Roof Weather Vanes – How To Install Them
If you have seen the beauty a roof weather vane can offer to your home you may have thought about putting one on your own. But then came the problem how do you do it? It’s not like rigging up a bunch of holiday lights, there’s a heck of a lot of more work involved to putting roof weather vanes in place. But it’s not out of the question.
Here are three ways to install roof weather vanes.
1. Copulas – If you want the full look of copulas and roof weather vanes you will need to first decide on the copula you want on top of your home. Many copulas can either be mounted to the top of your roof (to one of the joists) or attached to a board just above the roof. The important thing is to make sure this part is well mounted as it will be the piece responsible for holding everything in place.
2. Roof Mount – If you don’t want the expense or work involved in adding a copula to your house, you may want to try this form of attaching roof weather vanes to your home. A roof mount will use a ‘V’ shaped bracket that will sit on your roof and be screwed into an anchor point. It’s important to make sure this is installed right, so your weather vane will operate properly. Before you fasten it down, put the weather vane in it and check to see if it’s level. Off-level roof weather vanes don’t work properly. A lot of people like to eyeball this, but it’s much smarter to use a real level to make sure. Better to do it once than have to keep climbing back up on the roof to make readjustments.
3. Side Mount – Don’t want to play on the roof too much. This attachment will let you set up roof weather vanes while just on a ladder along the side of the house. A side mount attaches to the end caps of your house where the eaves meet. An L-shaped tube comes from a plate that is fastened to the house and you can install the roof weather vanes inside that bracket. Instead of being able to put the roof weather vanes in the middle of your roof, they will be relegated to the side of the house, but that also can make them more visible from the ground. This is especially true if you have a two-story or taller house where it’s harder to see what’s on the roof.
One final consideration in selecting roof weather vanes is to select one that matches your house and the roof in size. If you have a large home or a very tall house, you are going to need to look at larger roof weather vanes to avoid them looking too dinky on the top of the house. It may look great up close, but you need to think of how far away you will be when you’re seeing it. Measure the size of the weather vane and stand at least 20-30 feet away to get an idea how it will look when you have it installed.