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1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin Clay Tile Roof Suppliers

Clay tile roofs: roofing associations and suppliers:

This article provides listings for

Clay tile roofing material is costly to purchase and install, but it can have an indefinite life expectancy.

Our page top photo shows a clay tile roof in Montreal needing specialized replacement clay tiles. Reader Martin shares more in the Reader Q&A section below.

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Finding suppliers of replacement clay tiles and repair

Clay tile roof with extensive damage © D Friedman at InspectApedia.com

There can be great variation in clay roof tiles including style, design, size, and other specs. If replacement or repair is needed, finding a supplier or source can be difficult. Below we list some of the available suppliers and clay roof tile associations and manufacturers.

 

Clay Roof Tile Roofing Associations, Manufacturers, Sources, Standards History, Manuals

Sources of clay roofing tiles, roof tile fastening systems, & Clay Tile Roof Installation Details

Wavy clay tile roof, Artisans Market, San Miguel de Allende Mexico (C) Daniel Friedman

- Portions of this page were adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) .

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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2022-09-18 by John Sam Hotchkiss - can we restore these flat clay roof tiles from 1927?

We’d like to restore this 1927 roof along with the home. These flat clay roof tiles are not easy to find. Any help would be great! They measure 15 1/2” x 7 1/2” (18 x 39 cm). Thanks!

1927 clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com JohnSamH

On 2022-09-18 by InspectApedia (mod) - restore 1927 flat clay tile roof

@John Sam Hotchkiss,

Take a look at the section above on this page titled:

Clay Roof Tile Roofing Associations, Manufacturers, Sources, History, Manuals

where we list a number of clay tile sources. They may be a good starting point and/or could direct you to other suppliers.

Let us know what you find.


On 2022-09-15 by Martin - this website is an incredible wealth of information! Need help with replacing/repairing a Montreal clay tile roof

Hi, this is an incredible wealth of information! I purchased a house in Montreal, built in 1953, with a flat roof and a clay tile "corona" around it. I have a very hard time finding any contractor at all that is able to repair and/or renew that roof.

Here is a pic of my tiles, taken from the flat top. The corner pieces seem a bit special. best regards - Martin

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

Practically all buildings in the neighborhood have asphalt shingles at that place.

Do you know of any information source in Canada / Quebec / Montreal that could help me with my search? Until now all I got is a quote for the metal type of tiles, for about 30$ CAD per square feet. But I would very much prefer the original tiling!

Best regards, Martin

On 2022-09-21 by InspectApedia (Editor) - European clay tile sources

@Martin,

Those are very nice tiles and a very steep slope roof - so a bit more trouble (scaffolding & ladders) to work on.

Apparently the roofer knows where to find an exact match. Indeed some North American tile roofers make a point of offering clay roof tiles made in Europe indicating that it's European clay tile sources who continue to produce exact matches for older clay roof tiles no longer made in the U.S. or Canada.

For example this US Supplier tileroofs dot com says

Current production FCB products are manufactured to custom match old Mound City, Heinz, Ludowici-Celadon, B. Mifflin Hood, Mineral Wells, Cincinnati Terra Cotta, Detroit, National (Lima) and many other obsolete and discontinued clay roof tile product lines.

Furthermore, current production FCB colors will match the colors and surface textures of these old clay tile roofs.

With these FCB custom products, you will incur no limitations, restrictions, and/or outright refusal of service such as you may incur from other tile manufacturers in the United States.

Specs concerning FCB:

European standard PN-EN 538:1999 (*Comparable to US ASTM Grade 1 rating for clay roof tiles)
5.6% Water Absorption rating
Suitable for ANY climate
75 year manufacturer warranty
Custom matching for current and/or obsolete clay tile and trim accessories

I'm guessing that their "FCB" refers to Fabryka Ceramiki Budowlanej, a tile manufacturer in Poland
Fabryka Ceramiki Budowlanej Sp. z o.o.
ul. Powstańców Wlkp. 13
63-500 Ostrzeszów
NIP: 514-02-13-069
Regon: 251470205
KRS: 0000080021
Sąd Rejonowy Poznań Nowe Miasto i Wilda w Poznaniu
IX Wydz. Gospodarczy KRS
Kapitał: 2.640.000,00

Export Manager
Klaudyna Falkowska
tel. +48 665 555 434
tel. +48 62 732 34 44
klaudyna.falkowska@fcbceramika.pl

So do let us know the source of your roof tiles as that will be helpful to other readers.

