Tile roofs
Tile roofs in Los Angeles
Clay and concrete tile on 1920s four-plexes and Spanish-style houses. The clay often outlasts the felt beneath it, so we take the tiles up, renew the felt and reset the originals.
The building visit is free. Your file starts that day, with photos of your roof.
Clay and concrete tile is on a good share of the county's older apartment houses, and on many condo buildings and houses built after them. The tiles shed most of the rain. The felt laid under them keeps out the rest, and on an older roof it is the part to look at first.
What points to the felt, not the tile
- A stain on a ceiling under a tile slope with no broken tile above it
- Cracked or slipped tiles, and broken pieces on the path below
- Mortar at the hips and ridge cracked, or falling out in pieces
- Felt at the eaves that has turned dark and brittle
- Valleys filled with leaves, where water backs up under the tile
Repair, relay or replacement
- Repair. A few cracked or slipped tiles with sound felt under them. The broken pieces are replaced and the rest of the slope is left alone.
- Relay. The felt has failed and the tile is good. We take the tiles up, renew the felt and reset the originals, replacing the ones that crack on the way off.
- Replacement. The tile itself is failing, or the deck needs work across most of the roof. The deck is repaired first, then new felt and new tile go down.
Some older profiles are no longer made, so a replacement piece may not match. Where it matters, the scope says which slopes keep the original tile and where the new tile goes.
What we check on a tile roof
The visit is free and takes about 45 minutes a roof. Every slope is checked for cracked, slipped and missing tiles. Where a tile at the eaves or at a problem spot lifts without breaking, we look at the felt beneath it and put the tile back before we leave.
The hips and ridge get a pin if they need one. So do the valleys, the flashing where tile meets a wall, a chimney or a flat section, and the ceilings under each slope where we can get in. Before the day is out you have the plan with a photo at each pin.
Please do not climb onto a tile roof to look for the problem yourself. Tile cracks across the middle when it is stepped on in the wrong place, and the broken piece becomes one more leak.
What decides the price on a tile roof
- How many slopes need new felt, and their area
- The tile: clay or concrete, one-piece or two-piece, and how many crack coming off
- Whether matching tile is still made
- How the hips and ridge are set
- The deck under the felt, once it can be seen
What you get
A page in the building's file for each slope we worked on: what we found under the tile, the felt we renewed, the tiles we replaced and how many, and anything we left alone and why. Slopes that are sound today stay on the plan with a date to look at them again.
Questions about tile roofs
The tiles look fine. Why is it leaking?
Because the felt under them can fail while the tile above still looks sound from the street. The file shows the felt we lifted tiles to see, not only the tile.
Can a cracked tile be sealed instead of replaced?
We replace it. A crack lets water and sun through to the felt underneath, so the piece comes out and the felt under it gets a look.
Is concrete tile handled any differently?
Not much. Concrete tile is common on condos and postwar houses. It is relaid the same way, with its own breakage to allow for.
Can one slope be done and the others left?
Yes. Each slope with failed felt is its own line in the scope, and the others wait on the plan for their next look.
Repairs and leaks
Tenant reporting a leak? We come the same day.
Give us the address and the unit. We stop the water that day and tell you, or the tenant, once it has.
Roofs we work on
Every kind of roof in the county, flat ones first.
Start here
Need the roof explained to someone else? We'll write it down.
Four questions about the building, then your ZIP and phone.
- 1Which building is it?
- 2How many units?
- 3Who needs the paperwork?
- 4By when?
The building visit is free. Or call (310) 857-2520.