How is copper used in roofing?

Copper is a great material to use in roofing - it is durable and designed to withstand severe weather. Copper roofs are known to last 70-100 years and homeowners tend to view them as a "maintenance free" option. Copper roofing is not only a great investment due to it's durability and efficiency, but it adds a nice elegant touch to your home.

Installing Copper Bay Window Roof

If you're considering having a copper bay window roof installed on your home, West Side Roofing can help! To get started, give us a call. Once we have an appointment scheduled, our team will come out and measure the window roof. We take those measurements to our sheet metal shop where they fabricate the panels. This will make it a true standing seam copper roof. In our example (pictured left) we used 16 oz. of copper.

Before we lay the copper roof, we put down a high-temperature ice guard. The ice guard will cover 100% of the roof deck. Once the siding is put on, if you have a brick home we will add a copper counter flash and set an joint, if it's siding the siding will come down overtop of the copper. That will give it a nice watertight seal. 

The longevity on this roof could be anywhere between 70-90 years. After about 6-months, it will weather and it will turn a bronze color. After about 10-15 years, it will turn into a patina green. Copper roofs are constantly weathering and changing as time progresses.

Your copper roof will work quicker if you install copper gutters alongside it. Your gutters may last 50 or 60 years - maybe a little bit longer - but it depends on how much ice, snow and water is sitting in there. Being that we're in Northeast Ohio, you may find it's a lot from the amount of ice or snow so it may be on the lower range.

Copper Gutters

This project was very unique being that their home had a slate roof. This was a house on the west side of Cleveland, in the Lakewood area on the border of Rocky River. The slate was removed 2-courses high, we made a template of the existing box-gutter on the house, and then the copper sheets were formed to fit exactly into that box gutter. For this project, there is a seam every 10-feet. All the joints are soldered and it's a bulletproof system. It's pricey but copper is really the best product to put in for a box gutter. That's how it was done originally. Our expert Chris Spacek always tells customers that copper is really the way to go if that is what was originally on your home. Copper is your best remedy for replacement.

Copper Returns

Here (pictured right) we have another use of copper in roofing. This is on the same house on the west side of Cleveland. This is called a return. It's a decorative piece of wood that comes around the corner of the roof and it's for cosmetic purposes. We custom fit a new piece of copper in there, it's sealed-off at the wall, it also has ice guard underneath it. The ice guard is required in the state of Ohio and helps keep out water buildup and water-related damage. Ice guard protects the wood and is high-temperature. On a hot day the copper could reach up to 150 degrees which is why we use something that doesn't melt underneath it.

Copper Pipes

The last copper use we're looking at here are copper pipes. Here we see a round spout, the components are round, the elbows are round and the junction box and the straps everything is copper. We custom-fit everything in the photo (pictured right). This was how the house was done originally so we pulled off the old copper that was approximately 100 years old and worn pretty badly for this new system. Our new system should last the homeowners approximately 60-70 years.

Call West Side Roofing for all of your Copper Roofing Needs

Copper use in roofing really leads to durability, longevity. It may be a little pricy, but it has a nice cosmetic look, you get long-use out of it and especially for old homes that used this originally, it's your best bet. You keep the integrity of your house. 

Go visit our contact page if you're interested in getting started with West Side Roofing today! We are registered in 42 municipalities around Northeast Ohio. 

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