If you have refined taste, a typical shingle roof will generally not satisfy your craving for an “unusual” design. Shingle roofs are practical and beautiful, yet they fall short of a tile roof’s beauty. This post will discuss nine different kinds of roof tiles and highlight some advantages over others.
Roof Tiles: What Are They?
The primary purpose of roof tiles is to keep water from a house. However, they differ from conventional asphalt shingle roofs in terms of their material makeup and appearance. Slate tile roofs have been around since the 1600s, and clay roofs date back to 10,000 BC! Due to their accessibility, slate and clay were popular, but as the 19th century progressed, concrete and metal tiles began to show up often.
The Benefits of Roof Tiles Over Shingle Roofs
A shingle roof keeps the rain out and gives your house some colour, but roof tiles offer an unrivalled selection of alternatives that asphalt shingles can’t equal.
9 Different Roof Tiles
Although they come in various price ranges, weights, and styles, roof tiles are a fantastic way to personalise a home. To help you understand what makes each form of roof tile unique, we’ve broken down the nine most common types into their parts below.
1. Slate Roof Tiles
A natural stone called slate has a distinct, lovely appearance. Only time and Mother Nature can create fantastic colour changes in the slate. Slate is a resilient, long-lasting, and fire-resistant roofing material, and it might be among the most elegant roofing materials available. Slate’s disadvantage is that it weighs a ton and needs to be supported by a more robust framework. Repairs could be a concern because it is also challenging to handle and quite expensive to install.
2. Metal Roof Tiles
Copper, aluminium, zinc, and steel are most frequently used to make metal roof tiles, and the most widely used materials are steel and aluminium. Metal tiles are offered in various designs and shapes to replicate items like barrel tiles (Spanish roofs), slate tiles, wood shake tiles, and even standard shingle patterns. Due to their low weight and simplicity of installation, metal roof tiles have gained much popularity, yet, these same advantages also pose some drawbacks.
- Metal is noisy
- Metal is easily dented, which makes repairs challenging.
- When it’s wet, metal is incredibly unsafe to tread on.
- Metal does not offer considerable insulating value and conducts heat away from it.
3. Concrete Roof Tiles
In the middle of the 19th century, Bavaria developed concrete roof tiles because the fundamental elements of concrete were cheap and accessible. Concrete roof tiles were initially created by hand, but as time went on, modern production techniques made them one of the most affordable roof tile solutions available. Concrete tiles can be beautifully crafted to resemble wood shakes, clay, and slate tiles. Because stone roofs add weight and concrete is so heavy, a reinforced roof structure is needed to support the extra weight. They also require roofing teams to know the correct equipment and methods to install concrete roof tiles, and they require many of the same upkeep procedures as clay.
4. Composite Roof Tiles
Compared to genuine stone, wood, clay, metal, or concrete tiles, composite slate roof tiles, like AlphaBuilder’s entire synthetic roof tiles, are manufactured from a combination of natural and artificial components. They effortlessly mimic the appearance of any tile roofing product and have the benefit of providing unique colour mixes for the majority of patterns. They are more portable, have solid warranties, and can typically be installed by roofing contractors with the most experience.
5. Solar Roof Tiles
With solar roof tiles, you may replace your conventional roofing material with electricity-generating roof tiles that connect to a battery system within your house and get their energy from the Sun. A solar roof can drastically reduce your electric bill if enough tiles are placed. There are various styles, but most people are more concerned with how they perform than with how they seem. Solar roof tiles are expensive and need specialised personnel for installation, upkeep, and repairs. Solar tiles help the environmentally conscious customer get closer to the ideal of being highly green in terms of building materials and procedures.
6. Clay Roof Tiles
The history of clay roof tiles is extensive. Why? Because the raw material has always been readily available. The roof was covered with hand-formed, sun-dried tiles. Although the procedure is now largely automated, the final result is still stunning. Most of us are accustomed to seeing clay roofs with flat or barrel-shaped tiles, which are sealed to prevent water absorption and available in various colours. Clay tiles are heavy, prone to breaking if not handled carefully, and demand experienced installers. A roof with clay tiles will require significant reinforcement to sustain the additional weight of the clay, just like concrete and slate.
7. Synthetic Spanish Barrel Roof Tiles
Without incurring the additional expense of strengthening your entire roof, AlphaBuilder’s artificial Spanish Barrel roof tiles offer the timeless beauty of a Spanish Villa. Synthetic roof tiles don’t need the same level of upkeep as clay roof tiles because they are recyclable, fire-resistant, and come in infinite colour combinations.
8. Synthetic Slate Roof Tiles
Synthetic or composite slate roof tiles imitate natural slate roof tiles in appearance while saving you the weight and inconvenience of repairing damaged tiles and the ongoing maintenance work of checking your gutters for water buildup that could freeze and crack tiles in the winter. AlphaBuilder synthetic slate tiles can be created in infinite colours and have a Class 4 impact rating. They are built of eco-friendly composite material and are lightweight.
9. Synthetic Cedar Roof Tiles
The best all-around substitute for genuine cedar shakes is AlphaBuilder’s cedar shake roof tile. Because it is made of a composite material rather than actual cedar, it won’t rot, bend, crack, split, or attract fungus like natural cedar shakes. These shingles offer the appearance of a cedar split shake roof without any drawbacks because they are lightweight and straightforward to install. AlphaBuilder’s cedar shake tile has a Class A or Class C fire rating and a Class 4 impact rating, unlike an untreated wood shingle. Your cedar shake tile roof will look lovely for many years, thanks to the variety of colour choices available.
Combine Fashion with Durability.
At AlphaBuilders, we craft our composite roof tiles to exceed your expectations for style and taste without sacrificing quality. Remember that durability is only jargon if it doesn’t refer to how long the roof tile will survive. We made our roof tiles with your comfort in mind.