The Pros and Cons of Tile Roofs
Roof tiles are durable and look great, but they can be a pricier option
Highlights
Tile roofing is highly durable and can last up to 100 years.
Clay, concrete, and slate tile offer a lot of visual versatility.
A tile roof insulates your home for lower energy costs.
Compared to other materials, tile may be more expensive to install.
Homeowners seeking an alternative to traditional asphalt shingles or other roof types may turn to clay or concrete roof tiles, collectively called tile roofs. These versatile roofing materials come in unique shapes and a variety of natural earth tones for a more traditional aesthetic. While the higher upfront cost of a tile roof installation may hold some homeowners back, roof tiles also offer a range of benefits that may make that cost worthwhile. We’ll break down the pros and cons of tile roofs to help you decide if this is the right roof material for you.
What Is a Tile Roof?
A tile roof uses clay or concrete tiles instead of standard asphalt shingles to protect your home from the elements. The tiles can come in different shapes and colors, overlapping to direct water off your roof and down toward your gutters.
Pros of Tile Roofs
Tile roofing offers many benefits to homeowners, including durability, versatility, energy efficiency, and curb appeal.
Life Span and Durability
One of the most significant benefits of tile roofs is the life span. A typical tile roofing system lasting for 50 to 100 years, making tile one of the most durable roofing options.
The most common roofing material is the traditional asphalt shingle, which tends to be inexpensive to install compared to other materials—tile is often much more expensive. However, it’s much more durable than asphalt and won’t need to be replaced as frequently. For comparison, asphalt shingle roofs usually last between 20 and 30 years.
Aesthetic Versatility
Tile roofing is a popular choice for many homeowners because of the many design options it provides. Clay tile is almost always earth-toned, but you’ll find concrete roofing tiles in a variety of customizable colors.
Plus, both options come in different shapes to create unique patterns on your roof. Some common shapes include the following:
Flat tiles: Flat tiles lie flat to create a pattern similar to what you’d see on an asphalt roof.
Barrel tiles: Also called mission tiles, these have one or two vertical channels that interlock.
S-shaped (Spanish) tiles: These tiles are S-shaped and create two interlocking channels.
Some tile products are textured and mimic wood shake or even slate, giving you a more dynamic roof that’s also fireproof.
Energy Efficiency
One of your roof’s primary functions is insulating your home, at which tile is superior to most other materials. Tile naturally transfers heat very slowly, meaning it takes longer for your home to gain and lose heat. This helps to keep warm air trapped during colder months for improved energy efficiency.
Tile also helps keep homes cool in hot, sunny climates. Unlike asphalt roofs, where the shingles lay directly against the roof deck and underlayment, tiles sit partially above the decking, creating an air gap that drastically slows heat transfer to your home. When the sun is beating down on your roof, tiles help keep that heat out of your living space.
Light-colored tiles are also more reflective than dark asphalt shingles. One of the reasons you’ll often see tile roofs in southern or coastal architecture is because tile reflects solar energy rather than absorbing it. Tile can provide better long-term value than asphalt shingles if you want a roof that will help reduce heating and cooling costs.
Curb Appeal
Few materials add such a unique and traditional appearance to a home as a tile roof does, which is a big reason why clay roofs are sought-after by homebuyers. Installing roof tile will increase the resale value of your home if you ever decide to sell, largely because of the immense curb appeal.
Pest Resistant
Tile roofs are pest-resistant, unlike some other roofing types, like wood shakes. A tile roof should help reduce the risk of potential insect infestations, especially if you have tree branches touching or close to your roof that could act as a bridge for insects.
Cons of Tile Roofs
For all its benefits, tile roofing has very few disadvantages. For most homeowners, the primary drawback is the sheer cost of a tile roof.
Cost
When choosing roofing materials, roof replacement costs are a big factor to consider. A standard asphalt shingle roof costs $4,500 to $20,000 on average. Even a high-end asphalt shingle installation is often less expensive than a tile roofing installation, which costs between $8,500 and $26,500 for clay or concrete.
There are several reasons for higher tile roof costs. The materials are more expensive, and the labor is more involved. Your roofers will not only need to haul much heavier material up to the roof, but they’ll also need to manually nail the tiles down rather than using a nail gun due to how delicate the tiles are. This slows down the installation process and drives up labor costs.
Weight
Another potential downside to tile roofs is the weight of the materials. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), clay and concrete tiles weigh nearly twice as much as standard asphalt roofing. In some cases, you might need to pay even more for structural changes to your home in order for it to be able to support the added roof weight.
“Generally, if a house wasn't built to handle the load of a tile roof, it is not going to be able to bear the load,” says Ami Feller, Expert Review Board member and owner of Roofer Chicks in New Braunfels, TX. “They make a lot of synthetic products that look like tile but are either plastic, rubber, or metal; these options are expensive, but provide the same look and feel as a tile roof.”
Limited Accessibility
Tile roofs are strong in the face of wind, rain, snow, and fire, but the tiles themselves can crack under pressure. As such, any time you need a professional to go up on your roof, you might pay extra for the added time it takes to remain extra cautious.
