The Anderson Turret Cap w/Merlin Style Finial & Roof Vent
Millville, Pennsylvania (3/07)

Photos & Details Page

Updated 10 / 2012

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This solid 20oz copper turret roof cap was custom made for our clients named Tom Anderson in Millville, Pennsylvania for their 12/12 pitch circular turret.  The roof cap was made 30" wide across the base with a safety hem bent under the bottom edge for strength and better handling during installation.

He had originally asked for a quote on a 40" wide cap, but the cost was a bit high, so he opted for a little smaller cap. They then saved another $131 from the additional amount of copper that went into this cap over what was quoted. I had calculated this to require 11.5 square feet of copper, but it weighed in at 18#, which calculates down to 14.4 square feet of copper sheet metal.

These are photos of this roof cap in the different stages of fabrication with the finial support pipe built in to be independent of the roof. Then the steeple cone is riveted and soldered over the base cap for upper support of the finial support pipe.

Below is the Merlin finial  they ordered with a solid brass mast rod. We also made this set of special primed and painted spacer blocks for a hidden roof vent w/copper vent screening and detailed installation instructions.

This shows the wood crate we build for each order with a hardwood plywood shell that is either glued and stapled, or screwed on the wood frame depending on if it is a side that needs to be removed for opening the crate.

Cost: $952.50 php
$131 discount for more copper used than quoted

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Tom Anderson's Blog:

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Crowning Achievement -- Installing a Turret Cap

As you may know if you've been reading my blogs or know me in real life, my wife and I have designed and are building a new house.  Something we've always admired architecturally is the beautiful turrets or towers found on Romanesque and Queen Anne style buildings, among others, of the Victorian era (1837-1901) which are prevalent in the cities and towns across northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  So, when designing our own home, including a turret was high on our design criteria.  Unfortunately, while the beautiful historic buildings are numerous and seemingly cherished, it would appear that this architectural style is seldom if ever used in present designs and probably hasn't been in 100 years.  This has presented us with untold frustrations in building this feature on our home.  But detailing them is not the point of my current missive, which is to document with photos the recent installation of the crowning cap and finial on our turret.  If any of you were wondering why I've been missing from the MySpace universe for the past few weeks, this is one reason why.

The first decision to make regarding how we would finish the top of the turret surrounded the appropriately durable weather-proofing material which would prevent rainwater from leaking onto our bed below.  There is no easy way to terminate the rows of asphalt shingles, so as to achieve this when they come to a point.  This is a unique problem not often encountered in today's common roof styles.

We considered carving, assembling, and routing a small wooden cap, but that presented both stylistic and durability concerns.  We then considered various forms of metal flashing.  Research revealed that most metals would not be very durable over the long term, as acids in the atmosphere and rain would corrode them within a few years.  The best bet was copper, as was often used for such purposes in the past.  It is the least prone to corrosion, and after several decades turns from shiny to dull brown to light green (like the Statue of Liberty) as a thin patina covers and protects it from any further deterioration.  And during this process, as an added bonus, minute amounts of copper ions invisibly coat the roof, protecting the shingles from moss, mold, and mildew.

The next problem came in finding a metal fabricator to construct our cap.  Because of the aforementioned dearth of new turrets being constructed, there are no mass-produced turret caps, and even if there were, we would not likely find one to match the specific pitch of our roof.  So we clearly had to have this custom fabricated.  Surely there must be a niche demand for this considering how many historic turrets exist out there which occasionally must require repair.  Thankfully, the internet provided a very short list of people with experience in this. 

Of the companies I researched and requested quotes from, I was only truly comfortable with one company, and that was Copper By Design (David Rich and his wife, Tia).  Their website was filled with high-resolution photos of their work and detailed documentation of their design principles and workmanship standards.  I was thoroughly impressed and inspired by what I read.  I got lots of ideas from the photos, including the addition of a decorative finial and roof vents.  I discussed my specs with David in a few emails and we came up with a good design which incorporated everything I could have hoped for.  The price was relatively steep compared to my overall budget, but it was reasonable considering the custom nature of the work.  Since it is such a small company, the waiting time was fairly long.  I ordered and paid for the work in late summer, and the product was delivered by early spring.

