Tile roofing is most commonly installed on Southwest and Mediterranean-style homes. These aesthetically pleasing tiles are generally made of clay, concrete, or slate.
However, the benefits of a tile roof are more than just good looks; choosing the right tile can help improve the house's value and help when you sell your house.
Familiarize yourself with the selling points that make them such popular roofing options. Weigh those strengths against key factors to decide whether or not your home can benefit from a tile roof. You
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Clay, concrete, and slate roofs are extremely resistant to fire and resist rot, bugs, and most other pests. Most tile roofing will hold up to extreme heat and cold, making it great for use in almost any climate. Usually, the underlayment needs to be replaced every 20 years. This is how underlayment is replaced.
Clay tiles are especially resistant to corrosion from the salty air, which makes them an excellent choice for properties located in coastal areas.
Many kinds of roofing tiles can also brag of superior impact resistance, which makes them a superior option in areas that experience severe storms with hail or high winds.
Most tile roofs are found in the warmer regions of our country, but they can be utilized in colder areas, too.
When you’re installing a clay or concrete tile roof in a region with a colder climate, however, you should require materials designed to handle the expansion that occurs with freezing and thawing cycles.
Quite frankly, people are the biggest threat to tile roofs. The tiles are not typically designed to handle foot traffic and are prone to be being broken or chipped when people walk on them and are careless.
This is why it's important to hire an experienced, professional roofing contractor to do any repairs or maintenance on or around a tile roof – including cleaning gutters, maintaining chimney and other protrusion flashing, and routine regular inspections.
A roof made of concrete, clay, or slate could be the last roof you will ever need on your home. Clay or slate tiles can last as long as 100 years, while most concrete tile comes with a 50-year warranty.
Slate is one of the most durable and long-lasting roofing materials of all, with a lifespan of 100 to 150 years or more.
Concrete and clay tiles usually feature natural earth tones, a sand-cast or unglazed finish, and a classic curved shape.
However, their design isn’t limited to just these Southwestern and Mediterranean benchmarks. Their casting allows for a lot of different style options which will suit just about any type of architectural taste.
Both concrete and clay tiles come in a large array of colors and can have glazed or unglazed finishes. The most common shapes are flat, fluted, and interlocking which can be used in a wide variety of home designs.
Some tiles are made to look like wood shakes, for use in craftsman, rustic, and log homes. Others are designed to mimic traditional European properties.
Natural slate tiles are used often as the roofing system of choice for victorian, colonial, and Tudor architecture. They also look great on sleek, modern, contemporary homes.
Slate tiles give the distinct appearance of natural stone and have a lot of advantages that clay and concrete tiles have, including durability and long lifespans.
They’re very popular in northern Europe and are often found in victorian and Tudor-style homes in the US.
Tile roofs are one of the most expensive upfronts for both materials and labor. Slate, as an example, can range from $1,000 to $2,000 per square (which is a 10-foot-by-10-foot section of roofing) installed and a tile roofing contractor that has experience working with the high-end material may also require more.
However, over their long lifespan, concrete, clay, and slate tiles will offset their initial cost. Because of a high thermal mass, tiles do a great job of regulating the temperature of your property, thus helping you lower heating and cooling expenses.
The durability and longevity of clay, concrete, and slate also mean that you save a lot of money by not having to replace your roof multiple times over the lifespan of your home.
As an added benefit in today's eco-friendly world, all of the materials used are environmentally friendly, easily recycled.
However, like any great roofing system, there are drawbacks and problems. For example, the trim tiles fall off after a while.
