Tile
Tile is the most common, prestigious roofing material used in Texas and the Southwest. Tile roofs can be divided into 2 basic subgroups; concrete tile and clay tile. Concrete is the most commonly used tile material in the U.S. today. It is extremely durable in comparison to composition shingles, And although not as durable as clay tile typically only costs half as much as a clay tile product.
Concrete tiles come in a variety of brands, styles and colors. Styles usually consist of several variations of 3 basic types. Those are large barrel, small barrel and flat, although some companies do make a fourth variation called a bar tile. The large barrel tile sometimes referred to as the Spanish or villa style, is meant to duplicate the Spanish barrel tile in appearance. The small barrel tile sometimes referred to as the Mediterranean style has 2 small barrels on each tile as opposed to the one large barrel on the Spanish style. The flat tiles typically come in 2 basic variations. The shake tile which has a very rough textured surface is meant to be reminiscent of wood shakes and the slate tile which had a smooth surface. All of these tiles come in a large variety
of colors and mixture of colors. Most of these colors are produced by baking on a glaze. Some of the more natural colors are produced by dyeing the concrete. The dyed concrete tiles also known as color-thru tiles are only available in a few colors. However these tiles are not as likely to change in appearance through weathering as glazed concrete tiles.
Clay Tiles - The varieties of brands, colors and styles of clay tile are all but infinite. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of brands world wide. It is not uncommon for each brand to have 5 or 10 different styles and for each style to be available in 3 or 4 natural colors and a rainbow of different colored glazes. The quality of the tile can vary tremendously due to a number of factors of which temperature at which the clay is baked is one of the most important. A high baking temperature causes the clay to melt in a process known as vitrification.
This is the same process that turns sand into glass and is used to make the
clay extremely hard and water resistant. Clay tile prices (materials only)
can vary $200.00 a square (100 square feet) to $2,000.00 a square.