Roofing Tiles: Terracotta or Concrete Tiles?

Hi All,

If you had to choose between Terracotta roof tiles and concrete roof tiles, which would it be?

Pros and cons?

I don't know much about concrete tiles but I suspect they haven't been around for as long as Terracotta?

Thank you!

concrete, unless the style of house you're building actually requires terracotta look

Hi there, why would you choose concrete tiles over terracotta? Just purely based on aesthetics?

Cost

Personally, I don't think it goes together with modern house styles/colors (if we're talking about the 'traditional' color). I see that nowadays they have more colors, so thats probably less of an issue.

But also cost. The supposed benefit of terracotta is that it should last up to a 100 years compared to 50 for concrete, but I don't think people/families own houses for that long to benefit from this.

Hi Strannik,

Thanks for your comments. You're right about choosing the profile that best suits the style of home. I was just wondering if one performed better than the other...

In terms of longevity, seems terracotta might be the way to go... assuming we live for another 100 years to enjoy it! Ahaha

Thanks!

both have pros and cons. depends what you want out of it. just expect to pay twice as much for terracotta. its the second most expensive roof material only to slate.

Personally i would put the money elsewhere. If you ever have to sell the house, no one is going to be going gaga over terracotta roof tiles vs say a designer kitchen/bathroom hardwood floors etc.

even if you have the budget, i still think its a waste of resource. Its just not great value IMO

Concrete are much easier to maintain in the long run

You can easily repaint them in 10 years if you want to change the look of your house.

Concrete tiles become harder over time. Terracotta becomes brittle.

Terracotta has fixed setout sizes. Concrete is flexible. No cuts on top course.

Concrete is more forgiving than terracotta.

Hi Bimbob,

This is all great to know! Do you know if concrete tiles fade in colour over time?

Thanks!

This all depends on which tile you select.

The more generic tiles, Centurian. Elabana, etc have an applied coating. This is likely to fade or at least lose its sheen over time.

Other tiles such as many in the flat range are available "coloured through" so these dont have a coating, they are all the same colour, top, bottom and insides. These dont have a sheen finish and are more likely to retain a resemblance to the original colour for longer.

If you are deciding on a roof cover and are not dependent on tiles than select tin. its a far superior product.

Great insight! Thanks again for sharing your expertise on the topic.

I'll see what the custom home builder uses and look to use the coloured through variety if possible.

Thanks again!

the 'custom' in custom builder implies they should be able to use whatever you ask them to

Yes - you are right - however I think they are better placed and experienced to know which is better.

Wishful thinking?

I think it depends on the builder. Some are "custom" for design, but stick to their suppliers / selections. Others are more flexible. I can see builders limiting you to their preferred supplier, so that they have terms of trade and service levels in place - ours does that for most items.

Sure - hopefully the better ones have made the correct selections from their suppliers, offering quality products...
Time will tell.