Tile Roof Installation and Repair

Tile roof installation is as much about

Tile roof installation is as much about what you cannot see as the tile itself. The underlayment is the actual waterproofing layer, the structure must carry the weight, and the battens, valleys, and flashing details determine how the roof performs in heat and storms.

We walk you through clay versus concrete, profile and color options, underlayment choices, and the structural questions that must be answered before tile goes on any roof. Installation is installed through our trusted partner network, documented from start to final walkthrough.

Tile roofs rarely fail as a whole

Tile roofs rarely fail as a whole. They fail at specific points: cracked or slipped tiles, worn underlayment beneath sound tile, and valleys or flashing at the end of their life. Tile roof repair means finding that point, not quoting a new roof.

We document what we see with photos, explain where the water is actually getting through, and fix only what needs fixing. Broken tiles can be swapped, valleys can be rebuilt, and underlayment can be replaced in sections when the damage is local.

The underlayment is the roof

This is the single most useful thing a tile roof owner can understand, and it changes how you think about every quote you will ever receive.

Clay and concrete tile are a shedding surface. They break up the force of rain, carry the bulk of it down the roof, and shield everything beneath them from ultraviolet light. What they do not do is form a seal. Water blows under tile in wind, runs sideways at valleys, and finds its way to the layer below on any roof, correctly installed or not.

It is the waterproof membrane, and it is the component with the shorter life. Tile can last fifty years or more. The underlayment beneath it will not, and when it reaches the end, the roof leaks regardless of how good the tile above it still looks.

This is why a tile roof failing at twenty five years confuses people. The tile is fine. It will be fine for decades. The membrane doing the actual work has expired, and the only real fix is to lift the tile, replace the underlayment, and relay it.

What this means practically. A quote that proposes to fix a leaking tile roof by replacing broken tiles is treating a symptom. It may buy time. It is not a repair if the membrane is the problem, and an honest inspection should tell you which situation you are in before you spend anything.

Tile is heavy

Tile is heavy. Concrete tile typically runs several times the weight per square of asphalt shingle, and clay is heavier still. On a house framed for tile, that is unremarkable. On a house framed for shingle, it is a structural question that has to be answered before anything is ordered.

Converting a shingle roof to tile requires an engineering assessment. Not an opinion from a roofer, including us. A structural engineer evaluates whether the framing carries the load, and if reinforcement is needed, that is real work with real cost that belongs in the decision, not discovered afterwards.

Going the other way is simpler but not free. Removing tile and installing shingle reduces load, which structure handles happily, but the tear-off is heavy, slow, and generates far more debris than a shingle tear-off.

Lightweight tile exists and is a real option. It narrows the weight gap considerably. It does not eliminate the assessment, and anyone who tells you it does is skipping a step that protects you.

We coordinate the engineering evaluation as part of scoping the work. What we do not do is estimate structural capacity ourselves, because that is a licensed discipline and guessing at it is exactly the kind of shortcut that produces a problem nobody can undo.

Foot traffic

More cracked tile is produced by people walking on roofs than by weather. Tile is walked in specific places, on the lower third of the tile, over a supporting batten, and a technician who does not know a given profile will break tile simply by moving across it. Any trade that goes on your roof, including satellite installers and painters, can leave you with cracks nobody reports.

Valleys. Two roof planes meeting concentrate an enormous volume of water into a narrow channel. Valley metal on tile roofs is where debris packs, where water backs up, and where an underlayment that is failing anywhere will fail here first.

Hail. Concrete and clay tile respond to hail differently from shingle: rather than bruising, they crack, sometimes invisibly from the ground. Within ten miles of Round Rock, NOAA records 219 hail events between 2000 and 2026, 71 of them at damaging sizes, largest recorded at 4.0 inches. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 10 mile radius, 2000-01-01 to 2026-12-31. After a significant hail event, a tile roof deserves a documented look even when it appears untouched.

Penetrations and transitions. Same as every other roof covering. Where tile meets a wall, a chimney, or a pipe, the detail is doing the work and the detail is what fails.

Repair cost depends on tile profile and availability, how much has to be lifted to reach the problem, and whether the underlayment below is sound. Matching discontinued tile is often the constraint that decides the approach. For a figure on your specific roof, ask Shepherd AI.