Concrete tile roof repair for Vancouver, WA homes

Concrete tile is heavy, fireproof and long-lived, and it shows up on some 1980s and 1990s homes around Clark County and the Portland metro. The tiles themselves rarely wear out. What fails is everything around them: the felt underlayment that actually keeps water out, the battens the tiles hang on, the ridge mortar or ridge fasteners, and the flashings at walls and valleys.

Concrete tile repair is careful work. The tiles break if someone walks on them the wrong way, so many tile roof leaks we find were caused by a previous trade walking the roof. Our roofers know where to step, carry spare tiles and move pieces without cracking their neighbors. We also handle the bigger job of lifting tiles, re-laying new underlayment and setting the same tiles back.

Why tile roofs leak even when tiles look fine

Concrete tiles shed most water, but not all. Wind-driven rain and runoff get under the tiles and drain down the underlayment to the eave. That felt layer is the true waterproofing. On older tile roofs, the original felt dries out, cracks along the batten lines and turns brittle, especially near the eaves where it gets the most heat and water. Once it splits, water reaches the deck even with every tile intact.

Moss is another problem. On shaded slopes moss grows in the gaps between tiles, dams water, and pushes it sideways under the laps. Fir needles do the same in valleys. Broken tiles are the easiest cause to spot, often cracked by foot traffic from satellite installers, painters or gutter cleaners, or by falling limbs during storms. A single cracked tile can drip for months before anyone notices, since the felt below slows the water at first.

Tile repair work we handle

Our crews carry common replacement profiles and can source others from salvage and supplier stock. When a tile profile is discontinued, we pull matching tiles from a less visible area, such as behind a chimney or on a back slope, and put the new tiles there instead. That keeps the front of the house looking consistent. We also note the tile maker and profile on our records, so future repairs go faster.

• Replacing cracked and broken concrete tiles
• Resetting slipped tiles and refastening
• Rebuilding or refastening ridge and hip tiles
• Replacing valley metal under tile slopes
• Repairing wall and chimney flashing at tile
• Clearing moss and debris from tile gaps

Lift and re-lay: new underlayment, same tiles

When the underlayment has failed across the roof, the most cost-effective fix is often a lift and re-lay. We remove the tiles section by section and stack them on the roof or on pallets. The old felt and battens come off, we repair any soft decking, and then install new synthetic underlayment and battens, with new flashing at walls and valleys. Finally the same tiles go back on, with broken ones replaced from stock.

This keeps the original tiles, which are heavy and costly to replace, and avoids a full material change. Because concrete tiles are very heavy, the roof framing was built to carry them, so switching to a lighter material later remains an option. A lift and re-lay takes longer than a shingle re-roof, since every tile is handled twice. We explain the schedule before starting and keep each opened section covered overnight.

When we suggest a different roof

Sometimes the best answer is not tile at all. If many tiles are cracked or porous, or the roof has a discontinued profile that cannot be matched, owners sometimes choose to convert to composite shingles or metal. That job means removing the tiles and battens and often adding new sheathing. We price both paths so you can compare a re-lay against a full change, and we never push replacement on a tile roof that can be saved.