Rutland Architectural Blog

Sunday, June 19, 2011

A perfect way to dress up a home or building with a chimney is with a copper chimney cap custom crafted to accentuate your home's architecture. There are endless designs of custom chimney caps possible and they can be fully functional and protective while also providing additional architectural interest to your building. A good chimney cap design will definitely make a statement and enhance your home while also keeping out rain, promoting proper draft or air flow for your fireplace or stove and screening to keep out birds and animals and serving as a spark arrestor. Below are a few examples of custom copper chimney caps which have these qualities.

copper chimney cap with domed chimney top, bottom vents and spark arrestor copper screening pictured

copper chimney cap with copper dome top, bottom louvered venting and animal - spark arrestor copper mesh screen pictured

Copper Chimney Cap - Domed Top - Bottom Vents and Screening

copper chimney caps with covered pyramidal chimney top, bottom venting and spark arrestor mesh copper screening or woven lattice work pictured here

copper chimney caps with covered pyramidal chimney top, bottom venting and spark arrestor mesh copper screening or woven lattice work pictured here

copper chimney cap with copper dome chimney top, bottom vents and spark arrestor - animal copper screen pictured

Copper Chimney Caps - Covered Chimney Top and Screen Openings

Rutland can custom build copper chimney caps or chimney pots in any size and in any shape or design. Choose from one of Rutland's many unique chimney cap or chimney pot designs or provide your own design and Rutland will custom fabricate your chimney cap to your exact specifications and drawing. Rutland uses heavyweight copper with TIG welded polished seams for enhanced durability, strength and a polished superb appearance. Rutland can also craft your custom chimney cap in thick gauge aluminum, either mill finish or custom painted and in stainless steel if you prefer. See more of Rutland's Copper Chimney Caps designs and you may also view some of Rutland's many standard design architectural Chimney Cap CAD Drawings.

6/19/2011 4:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Friday, April 15, 2011

Copper Chimney Cap Custom Installation

Copper chimney caps provide enhanced elegance and architectural interest to fine homes and commercial buildings. The beautiful home featured in this blog received two custom chimney caps made from pure copper to nicely accent it's charming stone tiled roof deck and multi-hued clay roof tile. As the copper chimney caps transition through the many stages of copper patination or weathering, these chimney caps will dynamically coordinate with the various colors presented in the roofing tile and roof decking.

Copper Chimney Caps

custom chimney cap design made of copper mounted on chimney top

Custom Chimney Cap Design

copper chimney cap custom design

Copper Chimney Cap Installation

Custom Chimney Caps Being Delivered and Installed

The custom copper chimney caps above, also called chimney hoods or chimney shrouds, are shown being delivered to job site via flat bed truck. A crane will hoist the heavy copper chimney caps into position on the chimney top. Installers on the roof top will help manually guide the chimney caps into their exact position and fasten them down to the chimney crown. Rutland has over thirty standard copper chimney cap designs and their copper work craftsmen also create any custom chimney cap to your own design and exact specifications which may be shipped anywhere in the U.S. and around the world. Rutland also crafts custom copper chimney pots with single or multiple flue design, with or without a chimney shroud or tray. To see more copper chimney cap designs and view architectural CAD drawings of them, visit their Chimney Caps - Chimney Pot webpage.

4/15/2011 3:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Copper Chimney Caps - Custom Stainless Steel Chimney Caps

Copper chimney caps and stainless steel chimney caps can be fashioned in all shapes, sizes and styles by metal and copper work craftsmen. Chimneys can take on a whole new appearance with a custom chimney cap mounted on the chimney top, made from high quality pure copper or thick gauge stainless steel. Instead of a minimal afterthought, chimney caps can become an attractive focal point and provide additional architectural interest and elegance to fine homes and commercial buildings.

stainless steel chimney cap - custom heavy gauge stainless steel design pictured

Custom Stainless Steel Chimney Cap

stainless steel chimney cap - custom high quality stainless steel design readied for shipment shown here