On 2022-09-21 by Martin

@InspectApedia (Editor), thanks for all the info... here is a pic of the same spot of our roof from below. I can hardly believe a polish company would produce exactly that... Martin

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

On 2022-09-21 by InspectApedia (Editor)

@Martin,

I hardly believe it either- sorry if I confused you.

My point was simply to give an example of a U.S. company who imports clay roof tiles from European sources because those tiles are no longer available in the U.S.

On 2022-09-21 by Martin

@InspectApedia-911, Hi, my building is located in Cotes-des-Neiges, Montreal. I got a reply from tileroofscanada, saying the tiles will be shipped from Europe... thats what made me wonder. They did not say from where in Europe, though.

On 2022-09-20 by InspectApedia-911 (mod)

@Martin,

Sorry if our article confused you but we certainly do not restrict our roof tile source or product discussions to Europe.

We show roof tiles on the page above from Latin America, Canada, the U.S., Scandinavia, Germany, and other locations around the world, and give and are happy to add to roof tile sources.

Not sure where your building is located but we had no trouble finding Flammand roof tiles in Belgium.

Take care when looking at quotes for roofing tiles. The costs of the roof are the labor, including difficulty of access and fragility of the current roof, as well as the particular roof tile selected.

Last month I replace several broken clay tiles on a small roof in Mexico where the individual clay tiles cost less than $1. USD. each. It was the labor, as well as the discovery of need to repair the supporting roof that added to the cost of the job.

An example of one of these inexpensive roofs is shown below.


On 2022-09-20 by Martin

@InspectApedia-911,

thanks a lot for the additional links. Meanwhile I got 1 (one!) offer for around 100§ per square feet... (40.000$ for 40 square metres which is 400 square feet). Repair is around 100$ per tile, an individual tile 60$... prices for one tile here in Europe are around 1/10th of that!

When looking at your links it seems all these tiles are imported from... Europe! Why is that so? Don't you have any clay in North America? Our tiles are close to the "44" or "Flamand" type, except the special corner and top tiles seem to be more elaborate. Best regards, Martin

On 2022-09-16 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - 1953 Montreal home needs special clay tile to renew roof

@Martin,

I agree that you want a roofer who has experience with clay tile roofs - lest the contractor cause more harm than good.

Consider that at least in the 1950s, there were clay tile roofers in Montreal. I'd simply search for the same, perhaps within the whole province.

A quick search for "Clay tile roofer - Quebec" finds

https://www.northernrooftiles.com/aboutus

https://www.cverdun.com/en/tile-roof-in-montreal/

Also some slate roofers can probably handle tile

https://tileroofscanada.com/

On 2022-11-16 by Martin - Pottelberg Roof Tiles as Replacement for My Roof: made in Belgium imported clay roof tiles

Hi, here is an update of what we found out so far.

On the back of the tiles on our house in Montreals it reads "Pottelberg - made in Belgium". So even back in the 50ies they used imported tiles! Pottelberg still exists in Belgium (now Niederberger), the tile is still produced and is called "Tempete 44".
Our roofer offers a different tile that looks very much the same, its the "Monopole N1" from Imerys, manufactured in the north of France... Europe again!

One thing I'd like to know is if the tiles the roofer installs are really new. There is a code on the tiles, could that be a production date? Something like week number and two-digit-year? I'm unable to get that confirmed.

What puzzles me is the mention of a plywood replacement in the offer. In Europe you have the large vertical beams with the vertical and horizontal battens that hold the tiles. There is no plywood anywhere. Is there a fundamental difference in European tile roofing standards compared to North-America, or just in Canada?

cheers - Martin

Here is the image of the replacement tiles I got from the roofer. It has a code "0221" on it, could it be February 2021? It doesn't look new to me, though.

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

Another image, same corner, from below

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

Here is an image of the roof, northwestern corner.

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

Here are some more photos of the roof. I'm getting a bit uncertain whether its better to repair or to replace the roof. The roofer says its getting fragile. It has endured 70 years of Montreal climate, I for myself cannot really judge, but I remember bits and pieces of tiles coming down when I placed a ladder against the roof.

The first pic shows where I found defective tiles. South is to the left, West to the top. Western and Northwestern part have less damage, maybe due to better accessibility from the surrounding balconies.

1953 Montreal Canada clay tile roof (C) InspectApedia.com Martin

On 2022-11-16 by InspectApedia (Editor) - ceramic / clay roof tiles are very long lived

@Martin,

Thank you that's an interesting question. Roofing tiles are very durable material and indeed sometimes people salvage them for reuse, particularly if it's a style that's hard to find.

