The Tiles Outlast the Underlayment

Tiles shed most of the water and the underlayment beneath them is what actually keeps the house dry. Underlayment has a shorter service life than the tile, which means a roof that looks perfect from the street can be at the end of its waterproof life — and a roof with visibly broken tiles may need only those tiles replaced.

This is also why tile roofs are so often misjudged in an insurance context. An adjuster looking at intact tiles from the ground sees a sound roof, and a homeowner with an underlayment at the end of its life has no visible damage to point at. The condition that matters is under the tile, and establishing it requires somebody to lift some.

Tile profiles and colors are discontinued regularly, and Florida has decades of housing stock carrying profiles nobody has produced for years. A close match in a supplier's catalogue frequently reads as obviously different once it is on the roof next to weathered original tile.

That is why salvaging is worth the care it takes. Tile off your own roof has aged in the same sun for the same number of years, and it is the only material that will genuinely disappear into what surrounds it.

1. 01Assess the underlayment, not just the tile surface.
2. 02Salvage and reuse sound tiles wherever possible.
3. 03Source matching tile where replacement is needed.
4. 04Repair or replace underlayment to the required standard.
5. 05Document the condition for you and your insurer.

Salvage the existing tiles before ordering new ones. Matching a discontinued profile or color is genuinely difficult, salvaged tile from your own roof matches perfectly, and there is usually more of it reusable than a hurried job would keep.

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