What we fix · Tile Roof Repair
Tile Roof Repair and Re-Underlayment
The single most useful thing to know about a tile roof: the tile is not what keeps water out. The underlayment beneath it is. Tile sheds most of the water and takes the wind load, but the waterproof layer is the felt or membrane underneath.
Photographs and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, you will get that answer.
67
Florida counties we are licensed to build in
HVHZ
Miami-Dade and Broward product approval, done properly
GC
A general contractor, so the structure below is our problem too
25%
The code rule that decides repair vs. replace
The stack
What is actually up there
A roof is a stack of layers, and almost nobody has seen the stack. Knowing which layer keeps the water out changes what you should be paying for.
The problem
Why this goes wrong
That is why a tile roof can look perfect from the street and leak steadily. Tile lasts decades; underlayment does not. In South Florida heat, an older organic felt underlayment can be brittle and cracked long before a single tile is broken. Replacing tiles on a failed underlayment is money spent on the wrong layer.
Recognise it
What it looks like
Drawn rather than photographed, so each one shows the mechanism instead of one particular roof.
A lifted or slipped tile
Often the first visible sign, and frequently a wind event rather than an installation fault. Left alone, it exposes the underlayment to direct sun.
What is under the tile
By the time a tile roof leaks visibly, the underlayment has usually been failing for years and the deck may have taken water.
From the ground
Signs to look for
- Slipped, cracked or missing tiles, particularly along the ridge and eave.
- Leaks that appear in several places at once rather than one.
- A roof over twenty years old that has never been re-underlaid.
- Debris or granules in the gutters after rain.
- Previous repairs visible as mismatched tile or exposed sealant.
Scope
What we actually do
- 01Establish the age and type of the existing underlayment.
- 02Lift tile in test areas to see the actual condition below.
- 03Assess how much of the roof is affected — this drives the 25% question.
- 04Salvage and re-set sound tile wherever it can be matched.
- 05Replace underlayment to current code where the scope requires it.
- 06Photograph the deck before it is covered, because you will never see it again.
Worth knowing
Matching tile is the practical headache. Discontinued profiles and colours are common on South Florida houses, and a good repair often means harvesting tile from an inconspicuous elevation and putting the new tile there instead. If a contractor promises a perfect match on a twenty-five-year-old barrel tile without checking, be sceptical.
FAQ
Common questions
- Can you just replace the broken tiles?
- If the underlayment beneath is sound, yes, and it is the cheap and correct answer. If it is not, you are replacing the visible layer and leaving the waterproof one broken.
- How long does tile underlayment last?
- It varies enormously with the product and the exposure. What matters is what yours looks like now, which is why we lift tile and check rather than quote from the age.
- Will you find matching tile?
- Often, and sometimes not. Where the profile is discontinued we salvage from a hidden elevation. We will tell you before starting if an exact match is not achievable.
- Is tile better than metal in a hurricane?
- Both perform well when installed to current code and attached properly. Attachment matters far more than material, and that is a code and installation question rather than a product one.
Areas served
Where we work
HVHZ
Fort Lauderdale
Our home city, and a genuine mix: barrel tile on the mainland, flat and low-slope on the mid-century houses near Victoria Park, and metal appearing steadily on the newer waterfront builds. Broward is HVHZ, so every product on your roof needs a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance.
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HVHZ
Wilton Manors
Compact lots and a large stock of 1950s and 1960s single-storey houses, which in practice means low-slope and shallow-pitch roofs rather than tile. Those roofs rely on membrane and flashing detail, so the failures here look different from the tile failures a mile east.
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HVHZ
Oakland Park
A lot of housing built either side of 1970, now reaching the point where an original underlayment has certainly been replaced once and may be due again. HVHZ rules apply, and Oakland Park permitting is generally straightforward compared with the barrier-island municipalities.
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HVHZ
Pompano Beach
Two different roofing markets in one city: older single-family inland, and a wave of oceanfront towers built in the last decade. The beachfront work is almost entirely low-slope with heavy salt exposure, which shortens the life of fasteners and terminations well before the membrane.
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HVHZ
Lighthouse Point
Canal-front houses with long-tenured owners, which is exactly the profile where a tile roof has looked fine for twenty-five years while the underlayment quietly reached the end of its life. Salt air on the canals is hard on exposed fasteners and metal trim.
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HVHZ
Deerfield Beach
The northern edge of Broward, and the last city before the HVHZ boundary — cross into Palm Beach County a mile north and the product approval rules change entirely. Large stock of 1970s and 1980s condominium with low-slope roofs held in common by the association.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.