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Clay Tile

Installation can be tricky, but clay roofing tiles are durable and low-maintenance.

By Mike Litchfield, Chip Harley

Clay roof tiles weigh about three times as much as asphalt shingles. So if you’re thinking of installing a new type of tile or tiling a roof for the first time, have a structural engineer evaluate your situation. Your roof framing may need bolstering to support the additional load.

clay roof tiles
If properly installed over a durable membrane—such as the fiberglass-reinforced underlayment shown here—a tile roof can last 80 years.

Tiles are available as two-piece mission-barrel tiles; as one-piece low-profile concrete tiles; and as flat-shake tiles, which mimic wood shakes. Tiles overlap to direct rain into tile channels. Traditionally, tiles were set without nails on wood battens or skip-sheathing. But today they are commonly nailed to plywood sheathing, especially if the roof pitch is 5-in-12 or steeper. Two-piece mission tiles are nailed in two manners: Trough tiles are nailed directly to sheathing. Cap tiles, which sit atop trough tiles, are attached to intervening copper wires nailed to the roof.


Renovation 5th Edition

Excerpted from Renovation, 5th Edition (The Taunton Press, 2019) by Michael Litchfield and Chip Harley

Available in the Taunton Store and at Amazon.com.

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