SHERIDAN TILE ROOF PROJECT
This home has been featured across the country for its history and beauty. It was built by the woods family back in 1916 all the walls are hand poured concrete. This home houses many stories some including Charles Lindbergh’s parachute getting caught on the east chimney.
We began by carefully analyzing the condition of the tile on the roof before proceeding with removal. The proper way to do this type of specialty roof is to remove all the tile one single piece at a time and store until new high temp underlayment can be installed, this is precisely what we did. In order to maintain the integrity of the tile we delicately removed each tile by hand and stored them on pallets until it was time to reinstall.
After removal was completed we preformed full inspection of the roof deck. Upon inspection, we found some rotten wood and chimney issues that have been going on for quite a while, this is not uncommon for a nearly 100-year-old roof but regardless the issues needed to be address now. We then installed new board sheathing in rotten areas and installed new flashings and installed new stucco finish on chimney.
Some may be surprised to know that tile roofs are not in fact water tight systems. Are there areas where the tile needs to be water tight yes of course but the system relies upon proper installation of underlayment’s and flashings. In fact, the sole job is to protect the underlayment from harsh weather and UV rays. When installing underlayment EVERY detail matters and the products chosen for underlayment matter greatly. We chose an extremely breathable and rugged synthetic felt specifically designed for tile roofing. For all valleys and roof edges we installed a high temp ice and water barrier that has an adhesive backing to insure no water penetration behind those crucial areas.
Unfortunately, not all roof tiles were salvageable do to years of abuse by weather we had expected for this to happen so prior to the start of deconstruction we found a near exact match from a reclaimed roofing tile supplier in Frankfort IL (insert link). After sending them a sample we order a few pallets to be sure we had enough and some left over in case the owner needed some for future cracking.
After all underlayment’s were established and installed to our detailed specifications we began laying out the tile grid system. Tile roofs are not always installed directly onto underlayment the reason one behind this is to insure an air gap between tile and roof sheathing. Remember earlier how we explained that tile is not a water tight system? This air gap allows any moisture to dry out between the tile and underlayment so moisture is not trapped beneath the tile and cannot escape thus creating a leak. The grid is normally 1×2” batten boards that are nailed to the roof sheathing every row of tile. After the install of the main field tiles, hip and ridge tiles are nailed and mortared into place.
These projects are so fun and rewarding because not only the detail work but we can walk away from the job knowing that this owner will not have to worry about their roof for another 75 years.