Stainless Steel Chimney Cap Ready for Shipment

copper chimney cap - custom heavy weight copper chimney top design being lifted into position

Copper Chimney Top Lifted Into Installation Position

copper chimney cap - custom heavy weight copper chimney cap design shown installed

Copper Chimney Cap - Installed

copper chimney cap - custom copper chimney cap with copper lattice sides pictured

Custom Copper Chimney Cap - Chimney Top

Custom high quality, heavy weight copper chimney caps and thick gauge stainless steel chimney caps not only are more elegant and attractive, they also are extremely durable, low maintenance and have extremely long lifespans proving better long term value than low cost designs. The welded, polished seams provide strength, trouble free durability and more attractive refined appearance. The larger sized heavy weight copper and stainless steel chimney caps may require several installers or else a lift to maneuver them into place. But once in place they will provide a lifetime of beauty and functional elegance. Rutland works with architects, contractors and property owners to help design the perfect custom chimney cap for your architecture. Rutland utilizes architectural CAD working drawings in the design process and can custom manufacture any size and style of chimney cap, chimney top or chimney shroud to accommodate customer specifications. Custom copper chimney caps, stainless steel and if desired custom painted aluminum chimney caps can be crafted by Rutland's metal fabrication and copper work craftsmen.

11/18/2010 7:15 PM Eastern Standard Time

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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Finials

A finial can be thought of as an architectural finial, which simply is a decorative or ornamental architectural piece usually mounted at the apex or very top of any architectural structure. Finials can also denote the decorative ornaments, knobs, balls, terminations or tops to posts, poles, rods, furniture or lamps. In typography, finials are the curves terminating type font strokes. This blog concentrates on architectural finials which may be placed on top of a roof, gable, tower, turret, pinnacle, steeple, spire, arch, dome, gazebo, canopy, cupola, chimney cap, wall, garden structure or other architectural device. Finials are used decoratively to emphasize the apex, peak, ends or corners of these architectural structures. Finials also provide heightened architectural interest, flourish, elegance, majesty and provide the crowning touch to distinctive architectural structures, fine homes and distinguished buildings.

finial with large copper pyramid finial base, large finial ball and finial cone shown here

Copper Finials - Outdoor Roof - Garden Finials

Finials are usually thought of as the ornament or decorative piece mounted at the very tip of related architectural structures which are all taller than wider, such as pinnacles, turrets, spires, steeples and towers. These various architectural structures are somewhat similar or related, primarily differing in size, scale, location, shape or historical context. Often one of these structures is placed on top of another and the transition between them may either be obvious or be fairly seamless. Finials mounted at the very peak of these structures have historically been a cross, star, ball, spear, cone, needle or may have been something more elaborate or ornate. Tall finials fitted with an extension and insulated may also be utilized as a lightning rod. Architectural devices such as finials have sometimes been scaled up in size to where some finials start to resemble and perhaps becomes a small spire or pinnacle.

copper finial spear octagonal finial base and finial cone pictured here

finial aluminum with pyramidal base - hexagonal thick cone - finial ball and needle pictured

copper finial with conical finial base, two copper finial balls, scroll designs,and solid copper spear on top pictured

Octagonal Finial Spear - - Hexagonal Finial Ball Aluminum - - Scrolled Copper Finial

Pinnacles are simply defined as small decorative turrets or spires historically located at corners of a roof, parapet, buttress, tower, pier, gable or elsewhere. Pinnacles are largely an ornamental structure, usually round in shape like most turrets or else tapering like a spire and are terminated at their peak by a pyramid, small spire or finial. Pinnacle is also described as an architectural ornament forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret and used on parapets at the corners of towers and other locations. Pinnacles while decorative also help promote the loftiness or towering majesty of a building structure.

copper finial with octagonal faceted finial base, finial ball, and sharp copper finial cone pictured

finial copper with large finial ball, arabesque scroll design, finial cone and smaller finial ball on top pictured

copper finial with pyramidal faceted finial base, finial ball, and sharp copper finial cone pictured

