Copper Roof Shingles in Snow Country - Mammoth Lakes, CA

These gorgeous copper roof shingles top a home in snowy Mammoth Lakes, California. And as an aside, this particular image has really made the rounds online. You can find it on various roofing sites, all of which appear to take credit for the job. Rest assured, it's our material and our photograph - and we can prove it.

Chris on Copper Roofs and Roof Contractors…

I’m accused often of being overly opinionated about the status-quo in the roofing business, so I was gratified recently when an event occurred that convinced me anew that some of the WORST sources of information about roofing products are roofers!

A business associate told me of the problems friends were having with their home on the California coast. The story that was related to me was that their fabulous coastal retreat had a copper roof that needed to be replaced. I was informed that in the next day or two a contractor was about to replace their copper with asphalt composition – needless to say I was totally offended and asked if I could speak directly to the owners just to hear for myself the details of this interesting turn of events.

Luckily, we were able to reach the homeowners via phone almost right away. I was told that the house in question was about 40 years old and that they had owned it for two years. The copper roof apparently had a history of leaking, and they had contacted the local roof contractor for assistance in solving the leaks. They were told a few interesting things by this roofing “expert”: The copper tiles were a bad design and were problematic by themselves; the particular stamping on their roof was no longer in production as a result of the design problems; the roof could not be repaired; the only solution was to remove it and replace it with an asphalt shingle roof.

I begged them to stall on the project long enough to get another opinion, as I was certain that they would regret throwing an exotic and beautiful copper roof away for a tract-home roof with a limited life-span. I offered to inspect the roof myself and offer my opinion as to the possibility of a repair. Not seeing the home meant I was still just shooting in the dark, but my experience was that only the most peculiar site conditions could warrant such a drastic solution. They agreed that the contractor’s solution sounded strange and they agreed to delay the job long enough for me to make my inspection.

I arrived at the site to find a fabulous ocean-front home worthy of a Hollywood movie. On top of the classic 60’s West Coast modern architecture was a solid copper shingle made here in the USA. A quick inspection revealed that the roof was in very, very good condition (with only a couple of flashing problems around some skylights clearly noticeable). I also immediately identified the profile and manufacturer (still in production today and readily available). In fact, I was quite surprised at how good the roof looked. I noted that the on-the-coast location made for a particularly windy and wet site (the home has large barn-door type storm shutters for the windows as a testament to the extreme weather conditions that occur at this location).

Once inside the house, there were a couple of dried water spots that were pointed to on the ceiling as evidence that the roof was leaking. No question, there was a problem. However, the problem was merely one of a few missed steps in the original installation and but for a little time and effort to reinstall the roof with the right care and attention for this particular location, the copper roof could be saved and continue for generations to provide a classy, beautiful, and functional roof covering for this special home. I reported as much to the owners and offered to write a specification for the removal and reinstallation of the copper roof that would address the few problems that were there.

The next day, I received a telephone call from the contractor. Amazingly enough, he had found the source of the copper tiles! AND, he agreed that there was nothing really wrong with the roof as installed save for a few detail problems. He confessed that his advice to the homeowners was simply based on the fact that HE DID NOT WANT TO BOTHER taking the time to remove and reinstall the copper! His convenience trumped the long-term interests of his clients.

This episode reinforces what I am heard to repeat time and time again: The typical roofer operates in very small area of the roofing business, and his interests and those of the building owners for whom he works are not always the same. Make certain that before you let your valuable piece of real estate “go under the (roofer’s) knife” that you get at least one other opinion.

Going green, naturally. Mostly.

I’m often asked about the green look that copper roofs sometimes display. The questions are often something like, “Do your copper roofs have that green antique look? Does it come that way, or do you do something to it after it’s installed?”

The answer is this - copper roof products (as opposed to copper look-alikes which are usually painted steel) are invariably formed from long, thin sheets of solid copper. Copper, when new, looks like a shiny new penny. Like an old penny, as copper ages it begins to darken. If exposed to enough moisture over time a copper roof will eventually turn a blue-green color. Both the darkening and eventual greening of the copper are referred to as a “patina” or “verdigris.” Both of these are terms used to describe the accumulated layer of oxidation on the surface of exposed copper.

