How Does A Concrete Tile Roof Work

Image showing how concrete tiles are installed on a roof.

How does a concrete tile roof work.

While it s usually best to stay off your roof if possible you can still walk on the tiles if you need to make repairs. Most concrete tiles are lifted a little off of your roof and sit on wood batten strips creating a gap under the tiles for ventilation. An average clay tile roof costs between 675 to 1400 per square 100 sf of roof area. Concrete tiles which are usually lighter than clay tiles can easily place over 10 pounds of weight per square foot on a roof.

Clay and concrete tiles are a great roofing material since they re more durable than shingles but they can break or crack if you apply too much pressure while you re walking on them. Portland cement association unlike petroleum based shingles concrete tiles aren t flammable. This is offset though by the long life a tile roof will enjoy. Against the rain you can boast the equivalence of a solid shield or armored scales.

Either you can make your roof a single impermeable shell as a solid roof or a membrane coated bar rier does or you can cover it with different overlapping waterproof tiles or shingles which divert the water away from the permeable gaps. If you are adding tiles to a roof that did not previously have them or to a design which did not originally incorporate them the roof may not be capable of carrying the excess weight. When you walk on your roof make sure you are walking on the reinforced part the lower third of the visible tile.