Among our most beautiful metal roofing systems are our pre-aged copper tiles, shingles, and diamonds. While there are a myriad of “fake” aged copper finishes now coming onto the market, you know if you’ve read many of my previous posts on the topic that my problem with them all is that they are just completely too regular to be convincing. One of the features of actual copper, whether naturally or artificially aged, is that it’s just so irregular. Copper doesn’t age consistently over an entire roof, because trees, exposure, prevailing winds, and drainage patterns all impact the way a roof “sees” the weather and all of these elements affect the rate of patina of any given section of roof. One of the things we try to do when we artificially age copper roofing is to vary the amount of the acid that gets applied to different sections or even individual tiles. This helps accelerate the variability that will come naturally to a copper roof over time.
Metal & Copper Roofing Blog
It can be quite time-consuming to get that effect just right, so when our customers request such a treatment, we charge for the service. A few customers have asked if this is something they could do themselves, and I want them to know that the answer is yes. There are a few commercial sources for the appropriate acids and chemicals that have been developed to create accelerated aging of copper roofings, and if you have decided that this is the look you want, then we are just as happy to do it for you, or direct you toward one of the suppliers we like for the treatments.
Either way, you’ll have a copper roof that within a few weeks of installation will look like it’s been there 100 years.