There are commercially available pre-patinated copper sheets available from which to form copper roof products, but the problem to my mind with such processes is that they yield a remarkably regular finish. The one characteristic of old, exposed copper is that it is anything BUT regular!

Look at the attached photo of an aged copper roof in Hawaii and you’ll see how completely irregular the appearance of an old copper roof is – and to me that’s a huge part of its charm.

The most successful way to emulate that appearance on a newly installed copper roof is to apply one of the commercially available solutions designed to rapidly oxidize new copper. This application can be done on the ground before the copper pieces are assembled on the roof, or it can be sprayed or brushed onto the completed roof. The configuration and complexity of the roof should be considered in the decision as to what is best.

My experience is that carefully spraying the installed roof yields the most natural look because of the fact that the natural drip lines of a copper roof are accentuated normally and spraying an installed roof maintains that appearance. One note of caution about spraying a copper roof: It will continue to change after it has been sprayed. I have seen that the rapidly developed patina layer isn’t as well adhered as a naturally occurring one and so it is more prone to looseing some of the green layer to rain or snow. However, once the loosest of the green patina has been eroded, it settles back to a look that is impossible to distinguish from an old copper roof.

Chris on Copper Roofs and Roof Contractors

I’m accused often of being overly opinionated about the status-quo in the roofing business, so I was gratified recently when an event occurred that convinced me anew that some of the WORST sources of information about roofing products are roofers!

A business associate told me of the problems friends were having with their home on the California coast. The story that was related to me was that their fabulous coastal retreat had a copper roof that needed to be replaced. I was informed that in the next day or two a contractor was about to replace their copper with asphalt composition – needless to say I was totally offended and asked if I could speak directly to the owners just to hear for myself the details of this interesting turn of events.

Luckily, we were able to reach the homeowners via phone almost right away. I was told that the house in question was about 40 years old and that they had owned it for two years. The copper roof apparently had a history of leaking, and they had contacted the local roof contractor for assistance in solving the leaks. They were told a few interesting things by this roofing “expert”: The copper tiles were a bad design and were problematic by themselves; the particular stamping on their roof was no longer in production as a result of the design problems; the roof could not be repaired; the only solution was to remove it and replace it with an asphalt shingle roof.

I begged them to stall on the project long enough to get another opinion, as I was certain that they would regret throwing an exotic and beautiful copper roof away for a tract-home roof with a limited life-span. I offered to inspect the roof myself and offer my opinion as to the possibility of a repair. Not seeing the home meant I was still just shooting in the dark, but my experience was that only the most peculiar site conditions could warrant such a drastic solution. They agreed that the contractor’s solution sounded strange and they agreed to delay the job long enough for me to make my inspection.

I arrived at the site to find a fabulous ocean-front home worthy of a Hollywood movie. On top of the classic 60’s West Coast modern architecture was a solid copper shingle made here in the USA. A quick inspection revealed that the roof was in very, very good condition (with only a couple of flashing problems around some skylights clearly noticeable). I also immediately identified the profile and manufacturer (still in production today and readily available). In fact, I was quite surprised at how good the roof looked. I noted that the on-the-coast location made for a particularly windy and wet site (the home has large barn-door type storm shutters for the windows as a testament to the extreme weather conditions that occur at this location).

Once inside the house, there were a couple of dried water spots that were pointed to on the ceiling as evidence that the roof was leaking. No question, there was a problem. However, the problem was merely one of a few missed steps in the original installation and but for a little time and effort to reinstall the roof with the right care and attention for this particular location, the copper roof could be saved and continue for generations to provide a classy, beautiful, and functional roof covering for this special home. I reported as much to the owners and offered to write a specification for the removal and reinstallation of the copper roof that would address the few problems that were there.

The next day, I received a telephone call from the contractor. Amazingly enough, he had found the source of the copper tiles! AND, he agreed that there was nothing really wrong with the roof as installed save for a few detail problems. He confessed that his advice to the homeowners was simply based on the fact that HE DID NOT WANT TO BOTHER taking the time to remove and reinstall the copper! His convenience trumped the long-term interests of his clients.

