# Forum Home Renovation Roofing  What type of roof do you prefer? Tile or Colorbond

## Vernonv

What type of roof do you prefer? 
Feel free to expand on your reasons for your selection.

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## Vernonv

Sorry, just pulled this from the other thread that started this discussion. (http://www.renovateforum.com/showthread.php?t=75054)  

> Really for most people lichen growth isn't the be all and end all of which roof to chose. I think most of the other factors I've raised are much more important for most people.

  Lichen growth is an issue for people who capture and use water from their roof. We do not have the luxury of mains water (we rely solely on tank water) so we need to ensure that water captured from the roof is as good a quality as it can be - and lichen certainly detracts from the quality of the water captured.

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## Bloss

The title says it all - it's simply what _you_ prefer . . .  
Specific sites and locations might support a choice on some technical grounds, but mostly _it's just whatever you like best_ - so the poll should have another button - 'Doesn't matter, who cares'.  :Smilie:  
BTW - lichen has no impact on the water quality - there are many other things that are much more likely to cause health and taste issues. And no,  I am not going to engage in an argument about what they are others can do the research if they are interested - I have (as well as having lived in several places with tanks filled from lichen covered tile rooves).

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## Vernonv

> The title says it all - it's simply what _you_ prefer . . .  
> Specific sites and locations might support a choice on some technical grounds, but mostly _it's just whatever you like best_ - so the poll should have another button - 'Doesn't matter, who cares'.

   Well, I guess thats the "rats ring" option. :Smilie:    

> BTW - lichen has no impact on the water quality - there are many other things that are much more likely to cause health and taste issues. And no, I am not going to engage in an argument about what they are others can do the research if they are interested - I have (as well as having lived in several places with tanks filled from lichen covered tile rooves).

   That's most likely true, but I also count the "colour" of water to effect it's "quality". I know for a fact that our water from steel roofs (no lichen) is crystal clear, but the same can't be said for the lichen covered tile roofs. 
Also disregarding the water quality issues, lichen also detracts from the visual appeal of a roof - unless of course you live in an old cottage in the English countryside and it adds to it's charm. :Smilie:  
Lichen aside, I personally think that steel roofs provide more benefits and less "down sides" than tile roofs.  
There was a debate in the other thread in regard to which roofing type was more popular and as I'm unaware of any statistics covering this topic I thought a poll would be a good way to get an indication. I reckon the numbers will end up being pretty even.

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## kombiman

Tile. 
Quieter in the storms, dont creak as the sun moves on and off them. Stronger is an endless debate but I think so in my individual situation.  Required a clean and reseal recently, 50 years old! 
I reckon a lot choose colourbond as it is cheaper, more $$$ to spend where they see it.

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## Ashore

It depends
If you live in an area that gets bad hail go colourbond 
If your looking for weight saving go colourbond
If you want the cheeper option go colourbond
If you prefer the look of colourbond go colourbond
If you prefer the look of tile go tile
If you want the reduced noise go tile
If you want the better insulation go tile  :Biggrin:

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## journeyman Mick

If you live in the tropics you'd have rocks in your head if you chose anything other than a metal roof. We get well over 2m of rain a year and it's not uncommon to get over 300mm in one downpour. Some areas get over 5m of rain a year. Tile roofs need sarking otherwise they leak. 
Mick

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## SilentButDeadly

> Tile roofs need sarking otherwise they leak.

  They also need fire retardent sarking if they are located in a fire prone area.  
And some steel profiles (like corro) aren't suitable for rooves in fire prone areas at all (unless you add lots of fire retardent wadding at the fascia) because of the non flat profile (use Clip Lok or similar instead) 
Outside the fire prone areas, a steel roof still needs sarking otherwise your roof space turns into a dusty oven..... 
My personal preference is a steel roof over tiles.  But then I've got steel walls as well.