Finials - Octagonal - Pyramidal Base with Finial Balls - Finial Cones

Spires are simply any slender, pointed architectural structures on top of buildings or other structures such as towers. Spires can be conical, pyramidal and octagonal in shape terminating in a point or else have a decorative finial perched on top. Many centuries ago, spires originally were a simple, four sided, squat, pyramid shaped roof capping on top of church towers. Spires evolved towards ever slimmer and much taller forms with a more organic connection to the tower below. Early spires had crockets or steps at their edges for ease of maintenance by steeplejacks. The word spire is derived from the Anglo Saxon word for spear. In fact many modern spires can be even more pronounced spear or needle shaped than their pointy predecessors. Spires may convey several symbolic attributes. Pointing at the heavens, they can have a celestial or religious connotation which is why they were popular on top of cathedrals and churches. Spires provided a spectacular visual culmination to churches while being a symbol of heavenly aspiration. Spires also connote the religious order's or building patron's wealth and prestige. A spire's spear shape can also be symbolic of martial power, might and strength or in public buildings of civil power and hope. Reaching to the skies, spires can also be symbolic of aerospace, outer space and the future. Modern spires include the Space Needle in Seattle and the extremely tall spires located on the tallest buildings or skyscrapers in the world. The planned Freedom Tower in New York will be topped with a spire. Spires are never out of fashion and continue to be used in modern architecture. At the very top of spires you often will find a decorative or ornamental finial. Modern day finials have taken on many forms or shapes with unlimited designs and the pointy, spear shaped finial designs are reminiscent of spires. Some pointy finials have increased in size and scale and are perhaps considered smaller spires and called spires by some.

copper finial with tall, square tapering base with steps, copper ball and square finial cone on top pictured

pineapple finial - pure copper finial pineapple with sculpted pineapple sides, green patina pineapple leaves and round finial base pictured here

copper finial with octagonal tapering and faceted finial base, copper finial ball, and sharp copper finial cone pictured here

Finial Square Tapered - - Pineapple Finial Copper - - Octagonal Finial

Steeples are tall mostly ornamental towers usually topped with a spire and finial. Steeples usually comprise a series of stories, each typically diminishing in size and topped off by a small pyramidal roof, cupola or oftentimes a spire. Steeples are very common in Christian churches and the use of the term typically connotes a religious structure or church steeple. Steeples may be free standing towers or else are incorporated structurally into the entrance or center of a building, such as a church or temple. Steeples usually taper towards a point at the top, are surmounted or topped by a spire, or are themselves simply a large spire. Steeple design was possibly originally influenced by obelisks and pillars dating back to ancient Egyptian architecture. Obelisks are simply four sided tapering towers or pillars ending in a pointed or pyramidal top. Obelisks were historically monolithic, meaning carved out of a single stone and were used as monuments placed at the entrance to temples.

Norwich Cathedral with tower, turrets, pinnacles, spires and finials is pictured here

Belgium Cathedral with large spire, pinnacles, spires, finials and prominent weathervane is pictured here

Cathedrals with Turrets, Spires, Pinnacles and Finials
(photos courtesy Aleister Crowley and Georges Jansoone - CC by SA)

Turrets are simply small attached towers or tower shaped projections from a building. Typically most turrets are round with a conical or other pointed roof though sometimes a domed roof. Some turrets are square or octagonal in shape. Turrets are usually topped with a pinnacle, spire or decorative finial. Turrets are always smaller structures attached to the edge of a building compared to towers which are larger and invariably start from the ground. Turrets can extend out from the sides or corners of a building via corbels or extend up from the roof top effectively adding another story. Rounded turrets also provide contrast to angled lines of a building.

