How are we already approaching the clocks changing? The pace of life has been hectic, between work, kids and house building. Our little people have grown so much, with our baby girl just starting to walk. A lot has been achieved, but I’m also feeling the fatigue, with no time to stop and reflect. The work keeps driving on. So, better late than never to share some thoughts on the zinc installation.
We installed a zinc capping on all our parapet roofs. The best way to choose a metal is to see it installed and ask for samples from suppliers. We had appointed our roofing company @vertex early on and worked with them on the exact build-up of the capping detail. The overall width of the parapet is important, as zinc comes in standard rolls of 600mm, this needs to include all the bends of the metal from the inside face to the outside allowing enough coverage of the wall cladding, this is especially important in our exposed context with driving rain.
Pigmemto grey from VM Zinc was the best match with the Cedral cladding we had chosen. The installation needs to be meticulously planned from the spacing of the joints, the corner details, lapping of joints and how it looked from various angles. We walked through each junction several times with Vertex roofing, mocked up some samples of joints, until we arrived at the most elegant detail.
I’ve said it before, but it really helps if you’re lucky enough to work with skilled professionals. Our Zinc team from Vertex was Aivaras, Micheal and Ivan, they have decades of experience working with metal roofs, especially in Europe where, it is the predominate finish. Each had a role in transforming the zinc rolls into a finished capping, it felt like a tailoring process in Saville Row. Ivan folded the metal on site with the bending machine, Aivaris made the cuts and the intricate bends and Michael fitted it in place. I enjoyed learning about their craft and their tools of the trade. They also saved us by making handmade hoppers for our rainwater pipes, I’ll write more about this in another post. Stay tuned…
