Repairing clay tile and its fastening on the older estates and larger houses of coastal Fairfield County.
Fastest: call (833) 751-2102. Or send this and we call you back.
Clay tile roof repair replaces broken or slipped tiles and renews the fastening beneath them, which is where these roofs usually fail first. The technician lifts and resets tiles, checks corroded or undersized fixings and re-flashes the joints, keeping sound tile in place wherever it can be kept.
Tile on this coast is found mostly on the older estates and larger houses, including the Gold Coast houses of Greenwich, where the roof is part of the architecture. The National Park Service's Preservation Brief 30 on historic clay tile roofs says the fastening system usually fails before the tiles do. That order of failure is the key to repairing these roofs, because the tile is often sound when the nail has already gone.
Brief 30 names the usual faults. Nails corrode, and copper nails that are not driven far enough can pull out of the structural members. Flashing is the second weak point. The Park Service asks for copper, lead-coated copper or terne-coated stainless steel, in corrosion-resistant metal ideally at least 26 gauge, running at least 12 inches under the tile. A leak at a valley, chimney or wall is usually a flashing or fastening problem.
Tile repair is detail work under the tile, and it is slow. Tiles are lifted from the course above, the fixing is checked and renewed where needed, and the tile is reset in its line. A broken tile is replaced with the closest sound match, and the homeowner sees that choice before it is made.
Tile is brittle and slides easily, and it can crack under a foot placed in the wrong spot. Do not walk a tile slope or lift a tile to look underneath it. Keep people and vehicles clear of the eave, because loose tile falling from a slope is a hazard on its own. Ask for the fixing and flashing metals to be named in the written scope, and check the contractor's Connecticut registration on elicense.ct.gov before signing.
Most common on a slope that has lost its fixings. The repair resets each tile and renews its fixing, and it is often a limited job where the rest of the slope is sound. The fixing is the part to watch, because a reset tile held by a corroded nail will slip again.
A cracked tile is replaced with the closest sound match, usually salvaged from an out-of-sight part of the roof or sourced from matching stock. Color, profile and age can differ, and the difference shows on a roof visible from the street. The technician shows the options before any tile is changed.
Valleys, chimney shoulders and wall junctions are where leaks often start on tile roofs. The rework replaces the flashing with the metal the Park Service recommends, lays it under the tile at the lap the detail needs and resets the tiles around it, even where the tile itself is sound.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent clay and concrete tile roof repair, send the form and we'll call you back.
Tile is heavy and durable, but it is held by nails and fixings that corrode and loosen. When the fixing fails, the tile slips or cracks, and water reaches the structure beneath.
Brief 30 says the fastening system normally fails before the tiles do, through corroded nails and copper nails not adequately driven, which pull out of the structural members. A tile on a failed fixing moves underfoot or in the wind, can crack against its neighbor and lets water in at its head.
A tile roof can look sound from the ground while the attic shows trouble. The technician checks the fixings from below, where the nail points can be seen, and the repair starts there rather than on the surface.
The Park Service's guidance for historic clay tile calls for copper or lead-coated copper, or terne-coated stainless steel, with corrosion-resistant metal ideally at least 26 gauge, running at least 12 inches under the tile. The same principle holds wherever a flashing meets a wall.
Flashing keeps water out where the tile stops. A flashing that is too short or too light lets water run behind it, and metals that do not suit each other can corrode where they meet. The Park Service's principle is matched or isolated metals, with non-ferrous fixings.
On a tile roof with several planes, every junction is a flashing detail. Chimneys, dormers and walls get the same check as the main valley, so the repair does not leave a short run of old flashing beside new work.
Usually, when the tile is sound and the fixings and flashings can be renewed. Repair is the usual outcome where a roof has a few broken tiles or a failed valley. Replacement is for a roof where the tile or the structure beneath has failed across wide areas.
A roof with sound tile and corroded fixings is renewed fixing by fixing. A roof where the tile has cracked across many slopes, or where the structure under it has been weakened by long water exposure, needs a wider scope, and the attic check decides which applies.
Nothing here assumes a particular tile's age. The repair is aimed at the detail that usually fails first, which is the fastening and the flashing.
It depends on the scope and the building department for the address. In Stamford, the city says ordinary repairs do not need a permit, while larger roofing work runs through its own track. Other towns set their own rules, so the department for the address is the one to ask.
