Synopsis: This article offers a thorough look at the pros and cons of installing clay or concrete tile roofing. The author discusses material selection and installation of the various types of tile that are available. Although pricing information is likely to be outdated, the fundamentals haven’t changed.
In an 1895 technical book on tilemaking, author Charles Davis listed as a disadvantage of tile roofing that it is “anything but handsome.” He was not the first to make disparaging remarks about the appearance of tile. Its popularity has cyclically risen and fallen in this country for the past 300 years. The recent resurgence of tile in the residential American roofscape — along with the consequent assumption that many homeowners must find tile to be quite handsome after all — reminds us that tastes do change. And in the case of tile’s return to favor, changing taste coincides with good sense — the advantages of tile roofing far outweigh its disadvantages.
All tiles worth considering come with a 50-year guarantee, a measure of their durability in all climates. In wet climates, tile will not rot. Moss and fungus cannot get a foothold, bugs find it unappetizing, and rodents and squirrels chip their teeth on it. In cold climates, although tile will not shed snow as a metal roof will, well-made tile will withstand repeated freezing and thawing (most Swedish houses are roofed with tile). In coastal areas or cities, tiles can be used with impunity because they are unaffected by salt spray or pollution. In hot, dry areas, tiles will not split or crack. Also, tile roofing is available in light colors to reflect the sun’s rays. A tile roof will not stop a fire that starts in your kitchen, but it will keep a fire in your neighbor’s kitchen from spreading to your house through his roof. With its Class A fire rating, tile has the approval of every fire code from Boston to Los Angeles.
Finally, tile roofing in its many forms has been around so many years that its use in a new house can recall a certain region or historical period. Some tile profiles are synonymous with California missions or French country estates or oriental temples. Yet, not every tile has a singular connotation. A modern concrete tile with a profile loosely based, for example, on a Mediterranean tradition can look quite at home on a house in the Northwest. In fact, the array of tile profiles and colors available today give tile the virtue of versatility. Tile roofing can ripple lightly across the roof or sit elegantly in solid silence; it can form neat symmetrical vertical ribs or take playful dips and leaps. If only Charles Davis could see them now.
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