Panels of copper are formed on a bending brake, one edge is bent up and the other down. At the lower edge the first panel is hooked over a long skinny piece of copper that was nailed into the roof. The piece with the arrow is the starter. The second panel is then locked on to the upper lock of the starter panel and the joint tamped with a wooden mallet. The barrel dormer on the left was more complicated since it had to tie into the step flashings of a shingle roof.

Several more panels are now in place, I’ve circled one of the few vertical joints. Where the panels meet the shingle roof they are turned and locked up. They lock onto a long skinny strip of copper that I nailed over the step flashings to give the panels something to lock onto.

Panel after panel is fabricated and locked in place. The beauty of the roof is now becoming apparent as each panel is being added.. The copper adds a warmth and character which stands in contrast to the stucco walls.

Six panel levels are now in place, the horizontal lock joints are firmly tamped tight. Notice how I left the rake end run wild, this will be addressed later. Here you can see the clips which are placed about every 16 inches. The clip system allows you to nail through the clip and not the panel. This lets the copper “float” over the deck while expanding and contracting.

One of the biggest challenges of these two dormers was the tie ins. Tie ins are the critical points of water penetration so they have to be right otherwise the beauty of the copper will be compromised by persistent leaking.

Now that the panels have reached the top of the shingles I had to deal with the stucco. Here I had the stucco guys leave me a slot about 4 inches up from the barrel dormer. They put a flexible piece of aluminum stop material, then stuccoed up to it. It worked great!

After I reached the flat top I then proceeded to come all the way up the other bottom eave so as to keep my locks going down . The panels being formed from soft copper hugged the barrel line very nicely. I must compliment the carpenters, they built a nice smooth continuous barrel. Over the years I have stressed to builders that the copper will only finish off as nice as the wood work under it.

Here I took a lot of liberty in the forming of the rake edge. No drip cap could have made this bend. First I cut the edge back to a uniform amount sticking over. Then I started the bending process by turning the edge down and squeezing the point together this allows the soft copper to strengthen itself by doubling up. This procedure is continued slowly along until complete.

Finally in this last shot you can see both roofs which are very interesting in design being very different in placement on the building and tie in. However the barrel shapes pull them together in a way which seems to work nicely.