Chimney step flashing vidieo

Thanks Dave!very cool great series,i don't get to work with lead looks like a great material to work with

the welding lead video was interesting too

I have never seen it done quite that way before. I don't think I like the look of that.

Dave

Dave,
Are there any restrictions on using lead flashing there?

Lead has been great to work with,easy to cut,bend,mold.

Too bad its use is probably going to be banned with the new EPA regs.here.

crovello said:

I have never seen it done quite that way before. I don't think I like the look of that.

Dave

Click to expand...

Actually, it is a better look than the 5 or 6 pieces one usually sees on a chimney.

oldfrt said:

Dave,
Are there any restrictions on using lead flashing there?

Lead has been great to work with,easy to cut,bend,mold.

Too bad its use is probably going to be banned with the new EPA regs.here.

Click to expand...

I can still buy lead at several sheet metal and roofing supply houses.
It is more than copper but, it is awesome to work with.

Just remember, don't chew on your flashings!!

Id be yelling at him, Hurry up! We're losing money!

A couple of tick marks and almost all of that layout on the lead could have been done with a speed square on the bench. Assuming you knew the "water line" and roof pitch.







In 2020 there will probably be a cottage industry of lead step flashing abatement contractors.

Losing money?
How do you lose money taking your timg and doing it the right way?

If one is using lead to counter flash a chimney, I am pretty sure you charged enough to make it a really nice job.

I will not climb on a roof and counter flash a chimeny for chump change.

WarnerConstInc. said:

Losing money?
How do you lose money taking your timg and doing it the right way?

If one is using lead to counter flash a chimney, I am pretty sure you charged enough to make it a really nice job.

I will not climb on a roof and counter flash a chimeny for chump change.

Click to expand...

if you can do the identical task in half or 1/3 the time, doing a "really nice job" with identical quality, simply by saving steps and thinking through the task. you would make double or triple the money in the same amount of time. Capish?

he may have just been illustrating how you go about finding those tick marks

having the metal return on an angle may be more water resistant than having it run 90 deg

ya gotta give the metal workers in the uk the benefit of the doubt here,they see a hell of alot more of that kind of flashing there and the original details are many centuries old

Yeah, that was definitely way slowed down for the tutorial thing. If he wasn't trying to teach you, it would have been pretty much bip/bap/bip--done.

Probably faster than one of us could do it on the bench, even given the numbers beforehand. :laughing:

Don't care for the look of that either.....We have used lead out here forever, me, not so much anymore as I now use almost exclusively through pans....Gotta remember, this is a retrofit, christ I could have flashed it in in the time it took to watch those videos....We drop the facings of the lead plumb, and with proper flashing, they work great...And very few places get rain with high wind like here....almost nowhere...Still, that guy clearly knows what he's doing, and with slate you hope you don't have to be up there again for 150 years....tks for sharing..

oldfrt said:

Dave,
Are there any restrictions on using lead flashing there?

Lead has been great to work with,easy to cut,bend,mold.

Too bad its use is probably going to be banned with the new EPA regs.here.

Click to expand...

We have no trouble getting roll lead around hear. For counter flashing we normally use lead coating copper. This seems to be getting harder to get. From what I hear the largest manufacturer of this product stopped making it a few years ago.

Well as i said i hope the vidieo helps, im sure it works with copper too,the princible is the same to keep it water tight.
While i have only spoke to this guy over the phone i know he knows his stuff,this was a demo to show you what to do.
There are restrictions when using lead, i always wear gloves anmd wash my hands before eating, when i was sub-contracting and doing lead work flashings all the time, we were requied to have blood tests every 3 months to check the lead levels in the blood, mine were always high!!!! but its had no side effffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffect.
I dont tend to do so much lead work now i quit sub-contracting, and with the scrap prices so high there seems to be alot of replacement products used now tha dont have any scrap value.
I still like using lead, it is widley available in the U.K and i love the look of it.
Cheers
Dave
Dave

I don't like the look for a shingled roof. For slate, this is somthing I think goes with the style.

For a shingled roof, color matching counter flashing, and using a strait flashing installed in a cut regret is faster, cleaner looking and performs just as well.

We bend it out of aluminum all on the break and hand break the small bends on the roof. Comes out with nice strait bends, and a over all really clean look around the chimney.

cool vid. it's nice to how it's done in other places.

i've always said that the chimney flashing is the really only task on the job that requires any actual craftsmanship. you can tell a lot about the roofer just by looking at the chimney.

there's still quite a few old slate roofs around here. we use 16oz copper for all the flashings tho. buy the copper by the 24"x50' roll and fab everything on site with a portable brake.

only time i use lead is when i gotta "conform" the metal, such as flashing tile, or flashing a stone chimney.

Welding lead is hard hard hard. I've soldered copper and soldered galvanized but lead to lead is a b!tch!

My ONLY comment is he should be wearing gloves when he is working with that lead. It's hazardous for sure. Never handle lead without gloves.

I like placing a rolled over hem and a kick-out at the bottom of the flashing, where as he left it straight. I find that the hem strengthens the bottom of the metal and prevents buckling, and the kick-out is intended to shed away water.

Nice trick on the piece of wood, I've never seen that. I've always used a hand seamer, but this looks like it works well too (at least with lead).

We typically don't use the wedges he described, but will use fluted masonry nails. If you're really good you can bend the wedge into the lip of the metal that tucks into the chimney.

Grumpy said:

Welding lead is hard hard hard. I've soldered copper and soldered galvanized but lead to lead is a b!tch!

Click to expand...

There is an art to lead welding and that is to set your welding torch up right, took me a while mind to get it right,the flame was either too hot so you just burnt through the metal or too cold and the welding rod would not melt,Soooooo frustrating!!!
Cheers
Dave


P.S. Yes your right he should be wearing gloves and also a mask when welding, them fumes are no good!!

i think he was figuring the filter on his cigarette butt good enough