While you should need it infrequently, roof maintenance might cost more, as can solar panel installation, roof cleaning, gutter cleaning, and other tasks. There’s also a higher risk that your roof will sustain damage during maintenance, so you could be on the hook for tile replacement or repair, which can get expensive.
Pro tip: if you walk in the valleys of the tiles and not on the top, the tiles are less prone to break. Another method is always to make sure that your toe and heel are on two separate tiles as you walk to help distribute your weight. Also, keep in mind that clay tiles break more easily than concrete tiles.
If in doubt, you can hire a local roofing company to do this work and avoid damage.
Comparing Tile Roofing to Other Roofing Materials
There are many different types of roofing shingles used in home design today, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. To help you decide if tile roofing is right for you, compare these other popular roofing materials.
Asphalt Shingles
The most commonly used shingles in home design use asphalt and mineral granules on fiberglass or cellulose mats. They are relatively light, inexpensive, and easy to install compared to tile, wood, or metal roofing.
Like tile, asphalt shingles offer excellent fire resistance and plenty of variety in color and style. However, they tend to degrade more quickly and typically only last 20 to 30 years, about half to a third as long as clay tile roofs. This means you’ll need to consider shingle roof replacement sooner than you would a tile roof replacement.
Overall, the value you get with clay tiles makes them a better option if you can deal with the downsides discussed above.
Wood Shakes
Shakes are wooden shingles created by splitting large pieces of thin wood. They only last for a few decades and offer relatively little style and color versatility compared to tile. You’ll often see this style in West Coast home design and some parts of the midwest.
Shakes tend to be more expensive to install than concrete tile roofs and require much greater maintenance due to their tendency to mold, rot, and split over time. You’ll need to have a fireproofing application applied every few years to remain up to code, but they still offer only light fire protection due to their wood composition.
Metal
Like tile roofing, metal roofing is durable and can last 50 years or more. However, it is difficult and costly to install, often sitting around the price of tile roofs. Light-colored metal reflects more solar heat than tile for cooler summers, making it potentially more energy-efficient. It also requires little maintenance. You’ll find metal in just about any color or architectural style to complement your home’s design.
However, metal roofing typically doesn’t require any structural reinforcements to install, unlike tile. Steel, copper, zinc, and aluminum, all common metal roofing materials, are much more lightweight than clay or concrete roof tile. However, while metal roofing won’t crack, it can corrode over time due to rain.
Solar
Solar shingles can be visually appealing, like tile shingles, but they’re very different from one another. Solar shingles generate electricity and can increase your home’s value more by making it more energy-efficient and reducing or even eliminating electric bills. One clear advantage of tile shingles is their life span of 50 to 100 years, while solar shingles usually last 30 years.
Some homeowners don’t like the more modern appearance of solar roof shingles, while most adore the traditional look of tiles. Solar shingles are also very expensive to install, often totaling around $55,000. Considering the much shorter life span, many homeowners prefer the value of tile.
Rubber
Rubber roofs are an option for flat roofs or roofs with a very small slope of 4 inches or less. Rubber roofing offers a lot of durability, lasting for between 40 and 50 years, on average. Rubber roofing is significantly more affordable than a tile roof, totaling around $12,000 on average, about 30% less than tile.
While it’s less expensive, rubber lacks the appeal of tile roofing, and it might not be an option for your home, depending on your local building code.
Is Tile Roofing Right for You?
If you have a large budget and want to get the most value out of your roof, then a tile roof might be ideal. Tile roofs cost more than asphalt roofs and several other options, but they can last for around 100 years, making the value proposition very enticing.
Tile might also be a great option if you live in a hot, sunny climate. The air gap under the tiles and the natural insulation provided by the material will help reduce cooling bills in the summer. Tile is also a gorgeous roof material and will give your home a beautiful, traditional appearance.
Tile roofing isn’t for everyone, though. If you need a new roof on a tight budget, tile is one of the most likely options to be outside of your price range. Additionally, if you have a very old home, it might not be able to support the added weight of a tile roof. You could get structural changes made to your home to accommodate the heavier material, but that will make for a more invasive and time-consuming installation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tile roofs usually last for at least 50 years, and with proper maintenance, you could see 100 years of useful life from them. You’ll need to carry out routine repairs within that time frame, especially if any of the tiles crack, and your maintenance will be a bit more expensive in most cases than with an asphalt roof.
Clay tile roofs require minimal maintenance, as they stand up very well to the elements and often won’t fade in direct sunlight. They also don’t need sealing. Concrete tiles are also relatively low maintenance, but you will need more maintenance than with clay. You’ll need to seal concrete every few years to improve water resistance, and the color will fade a bit more quickly than with clay.
Yes, clay and concrete tile roofs will keep your home cooler in the summer for two reasons. First, the material has low heat conductivity, so heat transfer from the sunlight and the outside air to your home will be very slow. Additionally, tile roofs have air gaps between the tiles and the roof decking, which helps further insulate your structure from heat gain. Light-colored tile is especially energy-efficient and will minimize how much outside heat transfers into your home.