This episode reinforces what I am heard to repeat time and time again: The typical roofer operates in very small area of the roofing business, and his interests and those of the building owners for whom he works are not always the same. Make certain that before you let your valuable piece of real estate “go under the (roofer’s) knife” that you get at least one other opinion.

Copper Quiz Time

1. What's the most enduring copper icon in U.S. history?

a) The Statue of Liberty
b) The Space Needle
c) The Gateway Arch


2. Philadelphia's Christ Church is the oldest copper-roofed church in America, dating back to when?

a) 1929
b) 1866
c) 1727


3. Copper protects itself from corrosion by forming a distinctive
______.

a) patinant
b) patina
c) pertina


4. Only two naturally occurring metals have distinctive colors. One is copper. What's the other?

a) silver
b) mercury
c) gold


5. What makes copper so environmentally friendly?

a) Because of its inherent value, copper roofing doesn't end up in landfills but is salvaged and recycled.
b) Copper roofing has one of the highest recycling rates of any engineering metal.
c) Copper's recycle value is so great that premium-grade scrap has at least 95 percent of the value of primary copper from newly mined ore.


Answers: 1)A 2)C 3)B 4)C 5)ABC

Copper - Who Knew?

Check out this great article about the many uses of copper - inside the home and out. Here's a little excerpt:

“The fact that you can install it as roofing and it will outlive the house is a great selling point.” He also likes the color evolution of copper. “As it ages, it gradually changes colors from a bright shiny appearance quickly to a dark brown appearance and then over a period of many years to a patina green.”

The Copper Roofing Boom

Things go in and out of fashion, and copper roofing is no different. While you need only look back at history to understand that copper was once widely used as a durable, elegant roofing material, times changed and new materials took its place. But copper is back - with a vengeance. Why, you ask?

Two big reasons - one, people are demanding quality. Builders, architects and roofers answer that demand with copper, which - and here's reason number two - has become easier to install.

So if copper is enjoying a resurgence in the roofing industry, doesn't that beg the question, "Will we run out?"

Luckily, the answer is no. That's because copper roofing is made from copper scrap, and copper is one of the most thoroughly recycled metals around. In fact, almost half of the copper used in the States today has been used in some capacity before. Part of the reason for this is that's it's so durable. It corrodes veeeery slowly in natural environments, which is why those centuries-old buildings still have their original copper roofs. Once copper forms its protective patina, that soft gray-green color that develops in the first few years following installation, corrosion rates drop to negligible levels.

Now, can you really think of anything better for your own roof?

Now THAT's a roof!

Check out this amazing copper roof - considered the biggest of its kind in the whole WORLD!

Copper Roofing Storming the US

Recently, homeowners have taken a serious liking to copper roofs for aesthetic and practical reasons. David L. Hunt, manager of architectural services at Revere Copper Products, Inc said, "Homeowners turn to copper to add refinement and a sense of luxury to their homes."

Kent Schwickert, president of Schwickert Inc. in Mankato, Minnesota, an architectural sheet metal fabrication and roofing company, agrees. He attributes the increased interest in copper shingles to a "desire for uniqueness" among affluent homeowners.

So it looks like metal roofing is becoming more and more a fashion statement. Click here for the logical and fashion statement reasons to go copper.

Copper Roofing Fact or Fiction

Fact or Fiction: Copper roofing is rated for resistance to the highest winds in Underwriters Laboratories' tests (UL-90).

Answer: Fact! Each year high winds cause billions of dollars of damage to buildings. Now architects and contractors have a benchmark specification for roofing that meets the most demanding wind conditions...copper roofs just happen to exceed that benchmark by quite a bit.

Missed the first one? Here's another try.

Fact or Fiction: After initial installation the value of your copper roof depreciates very little over time.

Answer: Fact again! In North America alone, approximately one half of the copper consumed annually comes from recycled material. Copper’s recycle value is so great that premium-grade scrap has at least 95 percent of the value of primary copper from newly mined ore.