Nail, screw or mortar concrete barrel roof tiles?

[MiamiCuse]

My roof right now are concrete roof tiles. After hurricane Wilma about

20 tiles broke, cracked and missing. The rest seem to be in good shape. However, many of them have been "shifted" from their original position. They were originally all mortared in (a thick blob of mortar between the tile and the tar paper underneath).

Location is Miami, Florida. We don't have snow and freeze/thaw. I have seen posts that suggested the proper method to attach concrete roof tiles is to nail them. I also heard that screwing them is the best. Then I called two local contractors who then said to me "are you crazy? That's what they did out in Weston, nailed every tile to the roof and now nothing but leaks, you can't believe what they are going through". One other contractor told me I was "nuts" to try to reattach all my tiles back on, that it will be more expensive (laborwise) than replacing new tiles on my entire roof. He suggested that he just inject RG45 (?) to a couple of spots and the tiles should stay on their own by their weight and their interlocking edges. I said what if the next hurricane comes? He said well this is a one in a 50 year thing so that's unlikely...

So I am confused whether I should spot fix only what's broken, reattach all loose tiles, or replace my roof. Is the nailing method the proper method but their bad experience is due to poor workmanship and inproper installation? or is it not desirable in south florida?

MC

[SQLit]

Concrete tiles on my home were nailed. Tops,valleys/cuts, ends were cemented. I do know of some tiles are installed differently You will need to find out what you have and then replace in like kind.

Sorry the only RG45 I know of is a coaxial cable, reasonable sure that is not the case here.

Weather service says the storm outlook for next year could be as bad. Of course I am speaking of weather forecasting, which I equate to "practicing medicine"

[m Ransley]

Every 50-100 yr old house ive seen was nailed, go to Europe, or look at photos of houses much older, nails there too. You figure it out, its simple.

[Goedjn]

Well, the method that was used before came apart, so THAT'S obviously out...

[Zulu]

I understand that the codes in FL now require nailing, although many roofers are prone to cheat with mud on the 5 courses closest to the eave... You should be able to repair the roof but will need to buy extra material to allow for damage you will do while working. I bet you can get some good info from the following web site:

[gfretwell]

They use screws in the coastal counties. The roofers have a gun that shoots 3" screws from a strip.

[Travis Jordan]

Not where I live.

All of the better roofers here (Florida west coast) are now using adhesive attachment systems such as Dow's TileBond or PolyFoam's Proset

Adhesive attachment avoids penetration of the underlayment that occurs with nails and screws, and the hardened foam pad provides support for those installations where occasional walking on the tiles is required.

Oh, and for the OP the adhesive your contractor was recommending is RT-600.

[Travis Jordan]

A classic failure mode for mortar-set systems most frequently caused by poor installation or improper mortar mix. The contractor probably mixed the mortar on site and it didn't have the right bonding characteristics, or they used too small a mortar pad under the tile.

If "many" tiles have shifted then I'd also be worried about ripping of the underlayment. Are you sure it is in good shape? If so, you might want to consider resetting the tiles with RT-600, otherwise I would wait a year for the demand to die down and then reroof with a commercial grade underlayment system (modified bitumen) and a contemporary (adhesive) attachment system. Be sure to renail the sheathing at this time, and consider a secondary waterproofing barrier too.

[m Ransley]

Well the honest intelligent roofers here in the midwest Nail with Copper nails , as has been proven leak free for apx 1000 years + -. I don't buy BS "New -Better" bs products by a company selling those products, its sales crap, untried, untested in real life long term use, and only long term real life use can qualify a product as better. Roofers use the new product because it makes them More Money, thats it.

[gfretwell]

Sure not what they are doing in Ft Myers, Punta Gorda either if Bob Vila's current show is any indication. Gluing to the underlayment makes the uplift, only as good as the felt.

[miamicuse]

Regardless of whether I use nail, screw or adhesive, I am still a bit confused as to the best way to fix the roof.

It seems whoever I called and ask for an estimate feels that I am crazy to ask them how much it will cost to examine and reattch each and every tile. They said if I did that I might as well redo the whole roof, that it is less costly to rip out all old tiles and put in new ones then to go one by one to deal with the old tiles. They won't even consider it, even we know there is no concrete tile availability for a whole year. Many of them suggest I throw away my current tiled roof (9 years old - I was told it has a life of

20 years) and replace with a shingle roof which I know most of them around my house were damaged much worst.

MC

[m Ransley]

Yea throw them away and they will resell it, a common scam ive seen to often. Go by some roofers lots and you will see many different roofs tiles stacked, thousands of tiles they just 'Threw away" but will gladly sell peice by piece, its gold to them, big money. Ive redone tile, took them down , fixed the roof and brought them up and Nailed them with Copper nails, its the way we do it up North, the right way, no modern, life expectancy unknown "Super caulk" Tile going bad in 20 years, Geeze, ive not seen an 80 yr old tile job that " Needed " replacement, and here it goes from -25 to110f. You got alot a BSers down yer ways. . One thing true, removal to groundl and reseting may be necessary. But I can`t see it. Fly me down its 5f up here and 8" new snow.

[dadiOH]

So spend some $$ and hire a *qualified* person to examine it and outline whatever alternatives exist amd the pro/cons of each. By "qualified" I mean an architect - perhaps an engineer - but NOT a contractor.

There are numerous factors to be considered - type of underlayment, age, pitch, current condition, etc. - and you need someone who knows what's what. ___________________

They're right. How do you expect them to "examine and reattach each and every tile" without removing the lot? And without breaking them yet! That is way different from having them fix broken/moved ones.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[miamicuse]

Is it fair to say that there is a "weak link" in the roof tiles? They are supposed to be all "interlocked" with a lip on each end. Yet after Wilma it seems the first three or four rows were shifted "out", with the row along the edge the worst. Logic tells me this is because the outer edge row of tiles sticks out a bit more, and therefore the wind can push up against more surface area from below. Once it lifts the first row it disturbs the second row and third and so on.

So I think the minimum I need to do is to get every tile in the first two rows all around reattached - mortared, nailed may be both? Also the ridge tiles.

Then depending on what my insurance says I will either reset each and everyone, or spot treat at specific interval with adhesive RT600 on the interior ones.

Does that seem reasonable?

MC

[dadiOH]

What did the architect say?