# copper flashing question



## Alto (Jun 17, 2010)

What is the minimum thickness of copper the you should use for chimney flashing. If there is a minimum that makes the material easiest to work with I would appreciate having that information also. 

Also, my chimney is around 7 feet long on both sides and 4 feet wide. I need a pretty high flashing to cover the area that the old flashing will be removed from. I can get sheets that are 3' X 8' or 3' X 10'. Then there are rolls that seem to be 20" or 22" wide and come in varying lengths. Any suggestions as to how much I need to buy? Thanks.


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

Alto said:


> *What is the minimum thickness of copper the you should use for chimney flashing.*
> 
> Also, my chimney is around 7 feet long on both sides and 4 feet wide. I need a pretty high flashing to cover the area that the old flashing will be removed from. I can get sheets that are 3' X 8' or 3' X 10'. Then there are rolls that seem to be 20" or 22" wide and come in varying lengths.* Any suggestions as to how much I need to buy?* Thanks.


Most building copper used in my area is 16 oz (about 24ga). We occasionally use some 20 oz, but 16 oz ought to outlast several asphalt shingle roofs. 

I need more info on your chimney to guess about quantities. Is the chimney at the ridge or in the middle of a roof plane? Is there a saddle behind it? What's the roof slope? Brick or stone?

Usually, roll copper is sold in 100lb rolls. You won't need that much and I don't like to use roll copper since it's much softer than sheet copper. You'll probably need two 3x8 sheets, but you'll have a fair amount left over.

Edit: there are web sites where you can buy flashing kits made to order. I run one of them, but I'm not allowed to post a link here. If you can find my site, I'll be glad to help. I'm sure my competition will as well.


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## Alto (Jun 17, 2010)

thanks for your response. I will try to check out your store.

I have attached a photo of the house. The chimney sits right on the ridge, off to one side. There is actually only about two feet to one side and 20 feet to the other. The short lengt of the ridge on a house with a pretty low roof --there is probably not a great volume of space in the attic, which I assume means less circulating air-- was one of the problems I thought I might have but I guess it should be sufficient for venting. 

I am not sure what a saddle is but maybe you can see from the photo. It looks to me like the old flashing was copper --it is pretty green now and it rises about 12 inches above the shingles, if I recall correctly with several inches below the shingles as well. Thanks for your help.


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

There are several universal chimney flashing kits on the market. I don't think any of them will work on that chimney - it's too wide. 

I could post a link to my site if I could find a comparable product listing and post that as well. But all I can find is several "kits" and you need individual components since the kits are pretty universal and limited in range.

There is no saddle on your chimney. If it were down from the ridge, a saddle or cricket would be necessary for that wide of a chimney.


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## Alto (Jun 17, 2010)

I found you on the web. Beautiful work! What does a kit include; or, at least what should i be sure the roofer does for flashing. He has a machine to bend the material and i was assuming that is all that is involved; cut the material to size, bend it, adhere it. I have been assuming that he knows how to put it on correctly because he gets pretty good reviews as a roofer. I was just checking on the material because I want to be sure he is using quality material and getting a decent price on it. 

Given the price of copper and the way my roofing job has just exploded in cost I am afraid that i am not even going to be able to put on the copper gutters that i wanted for the front of my house. In my region they want around $13 per linear foot installed, and that seemed like a pretty good price. But still, I don't think I will be doing that right now. Is there any faux copper material that is worth looking at (though looking at some of the images you have up, I imagine that it is hard to come up with something that close; really nice work!).


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

well?...which is it a saddle or a cricket:wink:


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

tomstruble said:


> well?...which is it a saddle or a cricket:wink:


I forget..............

Maybe Flash will stop by and straighten us out.


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

Alto said:


> I found you on the web. Beautiful work! What does a kit include; or, at least what should i be sure the roofer does for flashing. He has a machine to bend the material and i was assuming that is all that is involved; cut the material to size, bend it, adhere it. I have been assuming that he knows how to put it on correctly because he gets pretty good reviews as a roofer. I was just checking on the material because I want to be sure he is using quality material and getting a decent price on it.
> 
> Given the price of copper and the way my roofing job has just exploded in cost I am afraid that i am not even going to be able to put on the copper gutters that i wanted for the front of my house. In my region they want around $13 per linear foot installed, and that seemed like a pretty good price. But still, I don't think I will be doing that right now. Is there any faux copper material that is worth looking at (though looking at some of the images you have up, I imagine that it is hard to come up with something that close; really nice work!).


From the questions you were asking, I assumed you were going to try to flash the chimney yourself. If your roofer doesn't know how to flash that chimney correctly, he needs to get back in the kitchen and bake us some biscuits. 

$13/lin ft (I'm assuming 5" ogee) for installed copper gutters is a fantastic price. Check to make sure they'll be soldering the miters, outlets, end caps, etc and not just using gutter seal. 

There's a copper penny aluminum gutter material. It looks fake to me. It might fool some people.

Thanks for the complements.


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## Alto (Jun 17, 2010)

All the questions are really a matter of being an informed consumer. i have gotten myself to the point where i pretty much know what we need to do for my roof to have a good, long lasting job at a fair value, but that is just the point at which I feel ready to hire someone to do the job for me. I am not going to tell that person what to do, but I am going to choose the person to do the job who i think is best qualified. 

I am going to give the job to a young crew that has been working for a while under contractors and have taken off on their own. i like their honesty, the previous work they have done for me on other things around my property, the recommendation I have had, their efforts to be a legitimate business, and the roof job I saw this afternoon that they did for someone else. But one must be objective and that means i should be as well informed as i can be. If the job is bad it will be partially my fault for bad due diligence.

I will have to find out what they do on the gutters for $13/ linear foot. But I am going to take a look at the aluminum product too. Maybe I will just spring for the real copper... at least on the front. Thanks for your help.


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