Cement Roof Tiles

[leeton]

Just found the forum and joined up, looks terrific...I am currently building a garage joined to the end of the house, and want to match the cement roof tiles, where are the cheapest second hand tiles in Melb, I keep my eye on ebay and the trading post, anyone know what the average cost for second hand tiles. Thanks in advance...leeton

[seriph1]

hiya and weclome to the forum - you will find people very helpful and knowledgeable!

TILES: It all depends on what style and condition, Cement tiles can get fairly brittle over the years I believe, so may not remove easily. What suburb are you in, as I am in touch with most demolition yards and may be able to advise

Also, what age is you home and do you have any pics for us to look at?

Finally, are you matching roof pitches etc on your garage and what type of door are you going to use?

Have fun!

[Gumby]

Seriph is correct, the tiles you want may not be in great condition and would look pretty ordinary, as cement tiles do after a number of years. If you have to match them, have you considered taking some off the roof at the rear of the house and using those on the garage. If you then replace the rear ones with tiles which don't match, it won't be very obvious.

Other than that, a whole roof tile restoration job once the garage is done would look good.

[barnsey]

Some 20 years ago during a renovation I found trying to match cement tiles was uneconomical, - wound up replacing the whole lot with terracotta -cheaper and on a period (1929) home looked the goods,

FWIW

Jamie

[namtrak]

I just replaced the cement tiles on our roof, with iron. It's along story, but eventually it turned out that the cement tiles were a) very brittle and the roof was almost impossible to walk on b) made over 50 years ago by a company which no longer exists c) soaked up water like a sponge which doubled the weight in the roof everytime it rained for an extended period d)did not seem to have the same profile as existing terracotta tiles e) were next to impossible to retrieve for stockpiling (I tried and gave up after about 50 in a row just cracked).

I'm biased, but I would scrap the tiles both on the house and shed and run with a tin roof - but that is one opinion, and tin definitely doesn't suit a myriad of period homes.

Best of Luck

[leeton]

Thanks for all the responses, I would love to colourbond the whole roof of the house, but can't afford that yet, and certainly have thought about removing the tiles from the back of the house to match the front, and replace the ones at the back, the house is about 48 years old, I will try and upload some pics, I have just bought a double roller door on ebay, brand new $400, a great bargain. The house is in Croydon....Thanks again...great forum.

[leeton]

After further investigation, looks like I can match the old tiles no problem, found a place in Bayswater and in Clayton, both around $1 a tile.

[seriph1]

bloody ripper!

have fun!

[Geno]

I have seen people in a similar situation not bother trying to match them and simply paint the whole roof to hide the difference in colours.
Another tactic I have seen is to evenly distribute the replacement tiles throughout the roof area to give a sort of mottled appearance.
Not passing judgement on either of these strategies but seeing your sorted for tiles now you shouldn't have to worry anyway.

[leeton]

I have just been told about a couple more places in Ringwood, can't shop around enough I reckon...also I would like to paint the roof one day, anyone ever done it themselves...I reckon it wouldn't be that hard...any clues?
leeton

[seriph1]

you should definitely have a go at it yourself - the cost is a fraction of what the roof restoration companies charge -the brittleness of the tiles is a fair concern - falling througha roof or spending your days looking for replacements is a pain......it's just a case of checking and then knowing where/how to stand on a roof....... Finally, I believe repointing is a technique best learned on the ground

Ringwood - Yup, as mentioned there are a lot of places in Melbourne that remove and resell tiles - they even pay for them at times, so this offsets the cost of replacement with other materials.

[leeton]

Thanks Steve,
Yeah pointing is another matter, but I reckon I might give that a go too...I have seen some guys use some sort of rail, keeps the mortar in place, then place the ridge capping on top, remove the rails and minor clean up...sounds good in theory, might have to knock up a jig of some sort...plenty of time yet, got to get the bloody thing built yet...too much rain to do anything...so tiling the bathroom instead, at the moment...always something to do.
Tony....leeton

[leeton]

Hope this works....uploading some pics..

[seriph1]

bloody hell - what a killer spot!

where are you? Pic looks like it could be Macedon or in the Dandies - either way, very nice strretscape

[leeton]

sorry not a good pic...will try another one... :eek: