I live in Colorado and we get a lot of snow and hail. The hail ruins the cedar shake roofs that most of the homes have in our area.
After a recent hail storm that left as much as 4 inches of hail on the ground we are getting an insurance claim check to replace the roof.
Cedar shake roofs also raise the annual homeowner's insurance as much as $500 a year due to the increased fire danger. The shakes also warp in the sun and seem to shed a lot of wood particles. And the raccoons and squirrels love chewing on them.
A contractor / adjuster that works with our insurance company is saying they can replace the roof with concrete tile made by Monier at
I try to keep the gutters cleaned out but my recent effort ended up with me falling off the ladder, landing on the ladder, and shattering my L1 vertebrae - but I got lucky in that I wasn't paralyzed. I'm told that I should make a full recovery. Anyway I want to improve our roof and gutter system and avoid ladders at all costs.
The builder said he liked Eagle tiles even better but they stopped operations in Colorado. He said they are a lot more expensive, but maybe it would be worth paying the difference. They have a site at
I'm also thinking about adding a couple roof fans that are solar powered since we have heat build up in both roof areas (one over garage and the other over the main second story living area).
I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer. I'm also going to check with neighbors that have switched to tile. I know a couple are rumored to have had trouble - one with tile that crumbled and another with tile that was supposed to stain a certain way and it didn't.
I did some searching on the web but many of the comments are a few years old now and the cement tile products may have improved since then.
Thanks for your help, and be very careful on ladders.
- Bob