CBD's Entrikin Turret Roof Cap

Here's a shot I took for the clients when they were here to pick their order up at my place made for Carol Entrikin in Seattle, Washington of Ballard Bookcase Co.. I made up this unique 10 sided roof cap (seen on the right) for their turret to replace an old small ornate Genie Bottle style cap that had seen better days (shown on the left):

They wanted me to recreate this old roof cap design, but after exploring costs and options, they decided they were not that in love with this style and opted for this full scallop style cap and a decorative finial in stead. I think the craftsmanship of the old one was amazing. It is a shame they had not used a better metal for all the effort that one must have taken.

Here is all 10 sides of this roof cap base section drawn out on the copper sheet after it was cut out and the safety hem tabs bent over, and the corners bent, ready to be formed into a cone shape. Their turret roof has a pitch of 14/12, so I made this slightly steeper at a 16/12 pitch, so the bottom edge is sure to sit tight to the roofing. I went to extra trouble to make this roof cap all in one single piece, so there is only one seam in the back. I feel this is an advantage to have fewer seams than to better utilize the sheet of copper. This seam should not be noticeable once mounted 3 stories high and tarnished a few months later.

These shots below show the top of the base cap made to hold the finial support pipe firmly in place with this wood block. I just stared to add this 3/4" cap to the bottom of the support pipe, then add another larger 1.5" pipe cap over the reducer. That way there is 2 thick layers of copper under the brass rod that will go inside, and much less chance of this leaking.

Then it is attached to the tip of the base cap with 10 long rivets and a special silver solder. I then caulk over this and cover the caulk with this special gaffer's tape to make sure there is no possibility of this ever leaking a century from now.

Here is the steeple cone being built and attached. I then covered the base cap with this matching steeple cone that is riveted to the base cap through the tab bent under the bottom edge of the steeple cone. This steeple cone also is to hold the top of this finial support pipe in place through the harshest wind storms.

This turret roof cap is 27" wide with these scallop style tails dropping below that making it 32" wide in all. It was 36" tall without the finial or brass rod. I cut the brass rod down to 24.5" long for the large 10" wide Avalon style finial.

The cost for this from the weight of the 20oz copper w/o finial of 19.6# X .8 = 15.68 sq' X $25 base rate, since they were coming here to pick it up:
$392 - copper
+ $125 - weathervane or finial support pipe
+ $170 - 10" wide Avalon finial (shown) w/solid brass rod (includes 15% discount)

That's $687 in all.

From: "Carol Entrikin" <carol@ballardbookcase.c*m>
Subject: RE: Your Turret Roof Cap Order
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009

Hi David,
It was a pleasure meeting you too! We put the turret cap on our dining room table until it is installed-it is a gigantic center piece! I love having it inside for awhile to enjoy the beauty of it. I contacted the roofing company yesterday, I'm sure in the next week he will be by to install it. I also sent him the instructions for installing-they seem pretty competent so I have no worries. Will be sending pictures as soon as the job is completed.

Thank you again for the beautiful work.
Carol

www.MapleBookcases.com

Date: Tue, 5 May 2009

Hi David,
Thought you would enjoy these photos. Hillside Roofing came back and installed the turret cap on a beautiful sunny day last week...as you can see it looks fantastic! We had a terrific downpour last night with strong winds-I thought about our brave copper piece weathering it's first storm...!!!

Thank you again for the beautiful work.
Carol and David Entrikin