Reusing/reclaimed roof tiles

[Sam W]

I've got a builder lined up to replace one side of our roof at the end of the summer. Unfortunately the existing tiles are glued together with foam torching underneath (just a thin layer, not full on spray insulation) and I'm expecting most of them to break when we remove them.

The tiles are hand made club tiles, Building is Grade II listed, so I need like-for-like replacements. Modern club tiles are quite a different shape, but I've managed to find some reclaimed ones. Obviously nobody wants to re-roof more than they have to, but getting scaffolding up for our roof is a real nightmare and I'm particularly keen not to have to think about this again in the next 50 years.

Interested to hear the group's thoughts on how long clay tiles last and whether reclaimed ones, which have already seen long use, are likely to fail. The alternative is getting new tiles made, but that is unsurprisingly also very expensive, so keen to avoid if possible.

 

[eezageeza]

We used reclaimed Staffordshire blues when we extended here - matching the tiles which were on the original bit of the house (since about 1900). I have no idea how old the reclaimed tiles were of course, but the existing tiles are showing no signs of wear after more than a century up there, and when we stitched the new roof into the old one the original tiles were man-handled around without issue - they looked as if they were good for another century at least!

So in our experience, there should be no issue using reclaims!

 

[Cubist]

I've seen clay tiles in China reckoned to be up to 10,000 years old and others in Italy that were in the order of 2000 years. There are few of that age surviving though as most are lost due to damage incurred while being handled in the construction process or as the buildings below them collapse. Your 50 year hopes for your roof tiles may be a little pessimistic. Natural erosion, people clambering around or hob-nail booted squirrels are the most likely sources of future damage.That said, reclaimed tiles can possess hidden stress fractures that will reveal themselves under the roofers hammer so some losses are unavoidable.

Your worries about the existing tiles and the foam used to bond them may also be a trifle pessimistic. Depending on its age the foam itself will probably have begun to decay and would easily be removed by the roofers ripper or with scraper after removal - a nice little make-work activity for someone.

 

[a twig]

Ditto - various acetone based spray products are available that should make short work of the foam