Soldering Flat-lock Copper and Vertical Copper Flashing Seams

Slate Roofing Contractors Association of North America, Inc. 2011 MEETING AND CONFERENCE in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Chris Paulin, Paulin Slate and Copper, and Liam Tower, Slate Affair, Inc. demonstrate basic flat lock and vertical seam copper soldering techniques using an acetylene soldering iron and an electric soldering iron. Find more information about the conference here: www.slateroofer....

[@roofingcompaniesct1930]

These guys really know how to form and solder flat seam copper joints. The ruby fluid mixed with water seems to work very well in cleaning the soldering tip before and after doing a joint..great video..

[@Currancchs]

The craftsmanship is impressive and I'd love to have these guys build me a roof, but I can't imagine the cost given how slow the process is, especially considering the high-skill level required of the installer, relative to one who works with traditional asphalt-based roofing materials. Thanks for sharing this video!

[@knightridernina]

I just had a flat copper roof put onto a balcony floor. They did not use a big soldering iron like this. They just used a propane torch and solder bars. Is it going to hold up? Is it possible to go over it with an iron now or is it too late?

[@jcjenkins01]

We don't use open flame torches because they're notorious for catching houses on fire. Otherwise, they solder OK.

[@roberttingler5084]

No it won’t it most likely will start to crack after one year of expansion and contraction been soldering for 20 years in dc with high profile jobs and inspections and believe me them seams will crack after a year

[@chrisdonner2910]

@knightridernina how's the solder joint holding up?

[@roberttingler5084]

If your hiring I would give you a demo before hire for soldering

[@stephanietrapasso1447]

Terrible. And whats with the gloves?

[@roberttingler5084]

Keep your solder rig on the metal till the copper is hot enough to melt be fore add you solder and your irons no hot enough bro

[@christopherpaulin5548]

The iron supplies the heat and the solder puddle conducts it to the metal. The iron is plenty hot because the solder is molten within 1.5"of the iron, and the joint is well sweated full. I don't demonstrate it in the video, but if you touched the solder bar to the bare seam in the vicinity of the iron, it would melt

[@roberttingler5084]

There’s not enough heat to sweat under the seam

[@christopherpaulin5548]

Incorrect. We cut the seam after soldering and it was sweated full. Liam shows the backside of his seam, and the solder clearly sweated through