Assorted Turrets - Copper Finials - Conical Octagonal Copper Roof

Towers are slender buildings characterized by great height, always much taller than their width or length. Often very tall towers taper from story to story towards their top and often terminate in a pyramidal roof or pointed spire, usually octagonal or conical. Many church towers and public building towers were designed to incorporate a spire. Towers symbolize prestige, supreme power, authority, majesty and might, similar to what steeples and spires convey.

roof finials installed on top of this distinctive fine home on each roof peak pictured here

copper dome with hemispherical dome shape has weathered copper panels and a copper finial, shown installed here at a Caribbean resort

copper dome with pyramidal dome shape made from custom copper roof tile, has a copper finial mounted on top, shown here installed at Caribbean resort

Roof Top Finials - Copper Domes with Copper Finials (weathered)

Modern day finials come in all shapes, designs and sizes to enhance any style of current architecture. Finials add a decorative, crowning touch to most any architectural structure including roof peaks, domes, turrets, towers, steeples, spires, chimney caps, cupolas, gazebos, canopies, landscaping - garden walls and posts. View 50 different finial designs including weathervanes, pineapple finials and ornate finials at Rutland's Copper Finials webpage. Rutland also provides CAD design drawings and specifications for all of their standard finials, located on each individual finial model's webpage. Rutland finials come in many different sizes; many of Rutland's larger finials are 3 to 6 feet in height and still larger finials and spires may be constructed. Rutland's architectural copper work and metal fabrication craftsmen will fabricate any of Rutland's standard finial designs in a number of different sizes, different base shapes and will also custom manufacture finials and spires to your own architectural design and exact specifications.

copper cupola with hexagonal louvered sides, hexagonal copper cupola roof and copper weathervane rooster finial mounted on top pictured here

cupola with hexagonal aluminum sides, hexagonal cupola roof, copper weathervane horse finial on top shown here installed on the roof peak of a home

cupola with octagonal aluminum sides, tapered octagonal copper cupola roof, finial ball and finial cone on top pictured

Cupolas with WeatherVane Finials and Copper Ball Finial

finial base layout sketches shown here for custom roof finial mounting options

Finial Assorted Base Shapes (may be specified for any Rutland Finial Design)
copper chimney cap with copper lattice work sides, domed copper top, finial ball and sharp finial cone on top pictured here

copper chimney cap with copper lattice work sides, domed copper top, finial ball and sharp finial cone on top pictured here

copper chimney cap with majestic arched legs, copper dome top with copper finial spear on top pictured

Chimney Caps with Copper Finials

Copper Finial Video on YouTube

8/3/2010 3:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Friday, November 06, 2009

Chimney Cap - Decorative Metal

Chimney cap, chimney vent, chimney pot, chimney cowl and chimney shroud are all various structures on a chimney top added to the top of your chimney pipe, chimney flue, stove pipe or even chimney crown. The chimney crown is the flat top of a chimney usually finished with cement or mortar and is ideally sloped to shed water. A fireplace chimney is typically constructed from brick, clay, masonry, metal or fireproof material. Often times there is just a metal chimney pipe or chimney flue that is encased in a fireproof material or else is double wall insulated shielding adjacent flammable building materials. Chimney vents or stove pipe vents vent fireplaces, wood stoves and heaters and provide proper draft. The chimney vent opening might be nearly flush with the chimney crown or else the chimney pipe or chimney flue will protrude out. Stove pipe chimney vents are also found protruding out of the top of roofs. Chimney pots positioned on chimney tops, look like small smoke stacks and functionally extend the length of a chimney. Chimney pots may therefore improve a chimney's draft inexpensively. Whether it is a metal chimney vent, masonry chimney or chimney pot or other chimney material, there is a need to have some sort of termination or cap on the chimney top, to keep rain, birds and critters out of your chimney, chimney pipe or chimney flue. Without a chimney cap, rain water might run into your fireplace, stove or heater and additionally leaks from seams or cracks in the chimney might also damage adjacent walls and ceilings. Also build up of rain and moisture inside your chimney often produces a pervading chimney or smoky smell inside your home. Birds, raccoons, squirrels and other small animals might enjoy the warmth of your chimney, set up home there and clog it with their nests or bodies. So chimney caps often have screening, mesh or lattice work to cover openings. Chimney caps may also protect a chimney crown by shedding rain water and ice. Chimney caps with metal mesh or screening may also perform as a spark arrestor to protect adjacent roofing, walls and ground areas from sparks or embers that may exit from a chimney. Finally, chimney caps may also be purposefully designed to control, preserve or improve upon a chimney's draft. Many chimney caps are made of metal including stainless steel chimney caps, copper chimney caps, aluminum chimney caps and the ever common black painted galvanized steel chimney cap. Standard type chimney caps have a simple sloped roof to block most of the falling rain and mesh sides to block birds, small animals. Some employ tighter screening to also neutralize sparks. They are designed to simply clamp on to round, square or rectangular chimney flue pipes with screw fasteners. Round versions may also provide protection for exposed chimney pots. More expansive, elaborate chimney caps, such as chimney hoods or chimney shrouds, provide a decorative architectural feature and protect more of the chimney top crown.

