ListWise

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Considering Cresting

I’m not sure why I started thinking about this yesterday, but now I can’t stop. I want to put cresting around the perimeter of the front porch roof. If I was really ambitious, and really wealthy, I would put it along the tops of all the roof gables as well.

For those not familiar with it, cresting is decorative iron work that was very popular in the second half of the 19th century on Victorian homes. A quick Google search found Capital Crestings. Your one-stop-shopping source for all your cresting and decorative iron works needs.

If you recall, the front porch roof has two open sides that total about 20 feet. If you don’t recall, there is a picture of the front porch at the bottom. The cresting comes in roughly 4 foot lengths, plus I would need one Finial for the outside corner. The prices shown are for 5 sections plus a finial. Shipping would be extra. Here are a few I’m looking at. It’s no coincidence that these are some of the least expensive offered by Capital Cresting.


The Windsor – 11-inches high - $500


The Windsor Finial – 22-inches high





The Chelsea – 19-inches high - $600


The Chelsea Finial - 35-inches high





The Gramercy – 18-inches high - $700


The Gramercy Final – 35-inches high





The Cortez – 21-inches high - $760


The Cortez Final – 35-inches high





So far, I like The Chelsea the best. Of course, I really need to finish painting the house first. The weather is gloomy and cold today, so that's why I'm here dreaming of cresting instead of out scraping paint off Section 5b.

Must....summon.....ambition...

Edit
Just out of curiosity I went up in the attic and measured the 5 main gables. To do the whole house, including the porch, would run me a little under $3000 for The Chelsea. The money is an issue, of course. I think the worst part would be the installation, though.

7 comments:

StuccoHouse said...

Dang, I wish bungalows had fun things like that.

amanda said...

Greg,
This may sound crazy, but the cresting looks a lot like wrought iron garden edging. I explored a lot of places for this last year when the dogs were trampling my flower beds. Might you be able to find some of that salvage and have a friend weld it together (or maybe you can weld?) in the length that you need? Then you could grind it smooth and paint it, and rig something up to install it. Or is your roof too long that? Just a possible money saving suggestion...

Greg said...

That is a great idea, and you know how I like salvage. The trouble is, I've NEVER seen anything like that at the meager salvage places we have around here.

And Stuccohouse....Yea, cresting on a Bunglaow? That might be pushing it just a bit.

Patrick said...

Greg--

Check out King Architectural Metals( www.kingmetals.com ) While not completely fabricted like Capital, you may find something that you can (in your all your handiness :-) be able to use/fabricate on your.

Also, from what I understand, you have to make sure the metal is grounded (due to lightning strikes)--could be wrong about that but someting to check into...

amanda said...

Greg, I was checking it out on ebay and a couple of other places as well... you may want to check the internet and see if the garden edging is any cheaper...

Greg said...

Thanks guys. Both are intriguing ideas. I did a search for metal and/or cast iron garden edging. Although very affordable, and attractive, what I saw was too short :-( Five to 7 inch height would look kind of lost up there. Traditional cresting should be prominent. The Chelsea, for instance, is 19-inches high with a 35-inch finial. I did find a supplier in China that had really nice looking stuff. According to the information on the site they would be able to supply me with 600 metric tons a month. One months supply should do it, I think. :-)

Anonymous said...

Of course if you had some fine wet sand + a crucible to melt some metal (well Aluminum or tin anyway) + a blow torch .... oh, I won't go there.