Architectural metal
Architectural sheet metal and metal roofing
Metal roofing and metal fabrication, from the copings and counterflashing at a roof's edge to cupolas, conductor heads and leaders.
Chapter 01
Copings, edge metal and counterflashing: where roofs actually leak
The field of a roof gets the attention, but the edge is where water finds its way in. Parapet walls are capped with coping. Low-slope roofs finish at the perimeter with edge metal. Wherever a roof meets a wall, a curb or a rooftop unit, counterflashing laps over the base flashing so water running down the wall sheds onto the roof instead of behind it. Every one of those pieces is sheet metal, and every one is built to move.
Thermal movement is the part that gets skipped. Metal expands and contracts through every daily and seasonal swing. A coping with no room to move works its fasteners loose. A long run of edge metal needs joints and cleats that let it slide. A counterflashing is set into a reglet, a groove cut into the masonry, and sealed so it can be refit without rebuilding the wall. Where these details are shortened, the leak shows up at the wall line and gets blamed on the membrane.
Copper-flashed roof edge below a white bell tower cupola
Metal roofing and fabrication, made to fit the building
A&M's architectural metal work covers metal roofing and metal fabrication, and the company's stated aim is the highest standard of workmanship on every roofing and sheet metal project. In practice that means panels and flashings are formed to the dimensions of the roof in front of the crew, not pulled from a catalog and forced into place.
The craft is in the joints. Seams are folded and, where the profile calls for a watertight joint, soldered instead of leaning on caulk. Panels are held by cleats that secure them while still letting them slide as temperature changes. A cupola or bell tower roof is a small roof with its own geometry, often with tight curves and very little tolerance for error, and every joint in it has to shed water on its own. Conductor heads and leaders are fabricated pieces too: the head collects flow from a scupper or gutter and hands it to the leader, so it is sized for the water it will carry and given an overflow path.
Chapter 03
Keeping the metal sound after it is installed
A&M maintenance inspections look at the sheet metal and flashings alongside the membrane, drains and gutters, and crews clear debris from drains, gutters, conductor heads and roof leaders. A conductor head packed with leaves is how a downspout line becomes overflow at a wall, which is why that clearing is part of the visit instead of an afterthought.
The signs worth watching are loose or open coping joints, seams that have lifted, failed sealant at a reglet, fasteners backing out and staining that tracks down from an edge. A&M installs and repairs metal roofs as well as the flashings around them. If metal on your building has started to weep at the edges, the estimating team in Andover can be reached at (978) 475-4500.
Metal roofing and metal fabrication, with sheet metal and flashings covered on every maintenance inspection. Roofing and sheet metal work since 1978.