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Following is a list of commonly asked questions concerning our weathervanes:
Where can I put my new weather vane?
How do I install my new weather vane?
What color does my weather vane turn outside?
How does a weather vane work?
1. Where can I put my new weather vane?
Our large weather vanes are designed for a large garden
or big structure. Put one on a pole as a centerpiece
in your garden or out on a back fence. You can use
yours on top of a two or three car garage, a one or
two story home, or on a detached building like a big
gazebo or a pool house.
Our small weather vanes are designed to be used where
you can see and enjoy them, even when you are inside your house.
One of the easiest and most popular places to put our small
vanes is on a deck railing or inside your patio. Other great
locations are perched on a little pedestal in your garden,
or on top of a fence. Consider placing yours on a small
structure like a children's playhouse, potting shed or
even a chicken coop or a doghouse! Because these weather
vanes are made of heavy-gauge copper and brass, they are
designed to offer you many years of outdoor enjoyment. In
addition, many people use them indoors purely for their
decorative appeal, such as on a coffee table, shelf, or
fireplace mantle.
To see some examples of where to put your weathervane,
click here.
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2. How do I install my new weather vane?
Bracket that can be used to attach your weather vane to
a peaked roof or cupola. The bracket can be bent to match
the pitch of your roof. The bracket is screwed to your roof
and the weather vane drops down into the bracket's vertical
section and is tightened with set screws.
You can also embed a galvanized pipe into your garden and
place your weather vane down into the pipe, making it any
height you want. Attach it to a flat surface like a fence
post by drilling a single 3/4" (19mm) diameter hole about six
inches (150 mm) deep. Place the mounting tube down in it
and caulk it to seal the hole.
For our small weather vanes, if you would like to
use one outside, just screw the base into a flat surface
(like a deck railing or a fence post) so that a strong gust
of wind does not blow it over. If you want to put it on a
peaked roof (like a potting shed or playhouse), unscrew the
base and drill a single 3/8" (9.4mm) diameter hole about
1 1/2" (38mm) deep. Tap the mounting tube down into it and
caulk it to seal the holes. Slide the globes, directional
pieces, and sculpture on and you're done.
(Detailed, step by step instructions are included inside
the box your large or small weathervane is delivered in).
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3. What color does my weather vane turn outside?
Both the copper and brass used to create our
weather vanes usually weather (patina) to lovely
and distinctive shades of green over time. The
rate at which your vane develops its patina
depends on where you live - green should start
to show up in a year or two if you live by the
ocean and ten or more years if you live in an
arid location. Salt spray may produce a speckled
patina; rainfall oftwn results in a "weeping"
patina. The patina your weather vane develops
is what makes it distinctive from any other!
If you like the shiny effect of new copper,
your best bet is to use it as an indoor sculpture.
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4. How does a weather vane work?
Copper weather vanes have been made for over
2,000 years and are used to indicate wind direction.
Winds from different directions indicate different
kinds of weather, such as fair weather, stormy
conditions, a warming trend, etc. The North,
South, East and West directionals included with
your weather vane are permanently positioned
according to the compass. The sculpture piece,
itself, turns to face into the wind because it
is designed with more surface area behind the
pivot point.
(General guidelines on wind direction and the weather
it predicts are described inside the box your
weathervane is delivered in.)
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