Updated 5-27-2008
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Roof Cap Installation Instructions |
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Click here for a separate printable word 'doc' file of these instructions If your browser asks for a password, click cancel and your should still get this file. save it to your PC in a folder where you can find it and print it out. We strongly advise that you set the stainless steel screws using a special cordless impact drill. These drivers will set these SS screws 10 times better than a standard drill without damaging the Phillips slot, and much better than even a hammer drill. Trust me on this one. If you have not yet bought yourself an impact driver, do so. It will be one of your best investments. Makita makes a nice light weight one with the new Lithium batteries. |
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The Lightning Rod Issue |
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If you do run a large copper wire down to the ground and attach it to a iron water pipe or a standard 10' grounding rod driven into the ground your would certainly attract lightning more than most any street lamp. My worry would be if that wire connection were to get loose over the next few decades and generate a great deal of heat during a lightning strike and start your house on fire. My understanding is that the static electricity of a lightning strike attempts to follow the path of least resistance. The wood structure of the house acts as an insulator for the most part. Interestingly I have not heard much about houses being a primary target, so this does not seem to be a large problem, but your house wiring would be at far greater risk of attracting a lightning strike. Which is one reason modern electrical building code requires the electrical system to be connected to this steel grounding rod with a large 4 gauge copper wire. We advise that you do not bother to ground your roof cap. I have yet to hear of a turret roof cap that was not grounded having had a lightning strike, so I do not see this is much of an issue of concern. |
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Opening the Crate: |
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To open the crate and safely remove the cap, you should have a box cutter, a large garbage bag, and a #2 Phillips tip in a drill/driver for the wood crate frame. We staple cardboard or use a thin plywood over the wood frame to appease the shipper and keep the cap clean. Even though it has a 'top side' designation on the cardboard, it should be safe to turn it over in all direction, as the cap should be securely suspended inside the crate. We just wrote "top" on the outside so it is hopefully upright while in transit and bouncing around on the road. 1. Remove the black screws to remove the outer wood shell, or just peal off the cardboard cover for inspection. If that does not seam to work, you can use the box cutter to cut it open just on the inside of the corner lines of staples, and tear it off the wood frame. Don't worry about getting all the cardboard off or removing all the staples unless you want to, but it would be good to get it off the corners to get to the screws that may be hidden. Get the outer shell out of the way and stuff it in the garbage bag. 2. You will find a zip-lock bag of screws and new #3 Phillips tip taped outside the cap or on a cross board. Go ahead and remove them and set them aside where they won't get lost. There should be a couple extra stainless steel screws in the bag incase some of the screws get dropped and lost or the Phillips slot gets worn during installation. 3. When you are ready to do the cap installation and want to remove the cap from the crate, it is recommended to wear clean gloves when handling the copper cap. Even though the protective plastic film is still on the outside of the copper, it will help from getting finger print oils on the copper, that will tarnish sooner than the rest of it's surface. It will also help you from the possibility of getting cut from any sharp edges of the copper. Then use a #2 Phillips tip in a drill/driver to remove the screws on each side of the top frame board that is supporting the tip of the cap. Rotate that board until free and lift it up and out of the frame to free the cap from the frame. They are Deckmate screws that have their own special tip, but the #2 or #3 tip should still work. 4. Use the crate to support the cap safely until you are ready to do the installation. If the cap does not wiggle and lift out easily, you may need to remove some of the screws in the side of the bottom frame to split that frame apart the to raise the boards. There are screws in the corners of the frame and it is glued together, but it should crack apart without too much trouble. Unscrew the rest of the wood frame apart if you want and set the boards aside. 5. When finished, dispose of the cardboard and wood as you see fit
6.
You could use a few of the crate frame boards and the deck screws to
make a frame to screw down to the roof and then screw the cap to those
boards to raise it up off the shingles and give the bottom edges some
visual dimension, and it can be a good way to add a hidden roof vent
there at the peak. It will also help to give you a nice solid
flat surface to attach the cap onto, so there is less irregular bulges
or indentations from the screws after being tightened down. If
you cut the bottom edge of the boards at a 45 degree angle and paint
them dark brown or even black, that will help make them not seen from
the ground. |
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Roof Vent: The real reason they are not vented is only because of shear laziness to work that into the design with all the rafter beams conjoining in the center. For a roof vent it requires a solution that will not leak in stormy weather. Carpenters and roofers are not sheet-metal workers. They know nail-guns and saws. For some workers it is all they can do to read a tape measure correctly. Problem solving this issue is a foreign subject to them. It is a lot easier to just pretend venting is not needed, knowing that the homeowner a decade later cannot legally come back on them for their negligence. Few carpenters realize how much easier it would be to join the stringers over an octagonal channel like this made with 1' to 1.5' long 2x6 angle cut at 22.5 degrees on both sides and assembled into a hollow core to allow for around 100 square inches of vent through the center. If at the time that you are reading this it is not already too late we can make you one of these in a kit or pre-assembles: glued and screwed together, then shipped to you for $75 to $150 php: As long as the roof cap is large enough to cover the vent holes by a good 6" margin (depending on the roof angle), this is a good time to rectify this oversight and add venting at the top of the roof. You may also need to see what can be done about fresh air entering that attic space at the bottom, so that fresh air can heat up and rise out the top to draw in more fresh air in through the bottom.
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A
Hidden Roof Vent Under the Cap Option: Have the installer follow these instructions: |
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(a)
Cut some 2x3s or 2x4s about 6" to 9" long with a 45 degree angle cut
on the ends. Pre-drill the holes for a pair of 3" deck screws for each
block top and bottom with a 3/16" drill bit, so the screws won't crack
the block. Primer and paint them dark brown or black, so they are protected,
but more importantly; so they are not seen under the copper cap. Then
pre-drill the pilot holes for the SS screws in the center of the blocks
with a 1/8" drill bit. |
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Detailed Installation Instructions: |
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There are extra stainless steel screws, alignment nails, and a new
#3 Phillips tip to fasten the new cap to the roof included in a small
zip-lock bag. 2. Just before installation and if you are not installing the wood support ring first, you may want to add a line of caulk near the bottom edge of the cap to seal out insects from nesting inside the cap, or use a bit of foam weather stripping just above the screw line. You should add a dab of clear silicone caulk on the inside of the cap around and under the screw holes to help seal around the screw. We recommend the ProSeal 34 caulk.
If your cap has a finial or weathervane support pipe in it, you will
need to set the cap level with the straight 3/4" shaft inserted in the
pipe and check that for vertical level on at least 2 different sides
90 degrees apart. The shaft may fit too loosely to get a good reading,
so you can add a band of electrical tape on the bottom of the shaft.
Just enough to have it not move much side to side, but still slide down
into the pipe freely. Another band of tape on the shaft near the top
of the pipe, so you can get a good reading with the level. 7. Then of course get yourself and tool safely to the ground and admire your work. Please send us photos of the installation, so we can display them on our web site, so others can have a better idea of how these will look on their roof before deciding what to order. |
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Helpful
Roofing Information For some valuable advice with regards to roofing and rain management issues check out our:
(a)
Gutter Installation web pages for answers and solutions that could save you thousands of $ and a great deal of anguish. If you do find this information very helpful, feel free to send us a $ tip for the assistance we so freely have published on the web here for your benefit, like you might tip a waitress. Heck, send us a gift certificate for a candle lit dinner for two. |
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Below is a
photo of our |
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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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