Since I don’t live in Florida and know nothing about tile roofs, I’m asking for opinions. My mom has a house in Lee county with a 25 year old concrete tile roof. One of the valleys has started to leak. She had someone out to give a quote on the repair and he quoted $1600 to fix that valley and part of a flat roof ($1000 for the valley). He quoted a new concrete tile roof at about $13000. He said the life span of a tile roof is 25-30 years. Is it worth doing the patch to maybe get 5 more years out of the roof or bite the bullet and have it replaced? Concrete tile or clay tile?
Opinions appreciated.
Thanks,
Replies
My experience with tile roofs is that once the underlayment starts to go the best thing to do is replace the whole roof. They seem to go bad in the valleys first so if one valley is bad odds are all of them are. If it were only the costs of the repair I might try it but usually the leak damages sheetrock walls before it is discovered. She doesn't have to go back with a tile roof of course, I'm in Lee county and many people reroof with shingles because of the costs of tile. Concrete tiles are the standard here, clay would be much more.
Thanks for the reply. My mom's in Cape Coral and she favors the tile roofs. She's got champagne taste so I think she'll choose the tile. I'll recommend the concrete. Personally, I think it'll hold up better than the clay.
Thanks,
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
i don't understand why anyone would need a new concrete tile roof??!!!
here (UK) i think the tiles are guaranteed for 100 years i think.
i don't know whats lining the valley, but if its only lasted 25 years i think the installation was probably poor.
aleks
I agree with you, but I've been told that the lifespan is only 25-30 years and that the failure is usually the valleys and whatever membrane is under the tiles. I'm assuming felt paper.John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
It's a crapshoot with the repairs on tile roofs, especially when close to the claimed service life of the old tile. I see a lot of new barrel tile roofs going up in the Jacksonville area and in St. Pete, Tampa and Clearwater but the few repairs I've seen are very noticeable because of color matching difficulties.
What many are doing, unless prohibited by deed or covenant, or when it would really stand out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood, is to replace with architectural shingles. Money wise, they come out ahead and with the variety of shingles available I'm thinking the change in looks is no big thing.
When the leaks started at my folks home in Largo they went through the repair route for a while on their concrete tiles but in the end decided it wasn't worth the aggravation. Had it all torn off, repaired the bad stuff and not a leak one with the new shingles.
Luckily the leaking valley is in the back of the house and there's only one other valley on the house. It sounds like a crapshoot for repairs and she may be better off just replacing.
Covenants don't prohibit architectural shingles. Most of the tile roofs are being replaced with arch. shingles. But Mom sees the new homes going up around with the new tile roofs and she usually get what she wants.
Thanks for the reply. She's probably better off replacing the roof and putting the repair costs toward the cost of the new.
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
Concrete should last 100 years mine has a 50 year warantee.
I have done repairs on concrete roofs that were over a hundred years old . the tiles looked good exept for the ones that the tree limbs hit.
Have greencu run down there and put a copper valley in that thing . The valley material should last as long or longer than the roof itself.
I don't know how long tiles last in Florida, but in KY, clay or concrete lasts 100+ years. The proplem is the fastners (with clay) and the flashings with both. I've done several jobs where I've removed the tiles, installed new underlayment, reflashed, and re-installed the same tiles. This process is slightly more labor intensive than installing new tiles, but the cost of the new tiles is avoided. I know the cost of clay ($$$$$$$$$), but there are so many types of concrete tiles that re-using the existing may not be worth it. In areas where there are high concentrations of tile roofs, there is usually a roofer specializing in tile restoration. Good luck.
Since I'm not in Florida and don't have the time to go, I can't go and repair the roof. According to what I've heard, they don't reuse the concrete tiles. They just toss them in the dumpster and put on new. I would think that a concrete roof should last more than 25-30 years. And I don't remember how the valley was constructed.
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com