Weathering steel that belongs beside copper.

Corten is a steel alloy made to rust on purpose. The first rust forms a skin that protects the metal underneath, so the surface goes from grey to orange to a stable chocolate brown over a year or two and then stays there. It is used for sculpture and for architecture because it looks like what it is. On a house with copper gutters and copper trim it is the natural partner: two metals, neither painted, both getting better.

The featured job on the home page is the example: a 16″ flush-mount Corten rust wall on a log home in Metamora, tying the copper half-round and copper trim to the steel roof. Panels are cut and fixed on site, flush to the wall with the fasteners hidden, so the surface reads as one plane.

Any architectural metal that touches the edge of a roof can be talked about here: rake and corner trim in a matching finish, wall bands, accent panels. It is done in the same shop, by the same person, with the same care as the gutters. There is no photograph of the Corten wall on this page yet; the crew photo is a stand-in until there is.