plain black painted standard steel chimney cap pictured

Common Black Painted Steel Chimney Cap

chimney pot assortment in copper, stainless and aluminum shown, some with integral rain caps and screens

Assortment of Chimney Pots (including capped & screened examples)
copper chimney pots shown, single and multi-flue chimney pots with chimney hoods or shrouds

copper chimney pots shown, single and multi-flue chimney pots with chimney hoods or shrouds

Single and Multi-Flue Copper Chimney Pots with Chimney Top Shroud

Chimney pots are most often seen in Tudor architecture and sometimes with Colonial, Victorian and Row Houses. Chimney pots were usually made from clay (terra cotta) but now are also made from metals. New pure copper and weathered reddish brown copper chimney pots are shown above, along with stainless steel and mill finish aluminum pots. Chimney pots are often open at their top, and while a separate protective chimney cap for use on top of chimney pots can be used, even better, a cleaner design like the ones pictured above with their own integral cap and screening. New chimney pots create a certain architectural style or may replace worn out or broken chimney pots to preserve that look. A chimney pot or variation thereof may also be used when you wish to extend the height of your chimney to improve upon insufficient chimney updraft. Some chimney hood or shroud designs also increase effective chimney height.

chimney vent cap, directional chimney cowl vent and chimney turbine vent shown

Chimney Vent - Directional Chimney Cowl - Turbine Vent

chimney vent cap - copper dome shroud design pictured

Shrouded Copper Dome Chimney Vent

If you experience too much downdraft into your chimney from consistent high winds or substantial amounts of air deflect off of adjacent walls, tall trees, buildings or hills, then you may need to limit or block excess air being pushed down into your chimney. Passive shrouded chimney cap devices exist that work to limit deflected air or high winds from being driven down into your chimney. They work to block winds from the top and sides, allowing air out only from vents near or on the bottom. There is also a directional chimney cowl - chimney cap, which rotates to align with the wind, to block it and prevent a downdraft of air into your chimney pipe or chimney flue. A turbine chimney vent spins with the wind to draw air upwards and counteract downward air pressure. A downdraft problem may be severe enough that extending a chimney using chimney pots or chimney shrouds or using other passive draft enhancers may still prove insufficient. In this case, there are sources of chimney fans available, which mount inside your chimney and induce upward drafts using variable speed motors and paddle fans.

chimney hood and chimney shroud shown here

Chimney Hoods - Chimney Shrouds - Chimney Caps
copper chimney caps with decorative and ornate shapes and chimney cap design shown

Copper Chimney Caps - Custom Decorative Metal

Chimney caps serve important functional purposes, yet may also provide a very decorative and distinctive architectural feature to your home. Your chimney top and chimney cap are typically at the very highest point of your home and where better to make a crowning statement to distinguish and accentuate your home.

* The pictures above of custom chimney caps, chimney pots and chimney vents, provide courtesy of Rutland's architectural copper and metal work craftsmen. If you can dream or imagine it, Rutland's accomplished coppersmiths and custom metal fabricators can create it. View more of Rutland's many Chimney Cap Designs.