The cap was delivered in an impressive custom-built wooden crate, fully secured against shifting or bending during delivery.  Everything needed for installation was included, except the directions!  Assuming they would have been packed with the materials, I neglected to print them off of the internet, hampering our initial installation attempt.  But, after printing them, we began the installation.  To facilitate our sky-scraping endeavor, we rented a boom lift truck.  Without this it would have been very difficult and dangerous work, if not impossible.  Even with the lift, the roof angles, the wind, and the height made the task precarious at times.  I enlisted the help of my father to ensure things went smoothly.

The first step was to set it on the top of the turret to make sure that the slope matched and to get a feel for how it would be mounted.  The actual installation would require several steps.  These were fairly well thought-out and documented by CBD.  First we would apply the included epoxy to the wooden blocks screwed to the inside of the cap and set it on the roof.  After the requisite curing time, we would unscrew the cap from the blocks and then screw the blocks (which remained glued to the roof) permanently into the roof.  This would provide the solid anchoring for a long-lasting, wind-proof fixture.

That was all well and good in theory.  Unfortunately, there was a snag, as there seemingly always must be, in that simple plan.  It seems that David and Tia jumped the gun when they screwed the wooden blocks to the copper cap.  The black, protective paint must not have been fully dry yet.  As a result, when we lifted the cap off of the roof, the now-dried paint provided greater adhesion to the cap than the epoxy did to the roof!  Thus, most of the blocks came back up, as can be seen in the following photos.  We had to pry the blocks off of the cap.

With time ticking and a very expensive lift truck due to be returned soon, we had to improvise.  The initial scheme was meant to have the blocks perfectly lined up to the cap.  And we could have tried that method again, having separated the blocks from the cap, but we didn't have an extra day for the epoxy to set.  So we grabbed some powdered chalk (for a chalk line) and coated the undersides of the blocks.  Again we set the cap (with blocks attached) onto the turret, and then immediately lifted it off again, leaving behind an imperfect but useable indication of where the blocks needed to be situated.  We then screwed the blocks down, hoping that the cap would fit snugly over them.

Another part of the installation procedure was for the integrated roof venting.  Apparently this is a new, experimental feature on David's designs.  The instructions consisted of drilling some vent holes in the roof and covering them with copper mesh, and then fastening copper mesh to the bottoms of each of the mounting blocks.  This mesh was meant to prevent insects from nesting in the cap or finding an entrance into the house.  It seemed to be working quite well at first, but a critical flaw was immediately apparent once the cap was set on the blocks.  There were 16 facets to the cap, but only 8 mounting blocks.  With the mesh stretching straight from one block to the other, every other facet provided a large gap away from the mesh.  If this were an octagonal cap, it would have worked splendidly, but as a 16-sided cap, it didn't work as planned.  However, since the roof holes themselves were covered with mesh, I decided to let it go as is.  The lower mesh would still provide some impediment for insects, although not complete, and the roof-hole mesh would prevent them from entering the house.  Nonetheless, I'll probably add some extra screening on the inside of the roof as well.  In future designs, David may wish to instead solder the mesh to the bottom rim of the cap, as this would provide a continuous, impenetrable barrier.  I drilled two one-inch holes for the ventilation.  I'm not sure if that will be enough of not.  I may drill one or two more depending on how it works this summer as far as removing heat from the turret roof.

After some adjusting to get it to fit just right, we were relieved to find that the cap set down nicely on the blocks.  We checked for level and plumb and then screwed the cap down permanently to the blocks, putting a dab of silicone caulk on the shaft of each screw to help prevent water leakage around the mounting blocks.

CBD designed into the cap an integrated finial support which felt very robust.  I'm very confident that it will hold up against our strong winds.  We dropped in the heavy brass support rod and then the decorative finial, applying caulk to both.  It was very impressive seeing the completed cap and finial finally mounted on the roof.

As a final step, we peeled back the protective plastic film covering the copper cap, revealing underneath a beautiful shiny finish.  At last, the turret roof was properly crowned in traditional Victorian style.


The next project is applying stone...

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Below is a photo of our
Better Business Bureau's
NW Business Integrity Award
for the year 1998

1999 Better Business Award

We were also a 1997 finalist for this same award. See our referral web page to see how we managed to be honored with this special award

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