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## Bloss

> If you live in the tropics you'd have rocks in your head if you chose anything other than a metal roof. We get well over 2m of rain a year and it's not uncommon to get over 300mm in one downpour. Some areas get over 5m of rain a year. Tile roofs need sarking otherwise they leak.
> Mick

  As I said above - horses for courses - if there is technical reason (such as high wind or tropical etc) you'd choose metal - otherwise it's just personal choice. 
Tile roofs don't leak without sarking even in tropical climates unless the pitch is too low or they are not designed, installed or maintained well (not that I advocate tiled roofs in the tropics - there are other good reasons not to do so, but not a habit of leaking). But sarking is a good idea anyway - left out mostly due to cost cutting (and/or ignorance of benefits). 
Of course building in brick or brick veneer is absolutely a poor construction form for dwellings to be able to use passive designed-in comfortable living, but that's a whole other thread!   :Smilie:   :2thumbsup:

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## Bloss

He was telling you porkies . . . but rain on a tin roof can be a lovely sound (or not . . .)

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## DaveD-75

Actually a colorbond roof IS more expensive than a tile roof generally.  I work for a large residential construction company as an estimator and previously worked as a truss and frame detailer.. I can tell you we get charged more in materials and labour for a metal roof than for a tile roof.  You have to remember too that the price of steel has gone nuts lately also.

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## pharmaboy2

> Actually a colorbond roof IS more expensive than a tile roof generally.  I work for a large residential construction company as an estimator and previously worked as a truss and frame detailer.. I can tell you we get charged more in materials and labour for a metal roof than for a tile roof.  You have to remember too that the price of steel has gone nuts lately also.

  Always has been Dave, though getting closer in recent years.  the pro tile brigade though have been left with glazed terracotta as the product of choice which is a fair bit dearer than colorbond to my knowledge. 
The reason the tile fanboy club have gone with that option, is because we all know how @@@@@ plain concrete roof tiles are 30 years down the track (doesnt stop 90% of tiled houses having them trhough!).  Maybe oranges for oranges would be stainless steel colorbond versus glazed terracotta!   :Wink:   :Wink:

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## Bloss

> Actually a colorbond roof IS more expensive than a tile roof generally.  I work for a large residential construction company as an estimator and previously worked as a truss and frame detailer.. I can tell you we get charged more in materials and labour for a metal roof than for a tile roof.  You have to remember too that the price of steel has gone nuts lately also.

  I bow to your more recent experience although I suspect that might be regional too and at least a little to do with what can be charged as much as costs.

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## bcaso

Whats going to last longer: 
An old teracota tiled roof 
a new conrete tiled 
or a colourbond roof?

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## pharmaboy2

> Whats going to last longer: 
> An old teracota tiled roof 
> a new conrete tiled 
> or a colourbond roof?

  concrete tiles are last thats for sure.  terra depends on how well its layed and whether you get golf ball sized hails stones once every few decades (witness how many Terr roofs are left in randwick in sydney)  If you're in brisbane, and north then a cyclone may well take care of the terracotta before they wear and start to leak. 
In personal experience without any disasters, terracotta last about 70 years or so at best.  Colorbond hasnt been around long  enough to know in reality how long it lasts.  I'm coastal (2kms direct line of sight to surf beach) and colorbond is 25 yrs old,   colour had dulled, so I painted it for aesthetic - no rust anywhere on the roof that I saw when painting it.

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## GraemeCook

> In personal experience without any disasters, terracotta last about 70 years or so at best.  Colorbond hasnt been around long  enough to know in reality how long it lasts.  I'm coastal (2kms direct line of sight to surf beach) and colorbond is 25 yrs old,   colour had dulled, so I painted it for aesthetic - no rust anywhere on the roof that I saw when painting it.

  Not sure that this is always the case, Pharmaboy. 
In Hobart their are heaps of Federation design houses built before World War 1.   About half have baked (orange) terracotta tiles and about half have galvanised iron roofs, colourbonds predecessor.   That puts then around 90 years old and still faring well. 
Cheers 
Graeme

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## Bloss

The romans have terracotta roofs over a thousand years old - the Chinese over 2500 years old. But maybe like that good old woodchopper's axe my grandDah had and claimed was 80 years old - and he'd only replaced the handle a few times and the head twice . . . 
Longevity of roofs for most people is irrelevant unless you are the buyer who will be the 3rd or 4th or nth owner - on average we change houses in Oz about every 8 years. The age and condition of the roof is of interest then, but otherwise just a maintenance issue.

