see you next time.

Roof Wind Damage Repair • Roof Hail Damage Repair • Tile Roofing • Gutters • Copper Work • Specialty Construction • Historic Restoration