Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

It's been a very long weekend of cutting, fitting and installing shingles. I'm well over half done with the roof, but haven't figured out how to do the cupola yet. There might be some very small shingles on it.

Eddie

 

[RDrancher]

Man that's a roofing nightmare! Where's an Englishman when you need him?

I would have gotten frustrated and blue tarped it.

 

[PAGUY]

Eddie - That cupola just cries for some kind of metal covering.

How about aluminum flashing seeing as how SO doesn't want copper?

 

[zing]

You may already have figured out your plan for the cupola, but I happend to drive past a church that was replacing the roof and they had two domes that were being re-done with copper colour tin. I got a close look but didn't have my phone, and the next day when I had my phone to take a picture they had already been hoisted to the roof. In other word I got a close look, but not a close-up picture. For what its worth, this is the way they did it. Maybe it will give you some ideas that you can use to your benefit.

They cut the tin into quadralaterrals, with bottom wider then the top, and then laid them from the bottom up so that they would get overlap just like a cedar shake and water would runoff. When they are curved around the cupola, the sides end up forming a straight line from top to bottom, leaving a series of vertical seams. In order to cover those seams, they cut long strips of tin and made relief cuts all along both sides. When the "tabs" were folded in, the strip could then be curved to the shape of the cupola and they would cover the vertical seams. The pics below may do a better job of describing than my words can.

You mentioned in an earlier post that your wife to be was ok with copper colour but did not like the patina green. I can't remember if you discussed copper colour tin though. Either way though, maybe you can glean something useful from the way this was done.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not opposed to something other then shingles for the cupola and agree that metal might look better then the shingles. I just haven't found anything that I like or will work on the shape of it. Most of the metal shingles I've seen are in 3 foot lengths. What I need is something that's 3 to 6 inches wide and about a foot long or less.

I've thought about cutting my own and painting them, but if I'm going to do that, I go back to thinking that the cedar shingles will look better and last longer then anything I paint. Paint scares me because I know it's going to need to be repainted and I really don't want to be dealing with that.

Copper would be ideal, but Karen and I haven't changed our views on what we like about it. She wants shiny, I want the green patina.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the pics and information. I had thought about going with an octagon or even 16 sides to the cupola so it would have some flat surfaces to make building and covering it easier. Unfortunately for me, I really want it to look round. What I'm seeing in my brain is something that looks like a bull thistle without the spikes to it, if that makes sense.

Eddie

 

[zing]

Thanks for the pics and information. I had thought about going with an octagon or even 16 sides to the cupola so it would have some flat surfaces to make building and covering it easier. Unfortunately for me, I really want it to look round. What I'm seeing in my brain is something that looks like a bull thistle without the spikes to it, if that makes sense.

Eddie

Total, sense. We want what we want, and since it is your own time and energy making it, why not get what you want.

Unrelated question, how did you seal the ridgepole? With cedar shakes you can't wrap over like an asphalt shingle. Is there some flashing up there that I just can't see in the picture?

 

[EddieWalker]

I have two layers of 30lb paper over the ridge and I'm planning on using cedar lumber cut to fit to cap it. Home Depot and McCoys both carry cedar posts and 2x's. I'm not sure what size they are, or even what size I need it to be.

There is a gap between where the shingles stop and the paper, which I'm thinking of filling with roofing asphalt to remove where moisture might form. That is another one of the little details that I'm working on and hope to have a good solution to when the times comes.

A lot of what I'm doing is based on an idea without too much of a clue how to get there. LOL

Eddie

 

[Jisgren]

Could you steam the cedar shingle and then bind them around a piece of PVC to give them some curve? That way you could use bigger shingles?

 

[Tororider]

Could you steam the cedar shingle and then bind them around a piece of PVC to give them some curve? That way you could use bigger shingles?

I was thinking steam and some sort of form as well. Maybe a basketball as a form?