When restoring historic clay roof tiles, property owners frequently find themselves at a crossroads, deciding whether to reuse the original tiles or install new ones.
Reusing original or salvaged clay tiles does offer some advantages over installing new tiles in terms of maintaining the historical integrity of your property, but the process can be complex and costly. Conversely, opting for new clay tiles can help ensure a longer lifespan and a higher degree of protection and durability, but supply chain difficulties and product availability can make it difficult to complete a restoration quickly and with an eye toward maintaining historical significance.
These are just a few of the pros and cons when deciding whether to reuse or replace your historic clay roof tiles. Here, we’ll look at what else you should consider to help you make the right choice for your historic property.
Perhaps the biggest benefit in reusing original clay tiles to restore your historic home or building is ensuring historical accuracy and integrity, both in terms of materials and process. This also applies to choosing salvaged or rehabbed clay roof tiles, provided they can be properly fortified for use in a range of environmental conditions.
Reusing clay tiles maintains consistency in terms of original construction materials and the patina and craftsmanship that comes with original tiles. This level of authenticity can be difficult to match with new clay roof tiles, though working with an experienced and knowledgeable restoration partner makes sourcing historically accurate materials much easier.
Plus, reusing original clay roof tiles simplifies the color and size matching process, and it also ensures compliance with a range of historic preservation and grant requirements. This helps your property get the historic recognition it deserves, and it helps secure eligibility for funds to maintain and preserve your property for generations to come.
While new clay roof tiles can create a more uniform, consistent aesthetic, they can vary by source or manufacturer, and modern fabrication and glazing techniques can lack the character of original tiles.
Installing new clay roof tiles is also a much simpler process compared to reusing original clay roof tiles primarily because of the uniformity in fabrication — this uniformity requires less quality control at the point of installation, and it also requires less knowledge and experience in working with historic roof systems. This enhanced level of standardization also produces a more consistent and visually appealing end product.
Depending on the age or condition of the historic property, more than 20% of reused clay roof tiles are lost due to breaking, chipping, or other kinds of damage, and sourcing new tiles to match the originals can delay the installation process and increase material costs.
Using new clay roof tiles in your historic home restoration also helps reduce labor costs and makes it easier to overcome skilled labor shortages. This increases the likelihood that your historic restoration is completed in a timely, more cost-effective manner. While new clay roof tiles can help reduce labor costs, it’s important to note that they can come with a higher material cost, especially if tiles are imported or fabricated to custom specifications.
Reusing clay roof tiles for your historic property restoration can help accelerate your project timeline by removing the lead time associated with the fabrication of new clay roof tiles, which can range from 6 to 12 months or even longer. Using original tiles — or those sourced from local salvage partners — can help ensure project timelines are met and reduce the risk of delays or work stoppages.
What’s more, this helps your restoration partner better forecast project milestones and deadlines, and it also makes it easier to ensure your restoration project is adequately staffed with the right restoration team at the right time. Reusing clay roof tiles also helps avoid material shortages or supply chain bottlenecks, both of which can cause significant delays in your historic restoration.
Reusing clay roof tiles does come with its own set of unique challenges, but more often than not this method of clay tile roof restoration better preserves the historical integrity of your structure while removing a number of common challenges. Working with a historical restoration contractor that has decades of experience in clay roof restoration is the key, and Renaissance has the expert level of craftsmanship necessary to ensure your property is preserved for decades to come.
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