Stamford's Building Department has a roofing track, and its guidance says ordinary repairs to structures do not need a permit. The FAQ is dated, so the homeowner should confirm the current position before work starts. A roof permit issued without a building permit needs a final inspection called in before a certificate of approval can issue.
On a historic house, the building department may not be the only authority with an interest in the roof. The authority to ask about a historic property is the one for the address, and this site does not say whether any property is in a historic district.
Cost follows how many tiles and fixings are involved, how easily the roof can be reached and what the flashing and the structure beneath the tile need. The price is explained and approved before work starts, and this site prints no figure.
Pitch and height change the work. A steep tile roof on a large house needs more care in walking, more staging and more time to lift and reset each tile. Multiple planes and valleys add joints to flash, and each chimney or dormer adds more.
Under the tile is where the surprises are. Corroded fixings, short flashing and damaged structural members only show once the tiles are lifted, and nothing is added to the scope without the homeowner's approval.
The technician walks the roof where it can be walked safely, checking the tile and its lines. Tile is brittle, and a slope that looks sound from the ground can hide a loose tile. The survey marks each broken or slipped tile and notes the fixings that can be seen.
From the attic, the technician looks at the structural members that carry the tile fixings and at the nails coming through the boards. Corroded or pulled fixings are the usual cause of a slipped tile, and the attic shows what the tile hides.
Tiles to be reset are lifted from the course above and set back into line. A loose fixing is renewed with the right metal, driven to the depth that holds without cracking the tile. Tiles that cannot be reset safely are replaced, with the match shown first.
Flashing at valleys, chimneys, walls and dormers is checked against the Park Service's guidance: corrosion-resistant metal, run at least 12 inches under the tile, with metals matched or isolated at each junction. Corroded or short flashing is replaced, and the tile around it is reset to suit the new lap.
The technician records which tiles were reset, which were replaced and why, and how close each match is. A tile that is close rather than exact is labeled as such.
Tile here belongs mostly to the older estates and larger houses of Greenwich, where the roof is part of the house. Greenwich is one town with many villages inside it, from Cos Cob and Old Greenwich to Riverside and Glenville, and a Gold Coast house often has several planes, dormers, chimneys and valleys. Each of those is a place where the flashing needs as much attention as the tile.
The shore takes the same winds and water that drive storm damage on this coast. East winds along the axis of the Sound drove surge into its western end during Sandy, and tile on an exposed slope is checked for its fixings and for the metals that hold the junctions. Salt air is a reason to check flashings, fixings and gutters on these houses first.
Across the state line, a Westchester tile roof sits under the county home improvement license and New York's written-contract rules, and a Connecticut registration does not authorize work there. Tile work in Port Chester is a Westchester job first, and the municipality confirms its own requirements on top of the county's.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Repairing and replacing individual slates and their fixings on the older and steeper roofs of coastal Fairfield County.
Repair and replacement of the metal at roof-to-wall joints, valleys and openings on older houses across Fairfield County and lower Westchester.
Repair of counter-flashing, step pieces and the crown seal where a brick chimney crosses a roof in Fairfield County and lower Westchester.
A written look at covering, flashing, decking and ventilation, used to decide between repair and replacement on Fairfield County roofs.
The water is usually coming past the tile, not through it. A failed flashing or a corroded fixing lets water reach the structure while the tile above looks intact. The leak is traced from the attic side, and the repair is made at the joint or fixing, which is often hidden from the yard.
Corrosion-resistant fixings, driven deep enough to hold the tile and set into the structural member. Brief 30 notes that copper nails not adequately driven can pull out, so depth matters as much as the metal. The technician names the fixing type in the scope.
A broken tile is replaced rather than glued. Adhesive can hold a tile for a time, but it does not restore the fixing, and the fixing is the part that has failed. The technician shows the match and the replacement before any tile is changed.
Often, when the tile is sound and the fixing is the problem. Tile cracked across many pieces, or with damaged structure beneath it, is a different decision, made from the attic and the roof together. The options are set out in writing with the reasons.
Keep people clear below the eave, do not climb up to replace it, and photograph the gap from the ground. Call (833) 751-2102 and the technician will check the fixings on the tiles around it. Ask for the course to be checked, not only the one tile, because a single loss often means nearby fixings have weakened too.
A Connecticut home improvement contract must be in writing and carry the contractor's registration number, the signing date, the start and completion dates and the last day the owner may cancel. The scope, the flashing and fixing metals and the approved price belong in the same document.