Working on a tall cone roof

If I can figure out how to post pictures again, I will have to put some on the site. It is a spire roof about 60 feet in the air. I am cutting all of the pieces right now, and hope to install them on Monday. It is a roof using the Certain Teed Carriage House Shangle and I am having to cut the shadow lines into the shingles as I make them. It will be interesting.

Duh! page 2!I did save it. "Too Old School" I guess.

Damn, I typed up a detailed explanation of everything and then forgot to "save" it. I did go on and watched the videos and read the notes on the upper left side of the pictures and it does explain it quite well. My "Math" is just the tape measure hanging from the point on the peak. the jig is just 1/34 of a section of the roof. I arrived at that number by knowing the widest piece I would be using and dividing that number into the circumference of the roof. The angle of the pieces is determined by the jig, and they remain the same, but the pieces get smaller as you get nearer to the top. I had over 8,000 cuts into the 510 pieces I needed. the hard part of this job was cutting the shadow lines on each piece. It was a fun project. Old School

All you need to roof any cone are three measurements. The rafter length, the widest piece you will be using and the circumference of the roof at the bottom. With those measurements, I can cut all of the pieces for any cone roof and they will fit like a glove. I make a jig of the roof and cut everything in the shop. There is no need to make a model of the roof. with those measurements, you make a model or jig of one pie shape of the roof. In this case, the roof measured 25 feet 2 inches around at the bottom and the widest piece of one of the tabs was 9 inches. That worked out to 33 and 1/2 pieces per roll so I just divided the circumference by the next larger number and made the bottom of the jig about 8 7/8 inches. 34 pieces at that size fit the cone. Every row has the same number of pieces, they just get smaller as you go up, and the jig will give you the correct size for each row.

These shingles were a special challenge as they had the shadow lines that had to be cut. The shingles are two layers thick, and I cut the blanks and then cut the top layer to make the shadow affect. It was a large pain, and it took a long time. I figured i had about 8,000 cuts to make the 510 pieces i needed.

Woody, If you look at the video and the pictures, you will see a tape measure hanging down from the point. I just took a measurement down from the point and continued it around the roof. It always comes back to exactly where you start from, and the shingles are laid to that line. The tape measure is my "Math" In a way, once you get the measurements and build the jig it is easy, it is just a lot of work to get the pieces cut and up there to do the work. Like I said, it was a fun project.

Did you have any surprises when you circled around to meet up? Did you play it by ear or do lots of math in advance? It looks like you had to cut the shadow line layer as well.

Huge improvement from those old 3-tabs. Quality wise and cosmetically. ;)

Damn, it worked! If you click on the pictures and then click on "info"on the upper right side, the descriptions I wrote will be there. A few of them are videos and all you have to do is click on the icon and it will start. Nothing fantastic, but you will get the idea. What a fun project! John Crookston "Old School"

Let's see if I can download some more pictures and a few videos of the process. Wish me luck

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPBGSJiSrXqTK_Z_xaxfnr2pAn_gMuxT_yAxdWSbJOLTD_pjG0RTqo7lsbInUgeaw?key=QXhsOFNsaDdxY210VUM5VnVmMGFueDJlLXZQQzhn

Cool! My Dad did a small church steeple by way of a crane many years ago that was about 60 feet in the air and the local TV channel filmed him doing it and put it on the prime time news. I asked him how much did they pay him to roof that steeple and he said " Just Two Hundred Dollars but I made Two Hundred Thousand within the next 6 months after it aired on the Six O'clock News. :huh:

The general contractor just about has the original finial repaired, and I went and installed three more rows of shingle tabs this morning. I have to re-cut a row of the pieces as I shortened up the exposure a bit and it changed the diameter of the row. 1/4 of an inch spread out over 34 pieces adds up to over 8 inches. Everything changes everything else. It is relatively easy to install them after they are cut, but the cutting and measuring is a bitch!

Woody, That is the rusted original finial that has been on the tower for about 120 years. They are going to re-hab it and we will install it again. I just wrapped the top with some of the self adhered under-layment, that is the white stuff you are seeing. I got the bottom 2/3 of the roof done on Monday and cut the rest of the pieces on the 4th. I amy go down and finish it tomorrow morning. By far the most work was cutting all of the pieces There are 15 rows of 34 pieces, and every piece has about 15 cuts to make. That works out to about 7,500 cuts for 2 squares of shingles. THAT is why so few people do these things. When it is finished, it will be a thing of beauty. Old School!!!

OS, how'd you make the little cone on top to replace the metal cap that was there before? Who'd a thunk a slate specialist would get their highest dollar-per-square job on a comp job?

Hey, I got the video to work too! One of the pictures is in fact one of the 2 second videos. Maybe I can put the one I have on. It is just a lot of wind noise, and when I get the camera close to my face, you can hear my commentary. I am working today to cut the shadow lines out of the tabs, after I spent the time to cut out the blanks. It takes a lot of time to set it all up. It is going to look perfect when it is done though. I really can't wait to finally get up on the scaffold and put some of them on. It should be a hoot!

Hey, I can do it! I had a short video too, but it was so windy up there you couldn't hear what I was saying.The problem is that I don't know for sure how to work the video part of the equation. I also had 2 second videos. too short.

Lets try this. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM4v7HYaqyrbRnbouRB3QdJ0SdnItj1_gv6bP7TmpT5BuyW5PulI8fhdr-pnOAGVA?key=N2xEX0RESHNHemRaN1FMZHlFWktVSF9lMVRmdjN3

Slow is the word. That is why so few people do it right It takes too much time. Nice job on the metro shingles. Nice look. We had something similar this past winder. 4/12 pitch, but 6 valleys plus the chimney. Nutin but cutin!

Google bought out Picasa about 2 years ago and shut it down. I have google photos but I am not sure how to transfer them to the RCS page. I am working on it. I want to do a video with my camera and put that on, but again, I am not sure how to do it. When I am done, people will wonder "How did they do that?"