We got a leak call on a tile roof in Coquitlam. When we got up there, the cause was easy to find. One tile was broken, and someone had already tried to fix it by smearing caulking over the break. That is not a repair. Here is why, and how we actually fixed it.
A broken tile and a bead of caulking
We see this one a lot. It makes sense if you think a roof works by being sealed, but a tile roof does not work that way. Tile sheds water. Each tile carries water down to the one below it and out to the gutter. When a tile is broken, water goes through the break and gets under the tiles, where it soaks the underlayment and works its way inside. Caulking sitting on top of the break does not change where that water goes. It shrinks, it cracks, it lets go, and the leak comes right back. The only real fix for a broken tile is a new tile.
Taking out a broken tile without breaking three more
Tiles are not loose pieces sitting on the roof. They overlap and interlock with the tiles around them and they are fastened down, so you cannot just grab a broken one and pull it out. If you try, you will break the tiles beside it. We use pry bars to lift the tiles on each side, which frees the broken one up, and then it slides out. Slow and careful, and the surrounding tiles come through it just fine.
The replacement, and why it is a recycled tile
Here is the part most people do not know. These are Columbia tiles, and they do not make them anymore. So when one breaks, there is no new tile to go buy. You cannot just drop in a modern tile either, because the profile will not match the tiles around it, and if the profile does not match then the water channels do not line up and you have just created a new leak.
So we use recycled tiles. When we re-roof a house that has a tile roof and the owner is switching to shingles, we save the good tiles. That gives us a stock of the old discontinued profiles, Columbia included, to pull from for repairs exactly like this one. The replacement drops in, the channels line up with its neighbours, and the roof works the way it was built to.
Why this matters
A broken tile is a small repair if you do it right, and a leak that keeps coming back if you do not. Caulk is not a fix. Matching the tile is not optional. And if your roof is an older discontinued profile, you want a roofer who actually has the tiles, not one who tells you the whole roof has to go because they cannot find a match.
If you have a tile roof with a broken tile, or a leak you have been patching over, get it looked at properly. We keep salvaged tiles on hand for discontinued profiles, and we repair tile roofs across Greater Vancouver and serve Coquitlam and the surrounding area. You can also read about the hidden broken water channels we find on tile roofs. Call 778-389-5564 for a free estimate.