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## presch

> He was telling you porkies . . . but rain on a tin roof can be a lovely sound (or not . . .)

  If you live in the real tropics, say Cairns or Darwin, the rain on an iron roof kind of looses it's romantic appeal after a couple of weeks of constant non stop 100mm/hour downpour.

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## barney118

> He was telling you porkies . . . but rain on a tin roof can be a lovely sound (or not . . .)

  Boss, 
How many times do we have to educate you people its a STEEL roof if you had tin crikey it will corrode within months (and you wont get tin coated steel 0.42mm thick) , sorry for being politically correct as I make the stuff. But tin does sound better and it rolls off the tongue a lot easier.  :Biggrin:  
Dont forget if you live in a corrosive environment (eg sea, salt water) your product will be prone to wear quicker than normal and the 25yr g'tee wont apply if you buy it off the good guys.  
Im a Colorbond through and through, I think I just got my iron injection..... 
One final note, I understand that there are more tradies who are set up and prefer the other, please correct me, tough market or will we see a generation gap close...

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## journeyman Mick

> If you live in the real tropics, say Cairns or Darwin, the rain on an iron roof kind of looses it's romantic appeal after a couple of weeks of constant non stop 100mm/hour downpour.

  I'd rather put up with the roar of a monsoonal downpour on a metal roof (that's right, it produces a roar) than have to deal with the leaks in a tile roof in the same downpour.  
Mick

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## Bansh

tiles give you choice of profiles to compliment architectural styles from traditional to contemporary and everything in between

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## woodbe

> I'd rather put up with the roar of a monsoonal downpour on a metal roof (that's right, it produces a roar) than have to deal with the leaks in a tile roof in the same downpour.  
> Mick

  Probably the wrong profile, and the wrong pitch chosen. A well laid tile roof is as tight as a drum. 
woodbe

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## journeyman Mick

> Probably the wrong profile, and the wrong pitch chosen. A well laid tile roof is as tight as a drum. 
> woodbe

  Not when hit with 250mm of rain in an hour. If there's holes in the sarking the water will get in. 
Mick

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## LordBug

Speaking as an ex-data cabler, tile roofs have my vote.
Hell of a lot easier to get at the cavity from a tile roof than a colorbond.

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## Vernonv

> Speaking as an ex-data cabler, tile roofs have my vote.
> Hell of a lot easier to get at the cavity from a tile roof than a colorbond.

  I think that is tile's downfall. The nature of tiles means that there is a larger amount of edge joins per square metre, as opposed to to steel roofing - more chances for a leak to occur.

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## Hoff

> I think that is tile's downfall. The nature of tiles means that there is a larger amount of edge joins per square metre, as opposed to to steel roofing - more chances for a leak to occur.

  It's also why it gets the tick of approval from your local burglar.

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## thomop

> Actually a colorbond roof IS more expensive than a tile roof generally. I work for a large residential construction company as an estimator and previously worked as a truss and frame detailer.. I can tell you we get charged more in materials and labour for a metal roof than for a tile roof. You have to remember too that the price of steel has gone nuts lately also.

  
Dave is right.
My name is Phil Thomson and I have a company ( Guardian Roofing) that installs new roofs and restores old ones. 
Materials and labor are substantially more expensive for Colorbond roofs than roof tiles.
Plumbers have unions and so they are paid more. To go with that, steel is quite expensive as Dave mentioned.
One benefit of re-roofing a tin roof with colorbond as opposed to a tiled roof with tiles is that metal collection companies will take the metal away for nothing.Tiles on the other hand need to be stripped and thrown into one or two very large skips. (very Labor intensive) 
I really don't know which i prefer. I have a tin roof that I'm painting next week, and a tiled roof at another property which I'm also having painted.
I must say i do like to listen to the sound of rain. :No:  
Cheers. 
Phil www.guardianroofing.com.au

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