Louvered cupola doors.

[Tweegs]

Long story short, the wife wants louvers on the cupola and all other options have been vetoed.

Has anyone ever built these?

The cupola will be 8 feet long so I’m thinking two 4 foot panels per side, wood slats.
Off the cuff, I figure aluminum pins set about 1/3 of the way down on the slat to act as a pivot point.
Due to warping concerns, something other than wood to act as a control arm. Oversized hole in the control arm, a wood screw passes through the hole and attaches to the pre-drilled upper right hand corner of each slat. A spring may be necessary to hold the slats shut when not in use.

Thoughts/concerns so far?

Part deux.
Wood expands and contracts with seasonal changes in humidity…by my estimate, those slats are going to see four seasons with every boil. Since the vast majority of the movement will be along the width, that, in itself, shouldn’t be much of a bother. Shut down, with all that trapped humidity and the probability of a good freeze just screams “crack” to me, and certainly qualifies as a bother.

Now I’m not one much for heights, and the ladder and I generally reach an understanding before I begin an ascent, but the ladder then reneges on the arraignment and I spend the rest of the day licking wounds. I’d really prefer to do this inevitable routine but once, which means no cracked slats allowed.

I suppose slapping a coat of paint on them would slow it up. Would serve the wife right, too, if I painted cupola slats in her kitchen (we don’t have a basement).
Those of you with louvers, and even you without…thoughts/tips/suggestions/experiences?

[spencer11]

i dont think it would crack. if people have wood roofs and rafters in there shacks that wood gets steam on it and i havent heard of any of those cracking. and if i am picturing this right you are going to have doors on your cupola that will have a pin in the middle and pivot open? why dont you just put doors that fold down on it? my .02.

spencer

[GramaCindy]

Check out the user "Rip Tyd" he has louvers on his cupola

[Ecnerwal]

I don't know if they need to move - the louvers on the functional cupolas on hay barns generally don't - they are just set at an angle/overlap to keep the rain out while also letting air flow... a little snow may filter through, but not enough to bother, mostly.

I also don't see cracking as a big issue. The unpainted wood framing that runs over my old pan never cracked, and there was no steam hood there. That's 30 years old now...plus, painting louvers the second time is a huge pain, best avoided by never painting them in the first place. And you don't get peeling paint in your pans, either. Slap a coat of linseed oil on if you feel you have to do something...

[Tweegs]

i dont think it would crack. if people have wood roofs and rafters in there shacks that wood gets steam on it and i havent heard of any of those cracking. and if i am picturing this right you are going to have doors on your cupola that will have a pin in the middle and pivot open? why dont you just put doors that fold down on it? my .02.

spencer

The slats will likely be 3/4” and will probably need to be tapered from there to sit right. That’s a whole bunch thinner than a rafter, and thin wood has a tendency to split when exposed to the elements. I’d love to just put a solid door up there, but like I said, that option was vetoed.



Check out the user "Rip Tyd" he has louvers on his cupola

I will Grama, Thanks!


I don't know if they need to move - the louvers on the functional cupolas on hay barns generally don't - they are just set at an angle/overlap to keep the rain out while also letting air flow... a little snow may filter through, but not enough to bother, mostly.

I also don't see cracking as a big issue. The unpainted wood framing that runs over my old pan never cracked, and there was no steam hood there. That's 30 years old now...plus, painting louvers the second time is a huge pain, best avoided by never painting them in the first place. And you don't get peeling paint in your pans, either. Slap a coat of linseed oil on if you feel you have to do something...

I have only two problems with a fixed slat. First, it would be nice to be able to close off one side or the other when the winds aren’t favorable. Try to keep the steam going up and out instead of fogging up my glasses. Second, I can almost guarantee a cupola full of wasp nests come summer. They’ll be in the eves and any other nook they can find anyway, but at least they won’t be over the arch or inside while I make improvements.

Linseed oil on the slats is brilliant. No paint chips, no build up that will gum up the works, no fuss application, a seasons worth of protection…I like it!

[SevenCreeksSap]

Have you considered looking in to the recycled boards or synthetics they make decks out of now. Don't know what its made of exactly because I've only used some second hand ones. It can be ground on the edges for your overlap and never needs painted. Does seem to tend to get some greenish tint but i had it on the ground for a walkway.

[Tweegs]

I keep threatening to give that stuff a try. I’d like to get my hands on a piece of scrap and see how well it machines. Crosscuts are obviously fine, folks use it for decking, but I wonder how well it would hold up to being planed or jointed, or a better question might be what it will do to my jointer/planer blades, which aren’t carbide.

I’d be willing to send it through the planer though, those blades are easy to replace.

[smokeyamber]

On the slats you could make them cosmetic only, with a backer of plywood. Looks nice and you still get the control mentioned by others. I would definitely put screening on the inside if you have no backer cause the hornets love places like that around my place. Either way I would do the hinged down setup as well.

If you make the slats from cedar you will defnitely have no worries leaving it unpainted.

[sap retreiver]

Not sure if you guys are refering to Azik (spelling?) trim or not but what I've worked with is very easy on everything. Unless its 10' or longer the only problem is bending, not the easiest to handle yet easy to work with. Any cut edges do tend to get a little green after a while but nothing simple green cant handle. milling them down to thin to make louvers might let them sag, so you would have to support them more. but other than that the stuff is great, like they say vinyl is final! good luck

[Tweegs]

What I took Sevencreeks to be referring to was 5/4 composite decking machined to make the slat.

Several advantages to using it; won’t fade, won’t swell, stable, and I don’t have to worry so much about the pivot points being in end grain. I just need to climb down off my high horse of wood and be open to using a plastic. But then, that’s kind of like asking Ted Nugent to play a ukulele. He could do it, but it just ain’t right. :lol: