Clay & Tile RoofingBased in Fort Worth, TX

The Difference

Worth knowing before the inspection.

The tile sheds most of the water that hits a roof, and the underlayment beneath it handles the rest. Water gets under tile all the time, driven in by wind or drawn up where the pieces overlap, and the underlayment is what carries that water down to the eave and off the roof. On older tile roofs the underlayment was often a single layer of felt, and under North Texas attic heat felt dries out and crumbles in something like 20 to 25 years, long before the tile on top is anywhere near done. That is how a tile roof leaks with every tile intact. Modern synthetic and self-adhered underlayments last considerably longer. When the underlayment has failed, the usual fix is to take the tile off and relay it over new underlayment, which keeps the expensive part of the roof in service.

Tile breaks when it is walked on wrong, and a lot of tile roof damage comes from people who went up there for some other reason: a satellite install, a solar crew, a rooftop mechanical technician or a painter reaching a second-story window. Barrel tile has to be stepped on at its lower end, where it overlaps the tile below and sits over its support, and a foot in the unsupported middle of the curve will crack it. Flat concrete tile is a little more forgiving but still breaks at the corners under a heel. A cracked tile may not leak right away, but it lets water reach the underlayment directly and speeds up the wear described above. If someone has been up on your tile roof recently, we can check it for cracked and slipped pieces during a free inspection.

Hail is where tile roofs in North Texas get tested hardest. Clay and concrete both shrug off small hail, but stones around an inch and three-quarters and larger can crack or break tiles, especially thin flat profiles and older clay that has been through decades of freezes and heat. The damage is often invisible from the ground, because a hairline crack or a snapped corner hides under the tile that overlaps it. After a major storm, broken tile is part of your insurance claim like any other roof damage, and on tile the claim often turns on a practical question: whether enough matching tile can be found to repair the roof, or whether the damage is spread so widely that replacement is the better answer. Getting the roof looked at soon after the storm keeps both options open.

Matching is the problem that decides a lot of tile repairs. Profiles and colors go out of production, manufacturers change their molds or close, and a replacement piece that is a quarter inch different in width will not lock into the course beside it. When an old profile is no longer made, there are four usual ways around it. Reclaimed tile yards carry salvaged tile in many older profiles, and tile can be borrowed from a hidden part of the same roof, such as a back slope or a garage, and moved to where it shows. A close current profile can go where it will not be seen, and concrete tile can sometimes be brought into line with a color coating. When none of those covers a large damaged area, replacing a slope or the whole roof is the next thing to look at.

Full replacement makes sense when the tile itself has reached the end of its life or when too much of it is broken to match. Tile is heavy, roughly 900 to 1,200 pounds per hundred square feet for concrete and usually somewhat less for clay, so the framing has to be built to carry it, and moving a house from shingles to tile means checking the structure first. Our replacement process runs the same way on tile as on any other roof: a consultation and a clear estimate, prep that protects your property and a check of the deck, choosing your material, installation, then clean-up and a final inspection. On a tile tear-off the protection step matters more than usual, since old tile is heavy and sharp on the way down and a pool or patio below needs covering.

Clay and concrete tile are two of the materials we install on homes, alongside architectural and asphalt shingles, metal roofing and wood shake, and tile and slate repair is part of our repair work. A leaking tile roof can often be fixed without replacing the tile. The first step is finding out where the water is getting in, whether that is a cracked piece, a flashing that has pulled away from a wall, a valley packed with debris or underlayment that has simply worn out. Each of those has a different fix and a very different cost. Call (817) 988-9509 or send the form to set up a free inspection of your clay or concrete tile roof, and you will get a clear estimate for whichever repair or replacement it turns out to need.