Exploring the Timeless Charm of Turret Roofs
This past week we started looking at a series of turret roofs. Many of those turret roofs are pyramidal shape. Today we’re going to look at a bunch of other additional roofs, but some of these are different styles of architectural design and layout. The particular turret shown below is the top of tower of a church, here in Washington, DC. The remainder of the roof at the main part of the building is a gable style, with a larger gable roof towards the rear of the building. There’s also a separate additional turret, of pyramidal shape at a lower height than the main roof at the tower.
The turret roof shown here in the next picture below, in the foreground, is an octagonal shape roof with a metal coping at each of the individual ridges. This particular style of coping is robust in comparison to the other shown. This sheet metal assembly at each coping is custom fabricated and adds an architecturally bold style to the joints of each of the individual sections of the roof. This roof, like many of the other shown is also clad in a slate tile. The orangish red color painted finial also adds an architectural contrast that makes the finial stand out from the remainder of the roof below.
Like a typical roof ridge, the joint at the top of the turret is the intersection of each of the individual sections of the roof below. The finial essentially covers those joints that would otherwise have an opening or seam which would be susceptible to water. The top of each of the ridges is set underneath of the finial that have a continuously overlapped membrane that covers each seam or area of individual pieces of roof and metal starting above and then continuing below with each area covered where it would otherwise be open.
The roof of the picture above has a ridge that changes direction in the middle. It starts out with a higher slope and then curves towards the vertical or plumb center of the turret. However, instead of continuing with the angle above the higher slope section at the base of the turret, after the curves to a lower angle, it then curves backwards, similar to an ogee type shape to continue the higher degree of slope just below the finial.
This particularly more complicated shape adds visual interest to the turret because it requires a different level of framing and workmanship in the installation of the tile and the ridges. As we mentioned above, these ridges are custom fabricated to follow that contour.
The next roof turret, shown below, is very different in architectural style, but it’s also a octagonal roof. The cardinal direction sides of the roof, north, south, east, and west, are set with a larger panel of slate. The ridges are also clad with a projecting coping all of those individual roof sections though come together in a square finial that is pyramidal shaped. The section of roof at each of the four corners is smaller than the predominant roofs at the cardinal directions.
The next roof shown below also is set at a front bay of the building and is hexagonal, not octagonal. This particular roof has three dormers at alternating sections of the roof’s planar fields. These dormers are relatively small but slightly projecting vertically plumb faced openings but instead of working to allow light or typical fenestration to enter, they are set as louvers originally intended to allow for ventilation.
Like the majority of rowhomes and buildings here in Washington, DC, this particular buildings main walls are set at the cardinal directions, but the dormers instead face northeast and northwest and south making a triangular configuration between them. The slelate roof tile is cut with variation to create a decorative pattern. Some pieces are flat cut at the bottom but others are scalloped. They’ve also alternated the type of stone used in various tiles to create a specific color pattern as well.
The next roof shown in the picture below is similar in that it has alternating and varying types of cuts of the slate tile roofing materials and the color patterns have used a varied set of materials.
The next roof shown in the next picture below has a simple flat cut at each of the tiles, but the color has been changed completely because the original tile materials have been painted with an aluminum paint. To people who are familiar with roofing and have a discerning eye, this may look terrible. The paint used to cover up the original slate is generally used to provide a protective coating on top of modified bitumen roll roofing. Some types of modified bitumen roof materials, such as modified bitumen smooth roofing materials need a reflective coating to deter damage from ultraviolet rays in regular sunlight.
Here though, this type of paint has no particular positive effect. In fact, it actually creates a maintenance problem because this paint will need to be reapplied in the future as it becomes damaged in time and begins to delaminate. Slate by comparison, without applications of paint on top, should be relatively close to maintenance free. Now that this paint has been applied, it must be maintained and reapplied in the future.
We recommend every building owner in DC who values the longevity of their roof (and their investments) and building use a contractor who values the simple and important principles of proper roof construction like Dupont Roofing DC. Learn more about our company and the proper techniques of working with roofing on historic buildings in Washington DC here on our blog at DupontRoofingDC.com, and you can call us at (202) 840-8698 and email us at dupontroofingdc@gmail.com. We are happy to help and at least talk through options.
