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Soldered flat copper shingles on a low slope roof (C) InspectApedia.com Dovber Kahn - Kahnhomeinspectors. com Copper Shingle Roof
Types, Inspection Points, Product Sources

Guide to copper shingle roofs: choices, installation, inspection, troubleshooting & metal roof repair procedures.

This article series describes types of metal roofing products and metals: metal roof choices, installation, inspection, metal roof defects, roofing repairs, and metal roof product sources.

Page top photo, a soldered copper shingle roof, courtesy of home inspector Dovber Kahn cited below.

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- Daniel Friedman, Publisher/Editor/Author - See WHO ARE WE?

Soldered Flat Shingle and Flat Copper Metal Roofs

Metal roofing examples (C) Daniel FriedmanFlat metal shingles with interlocking edges were produced in both steel and copper, then soldered when in place to form a very durable roof covering - a system that has been in use for hundreds of years.

Usually we find these installed on flat or low-slope roofs such as at dormer insets on homes constructed in the U.S. before 1900, often in the mid to later 1800s.

But copper roofing in both sheet and copper shingle form are still produced and installed both in restoration projects and in new construction as we will cite below.

Why don't we see more copper roofs? After all it's beautiful and durable.

The answer, provided by the USDA Forest Service and other sources is its cost.

Copper roofing is expensive, as much as $1000. per square. (A roofing square covers 100 sq.ft.).

Watch out: large expanses of metal roofing with soldered connections may flex and break open the soldered joints due to thermal movement.

As you'll read in our citations below, historically thermal expansion or movement in soldered or large panel metal roofing was one of the most-common concerns and a source of common roof system failure.

Inspection Points for Low-Slope Soldered Copper Roofs

Soldered flat copper shingles on a low slope roof (C) InspectApedia.com Dovber Kahn - Kahnhomeinspectors. com

Photo above courtesy of home inspector Dovber Kahn. [Click to enlarge any image]

I [DF] have walked on such roofs (quite a few were in Newburgh NY) but would stay off if the roof looked questionable or if I could see damage in the first place, so as not to risk causing further damage.

Soldered Flat Copper Roof Inspection Points

Soldered flat copper shingles on a low slope roof (C) InspectApedia.com Dovber Kahn - Kahnhomeinspectors. com

The roof above may be in excellent condition and not leaking at all. But I have marked a few areas where a closer look would be in order to be sure there is no damage, corrosion, or an edge flashing problem.

First identify the copper shingle roof type. Copper panel and copper shingle roofs have been and continue to be manufactured in several forms including standing seam copper roofs (discussed separately at COPPER ROOFING), as well as soldered copper shingles (shown here) and as crimped or seamed interlocking copper shingles that are installed by nailing and without soldering (shown below courtesy of Zappone manufacturing).

Inspect a soldered flat copper "shingle" roof for the following warning signs:

Watch out: DO NOT "patch" a roof like this with asphalt or tar or roofing mastic.

Those "repairs" will work just in the short term. In the longer term they will, in my experience, cause a speed-up in corrosion and failure of both the copper and the leaded seams.

Watch out: DO NOT let an asphalt shingle roofer work on this roof.

A roofer who is not familiar with the material may recommend its replacement when only minor repairs are needed, or might take an roll roofing or other approach that will destroy a durable and lovely material, replacing a 100-200 year life material with a 2-7 year life material.

Copper-Shingle Roofs: Sources, Patent History & Contributors

New copper shingle roof by Zappone Manufacturing, cited in detail in this article at InspectApedia.comPhoto: a new copper shingle roof, crimp connected, not soldered, from Zappone Manufacturing, a Spokane Washington copper roofing manufacturer cited in detail just below.


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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2023-08-01 by InspectApedia Publisher - McFarlane-Douglas was a Canadian producer of metal roofing, ceilings and similar products

@Norval Campbell,

More about McFarlane-Douglas who produced this copper bearing shingle plate can be read in this company catalog

McFarlane-Douglas Company, Limited
Architectural Sheet Metal Building Materials
250,260 Slater Street, OTTAWA Canada

MCFARLANE-DOUGLAS STEEL CEILINGS & SIDE WALLS CATALOG

On 2023-08-01 by InspectApedia Publisher

@Norval Campbell,

The manufacturer, McFarlane-Douglas, was a Canadian in Ottawa, a producer of metal roofing, ceilings and similar products.

Continuing with images showing how with age the copper plating may first oxidize, and eventually thin:

Here is a third image: you'll see that several online auction vendors frequently list this Special Quality Copper Bearing Shingle Plate and that it appears in various degrees of wear.

On 2023-08-01 by InspectApedia Publisher - Special Quality Copper Bearing Shingle Plate made by McFarlane-Douglas manufacturer

@Norval Campbell,

"Hardware merchandising September-December 1922" Vol. XXXIV. No. 38,
THE MACLEAN PUBLISHING COMPANY. LIMITED, PUBLICATION OFFICE: TORONTO. CANADA

includes notes on "Special Quality Copper Bearing Shingle Plate" that we excerpt below, identifying three brand names.

Excerpting:

An extra 40c. per 100 lbs. is charged for Keystone and Premier brands copper-bearing sheets.

An extra is now charged on galvanized sheets,

[Text lost - we're researching this detail] ...

Will Outlast Them All

... are being used where efficiency in roofing is of the greatest concern. They are absolutely storm and wind proof. Locked together securely on all four sides, they make the strongest roof on the market, ornamental in design; they are easily sold and you have only mention the ease with which ; roof can be laid to make many sales.

Point out that they require no solder, mallets, seamers. toiigs, [sic] etc. Point out that they are made from Special Quality Copper Bearing Shingle Plate, a guarantee of their long life. We will be pleased to give you further details or any advice on sheet metal work — write us.

McFARLANE DOUGLAS CO., LIMITED , Ottawa Canada


You will see that these are copper plated galvanized metal roofing sheets in an embossed shingle pattern. The amount of copper is very small - an electro-plated coating.

On 2023-08-01 by Norval Campbell - who made this 1927 copper barn shingle?

this shingle is off 1927 barn. who might have made it? how much copper might it contain?

1927 copper barn shingle Special Quality copper shingle by McFarlane-Douglas (C) InspectApedia.com Norval Campbell

 


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