However it should be easy to look at the tile and tell if it's new or used. A new tile will be uniform in color and clean and its color and appearance in the same on both sides as it has not been exposed to weather or allergy or the normal dirt that collects on roofs over time.

In my opinion even a used tile would be perfectly acceptable if it's not cracked or damaged. The material itself has a very long life. Unlike other roofing materials such as asphalt, ceramic / clay roof tiles are very long lived.

What limits their life is usually mechanical damage such as being broken by a storm or by branch falling on the roof or by a walker.

Percentage of the roof that's damaged partly dictates repair or replace

Keep in mind that the roofing may have been stored outside or exposed to dirt and debris.

But it looks new to me.

Look closely at the nail holes.

If it was previously nailed to a roof and then removed you would probably see some shipping around the nail holes and even around the edges of the tile. In any case, if the tile's in new condition, I think we're worrying about something that isn't a concern.
About deciding whether to repair or replace a tile roof, usually the roofer will make a statement about the percentage of the roof that's damaged.

If that's a sufficiently high number that the cost of repair approaches the cost of new roof then you would, of course, consider it.

For the information shown by just your photos, it appears to me that you have small areas of damage.

Those are certainly worth fixing.

Keep in mind that you're having to hire someone who has expertise in that particular kind of roofing and that they're working on a high steep slope roof which is more difficult and more dangerous, and therefore more time consuming and more expensive to perform.

On 2023-05-21 by Martin - replacement clay tiles found in Belgium and shipped to Canada

Hi,

we made progress for our roof in Montreal. We bought a set of new tiles directly in Belgium and managed to ship them to Canada. Now the roofer is active...

Of course we could have repaired the roof. The problem was that we couldn't find identical tiles, especially for those on the corner. The manufacturer of these tiles, still producing the same ones, made us a quote that wasn't higher than what we would have payed for replacing 30 tiles with whatever was available in Montreal.

Taking down the old roof, the majority of tiles on the northern side are OK. We will keep them, weathered as they are. Could be interesting for other buildings with identical (weathered) in need of repairs. So far we spotted a dozen of buildings in our area of Montreal with exactly the same tiles, most of them with broken ones here and there.

So if there is interest in some genuine 1952 Stormpan 44 "Pottelberg made in Belgium", let me know ;-)

cheers
Martin

On 2023-05-21 by InspectApedia Publisher

@Martin,

Thank you for the follow-up. That information will certainly be helpful to other readers with tile roofs in need of repair and who are looking for matching roof tiles for roofs installed in the 1950s.

We'll be sure to keep the information here for others to find.

On 2023-05-21 by Martin

when we took down the roof, we also took down the aluminium gutters and "soffite". The unveiled the original woodwork that was underneath the roof. Although the paint is poor, the wood itself is in excellent shape and I would like to keep it exposed.

The contractor has some reserves as to venting the space behind the wood without the aluminum cover. I do not understand why - venting shouldn't be worse without the aluminium cover.

Also, we're looking for a way to reconnect a gutter to the roof that does not require a vertical base to be mounted to. The original roof did not have gutters at all - why did they fit these ugly gutters for such a relatively small roof?

cheers
Martin

attached pics of gutters and what is underneath

On 2023-05-21 by InspectApedia Publisher

@Martin,

There are gutter hanger brackets that can accommodate and in sloped fascia like the one in your photo.

Be sure to include a good drip edge so that water spills only into the gutter and doesn't run down the surface of the wood where it over time can lead to rot or invite insect damage.

About why people would put gutters on a small roof, I would need to see more of the whole building to be sure, but very often a small roof also receives water from an upper roof so it has more water to dispose of than you might have thought.

Also depending on the buildings footprint run off from a small roof might happen to fall into an area that particularly sends water into the buildings crawl space or basement.

You definitely want to control roof run off, and to get it away from the building.

On 2023-05-21 by Martin

@InspectApedia Publisher,

thanks for the helpful comment, in particular the dripping edge. I'll check that with the roofer.

Our roof has a 45° incline, and about 3ft of footprint in depth. Thats not much. Many houses in the area have that kind of "corona" around a flat roof on top, sometime much steeper. So they do not collect much rain, they did not have gutters when they were built, and many still do not have.

This can be easily spotted on satellite and street images in "cotes de neiges" (and many other parts) in Montreal.

cheers
Martin

 

On 2020-03-16 by yessica henriquez - what's the name of this roof tile and where can I find more?

Can someone please tell what is the name of this clay tile and where I can buy it.

On 2020-03-17 - by (mod) -

Yessica

That's a flat clay roofing tile.

Above in this article, see the list of clay roofing tile manufacturers and sources.



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