Tile roofs in Florida

Tile lasts a very long time, and every source on this page agrees on that much. Where they part ways is the number, and none of them comes from a Florida field study with a published method. Here is what each one says about concrete and clay tile.

Against asphalt, the gap is wide on every chart: 15 to 20 years for architectural shingles on InterNACHI's Florida list, and 20 years for asphalt in the NAHB study. Those are the tile's numbers, though, not the whole roof's.

The layer with no sourced life span

Beneath the tile sits the underlayment, and its life span is the honest gap in this research. No primary source we read gives one. Online summaries credit a figure to a tile maker whose own FAQ, read for this page, does not contain it, and roofer blogs disagree with each other. So this page prints no number. If a bid leans on one, ask where it came from.

The tile industry points at exposure rather than age. The Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRI) writes that underlayment the elements have not reached "will likely continue to shed water" regardless of its age. A broken tile or a failed flashing is what lets sun and rain get to it.

Florida's residential code (FBCR) gives each material its own standard: ASTM C1492 for concrete tile and ASTM C1167 for clay (R905.3). After that, the rules are shared. Both go on solid sheathing unless the system was tested over spaced boards. Both follow the maker's instructions or the FRSA/TRI high-wind tile manual for slope, underlayment, fasteners, hip and ridge, and flashing.

The differences that show up in the research are narrower than you might expect:

• Wind lab results. Florida International University's 2007 tests for the State found that concrete tile set in mortar appeared to be the strongest system, and that clay tiles adhere better to foam.
• Weight. The published Florida figures in this research are for concrete, about 770 to 970 pounds per 100 square feet installed. There is no clay figure here, so ask the maker of any clay tile you are quoted.
• Surface. Concrete tile can show efflorescence. Eagle Roofing's FAQ calls it "a temporary surface condition" that does not affect function.

Tile is heavy, and at least one maker publishes exactly how heavy. Eagle Roofing lists approximate installed weights for its Florida field tile of about 770 to 970 pounds per 100 square feet: 770 for the Malibu profile, 880 for Capistrano and 970 for Bel Air. The same sheet lists its lightweight line for California and Phoenix only.

The Department of Energy's Building America guide puts tile at about three times the weight of asphalt roofing and says the framing and sheathing must be able to carry it. The Tile Roofing Industry Alliance says many homes need little or no added reinforcement. Both can be true of different houses. If yours has shingles today, a structural check of the framing comes before any talk of colors.

The deck matters as much as the framing. Tile goes only over solid sheathing unless the system was tested otherwise (FBCR R905.3). When an old covering comes off an existing home's wood deck, the deck nailing must meet the re-nailing table in R908.7.1, unless the house was permitted under the Florida Building Code.

The FRSA/TRI manual allows three ways to hold tile down: mechanical (nails, screws or clips), adhesive or foam-set, and mortar. Each foam system needs Florida Building Code product approval, and so does any mortar used to fasten tile.

Slope narrows the choices. Under the manual's slope matrix, battens are allowed only at 4:12 (4 inches of rise per foot of run) and steeper, and the lowest slopes it covers, starting at 2:12, are adhesive-set. Steeper roofs add fasteners even to foam-set tile. No added fasteners are needed from 2:12 up to 6:12. Above 6:12 and up to 7:12, the first course and every third tile in every fifth course are also fastened. Above 7:12, every tile is.

Which method holds up in a hurricane?

The evidence splits, so treat any bid that calls one method the strongest with care. FEMA's guidance, carried on the Department of Energy's Building America site, says "Mortar-set tile or mortar-set hip and ridge ties are not permitted" and reports that blow-off areas on mortar-set roofs were typically larger after 2004. Florida International University's 2007 lab work for the State found the reverse at the test rig: "The strongest system appeared to be concrete tiles with mortar."

Both point to one lesson. The FIU team wrote that "Workmanship was found to be the main contributing factor to roof tile failures." Florida's manual allows all three methods with product approval, and the FIU finding puts the weight on how well the chosen one is installed.

A few broken tiles seldom call for a new roof. The Tile Roofing Industry Alliance calls tile roofs "repairable in most cases". Florida's code sets the terms: salvaged tile can be reinstalled on a repair only if it is like kind in material and profile, and damaged, cracked or broken tile may not go back on (FBCR R908.5).

Metal follows the same rule. Rusted, damaged or deteriorated vent flashing, metal edging, drain outlets, collars and counterflashing may not be reinstalled either.

Before any tile goes back, look underneath. TRI says new or harvested tile "should not be installed over compromised underlayment regardless of the age of the roof system". When water has been getting past a broken tile, the repair includes the layer below it.

When your tile is no longer made

Matching is the hard part. Many profiles are discontinued, and TRI keeps a list of them, with a bulletin dated April 7, 2026. It describes three ways around the problem: salvaged tile, custom replicas and harvesting. In a "Harvest and Repair", sound tiles come off a slope nobody sees and move to the street side, and the hidden slope gets new tile.

Even done well, TRI says repaired areas usually will not match exactly. It also notes that replacement tile from another maker may affect the original maker's product warranty, so ask before brands are mixed.

How much repair before the code wants a new roof?

Florida's 25% rule covers tile like any roof. FBCR R908.1.1 bars repairing, replacing or recovering more than 25 percent of a roof or roof section in any 12-month period unless the whole roof or section is redone to the current code. The exception in Fla. Stat. 553.844(5) applies when the roof or section was built, repaired or replaced to the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, which took effect March 1, 2009. Then only the repaired part must meet today's code.

TRI adds that lifting one or more tiles 2 inches does not show whether a tile or a roof meets the building code. And the 25% rule limits patching; it says nothing about what an insurer will pay.

No price appears on this page. A tile re-roof moves on too many dials for one number to help you, and these are the dials the code and the manual turn:

• Concrete or clay, and barrel or flat.
• Roof area and slope. Slope also decides the attachment options and, above 6:12, the extra fasteners.
• The attachment system: foam, mortar or mechanical.
• The underlayment build: one ply self-adhered, or two plies.
• Tear-off to the deck, which the code requires when the old roof is tile, and any deck re-nailing under R908.7.1.
• Framing work if the house is moving from shingles to tile.
• New flashings and edge metal where the old metal is rusted or damaged.
• Matching, salvaging or harvesting tile on a partial job.
• In Broward and Miami-Dade, the added HVHZ inspections and the TAS 106 uplift test for foam- or mortar-set tile.