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Thornbury Slate & Copper is a fictional business. A Live Industry Staging Model of the Finial architecture by DangUIUX.

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Start a Foundation Build
ThornburySlate & Copper
ESRoof study

The estate roof study

Choose the stone, the clay or the copper. See the roof before it is ordered.

I · Material
II · Color
III · Copper
IV · The house
RIDGE 38 FT PITCH 14:12 PLATE ISOUTH ELEVATION · SAMPLE ESTATE
Vermont slateUnfading gray
Service life
years
Typical range cited for the material; it depends on the quarry, the work and the flashings.
Weight
lb per square
Lead time
weeks
Ballpark
Sample figures for a fictional firm. Priced line by line after we measure.
Request a private roof study

Details

A roof like this is decided at the valleys, the ridges and the eaves.

  1. CENTER CRIMP16 OZ COPPEROPEN 5 INDETAIL 1 · SAMPLE

    I

    Open copper valley

    Slate stops short of the center, so water runs on copper, not under stone. The crimp breaks the flow from one slope crossing to the other.

  2. COPPER NAILHEADLAP 3 INDETAIL 2 · SAMPLE

    II

    Slate courses and copper nails

    Each slate covers the joint below and laps the course two below by the headlap. Two copper nails per slate, set so the slate hangs, not pinned tight.

  3. STANDING SEAMCLEATED SADDLEDETAIL 3 · SAMPLE

    III

    Copper ridge saddle

    A formed copper saddle over the last course, locked into a cleat, with a standing seam on top that sheds water both ways.

  4. HALF-ROUND, FORGED HANGERDOUBLED STARTERDETAIL 4 · SAMPLE

    IV

    Eave with a half-round gutter

    A doubled starter course at the eave, a copper drip, and a half-round gutter on forged hangers fixed to each rafter tail.

Materials

Four materials, chosen for the house, not the catalog.

MaterialSuitsTypical lifeLb / squareLead timeSample / square
Vermont slateQuarried, split by hand, laid in courses with copper nails.Tudor, Georgian, French Normandy75–125800–1,10010–16 wk$3,400–5,200
Clay barrel tileTwo-piece pan and cover, laid in mortar or on battens.Mediterranean, Spanish Colonial50–1001,000–1,2008–14 wk$2,600–3,800
Clay flat tileInterlocking French-pattern tile, kiln-fired, hung on battens.French Country, Provençal, Italianate50–100800–1,0008–14 wk$2,800–4,200
Standing-seam copper16 oz copper, seams folded on site; bright, then brown, then green.Bays, turrets, dormers and entry roofs60–100125–1504–6 wk$3,800–5,600

Sample figures for a fictional firm. A square is 100 sq ft of roof. A typical shingle roof weighs about 250 lb a square.

The program

Most of a slate roof happens before anyone climbs a ladder.

  1. Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 3

    Study and drawings

    We measure every plane, draw the roof and its details, and price it line by line.

  2. Phase 2 · Weeks 3 to 16

    Quarry or kiln order

    Slate is ordered by lot so the color matches; clay is fired to order. We inspect samples from the run.

  3. Phase 3 · Before tear-off

    Framing review

    Slate and clay weigh three to five times a shingle roof. An engineer confirms the framing; we coordinate it.

  4. Phase 4 · On site

    Installation

    One plane at a time, dried in every night. Copper is formed on site to fit.

  5. Phase 5 · Closeout

    Roof record and attic stock

    A bound record of quarry, lot and details, and a crate of matched spare slates or tiles left in the attic.

Stewardship

The roof will outlast us. So we write it down.

Every roof closes with a bound record and a crate of matched spares in the attic, so a broken slate in twenty years is replaced with one from the same lot.

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Roof recordNo. 41 · sample

Quarry
Vermont, unfading gray
Lot
0917-B
Size and thickness
18 × 10 in, 3/16 to 1/4 in
Exposure
7.5 in, graduated to 6 in at the ridge
Fasteners
Copper nails, two per slate
Flashings
16 oz copper, open valleys 5 in
Attic stock
1 crate, 160 slates, north attic

Thornbury Slate & Copper

Estates

Recent roofs, by house and by material.

  1. No. 41

    Tudor revival, Highland Park

    Unfading gray, graduated courses, open copper valleys

    Material
    Slate
    Squares
    84
    On site
    14 wk

  2. No. 38

    Mediterranean, Preston Hollow

    Aged blend barrel, copper half-round gutters

    Material
    Barrel
    Squares
    126
    On site
    11 wk

  3. No. 36

    French Normandy, Southlake

    Mottled purple and gray, copper turret cap and finials

    Material
    Slate
    Squares
    112
    On site
    18 wk

  4. No. 33

    Georgian, University Park

    Standing-seam bay and entry roofs on a slate house

    Material
    Copper
    Squares
    9
    On site
    3 wk

  5. No. 29

    French Country, Westlake

    Brownstone flat clay, copper ridge and hips

    Material
    Flat clay
    Squares
    97
    On site
    12 wk

Correspondence

From owners, architects and estate managers.

Sample reviews written for this fictional company

  • They left a crate of spare slates in the attic with the quarry and the lot written on it. Twenty years from now someone will know exactly what to match.

    Catherine H. · Homeowner, Highland Park · Slate replacement

  • Their shop drawings for the turret and the valleys matched my details, and where they did not, they called first.

    R. Delacroix · Residential architect · New French Normandy house

  • The hangers were forged to the spacing of the rafter tails. It is the kind of thing nobody notices until it is done wrong.

    J. Whitaker · Estate manager, Southlake · Copper gutters

Where we work

Five places with the houses for it.

DFW I-30 US-75 Highland ParkUniversity ParkPreston HollowSouthlakeWestlake Sketch, not to scale

Private roof study

We begin with a walk of the roof and a measured drawing.

The visit
About two hours, on the roof and in the attic
You receive
Drawings, a material recommendation and a written price
By telephone
(214) 555-0163

DemoThis form works but sends nothing. Try it.

The house
The project
Is an architect involved?
The visit
Preferred time for a walk of the roof