Residential roofing
Tile roof repair and replacement in Central Texas
We repair and replace concrete and clay tile roofs across the Austin area and the Hill Country. On tile, most leaks are not the tile at all — they are the underlayment beneath it, which wears out decades before the tile does, and the flashing at valleys and penetrations. When the tile is sound we can lift it, re-lay new underlayment and set the same tile back down, which costs a good deal less than a full replacement. We climb the roof to tell you which of those two you are looking at, the inspection is free, and there is no deposit.
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The short answer
The one thing worth knowing about tile: the tile is the cladding, and the underlayment is the roof. Tile keeps the sun and most of the water off. The membrane under it is what actually stops the leak, and it is the part with a service life measured in decades rather than lifetimes. So the real question on a tile roof is almost never "do I need new tile" — it is "how much life is left in what is under it".
Why is my tile roof leaking when the tiles look fine?
Because you are looking at the wrong layer. Water gets under tile routinely — wind-driven rain, capillary draw at the laps, run-off at valleys — and it is meant to. The underlayment beneath carries it back out. When that membrane goes brittle, or the flashing at a valley or chimney fails, the roof leaks with every tile intact. It is also why patching around the wet spot rarely works: the failure is usually uphill of the stain.
Can you replace the underlayment without replacing my tile?
Yes, and it is often the right call. A lift-and-relay means we remove the tile by hand, stack it on the roof or on the ground, strip the old underlayment, repair the decking, dry the roof back in with new membrane and new flashing, and set your existing tile back down. You lose some tile to breakage — we agree an allowance for that up front — and you keep a roof that looks exactly as it did. When the tile itself is spalling, delaminating or broken across whole slopes, a full replacement is the honest answer instead.
Concrete or clay — which is on my house?
Most tile roofs around here are concrete: moulded, cured, pigmented near the surface, and heavier than clay. Clay is fired, coloured all the way through, lighter, more brittle underfoot, and usually on custom or Mediterranean-styled houses. It matters twice over. Concrete fades, so new tile will not match without a blend. Clay barely fades, but it breaks far more readily when somebody walks it carelessly.
Can my house even carry a tile roof?
If it has one now, the framing was designed for it, and a like-for-like replacement is not a structural question. Putting tile on a house that has shingle today is a different conversation, because the weight is several times what shingle imposes, and it needs a structural engineer looking at the rafters and the load path before anyone talks about profiles. We will say so rather than sell you a roof and let the framing find out.
What does walking on tile actually cost you?
A cracked tile that nobody notices for two years. Tile is strong over its supports and weak between them, and the hairline a boot leaves is invisible from the driveway while it quietly feeds the underlayment. Our crews walk the head laps and use walk boards on steep pitches, and we photograph broken units so you can see the breakage predates us. It usually does — most tile roofs we open have damage from an antenna, a solar install or an old repair.
Is hail damage on tile a repair or a claim?
It depends on how many units are broken and where. A handful of cracked tiles is a repair. A slope with dozens of fractured units is a documented loss, and cracked tile is functional damage rather than cosmetic, because water reaches the underlayment through it. We photograph and count, slope by slope, and give you the report. You file your own claim; we inspect, document, meet your adjuster on the roof if you invite us, and build to the approved scope. See storm and hail damage.
What can you count on either way?
No deposit — you pay when the job is done
You settle up after the roof is on, the site is clean and you have walked it with us.
We climb every roof
The scope is written from the roof itself, not from a satellite measurement, so what is quoted is what is up there.
HAAG-certified inspectors
The person who inspects the roof writes the scope, and they are trained to the damage-assessment standard the insurance industry uses.
Phones answered 24/7
A roof being planned still generates questions at odd hours. The number on this page is the one that reaches us.
How we work out repair or replace
- We get on the roof. Every slope photographed, broken units counted, valleys and penetrations opened enough to see the flashing.
- We look under a tile. The underlayment condition is the decision, so we lift tile in more than one place rather than guessing from the ridge.
- Attic check where there is access. Staining tells us how long it has been wet and where the water is actually entering.
- Written scope with a breakage allowance. Repair, lift-and-relay or full replacement, priced with the tile-replacement count stated up front.
- Walkthrough, then payment. No deposit at the start; you pay when it is finished and you have walked it with us.
Concrete or clay tile?
Cost and underlayment life stay empty until we publish numbers from our own jobs. An em dash means unsourced, not unimportant.
| Concrete tile | Clay tile | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Cement, sand and pigment, moulded and cured. The common tile here. | Fired clay, coloured through the body rather than on the surface. |
| How it ages | Colour fades and shaded areas pick up moss. The tile stays serviceable a long time. | Holds its colour, because the colour is the material. |
| Weight on the structure | Heavier than clay, and heavy enough that the framing must have been designed for it. | Lighter than concrete, still far heavier than shingle. |
| Breakage under foot | Cracks when walked wrong, especially at the head lap on a cold morning. | More brittle again. Clay is the one that goes when somebody steps mid-pan. |
| Matching a discontinued profile | Profiles change often. Salvage and a colour blend across the slope. | Harder still. We pull from inconspicuous areas and rebuild those. |
| Where we see it | Most tile roofs in the Austin area and the Hill Country. | Custom and Mediterranean-styled homes, and older restorations. |
| Expected underlayment life | Not published yet | Not published yet |
| Installed cost per square | Not published yet | Not published yet |
What we carry
Texas does not license roofers. Here is what we carry:
RCAT member · Owens Corning · CertainTeed · Malarkey · Versico · HAAG-certified inspectors · Insured: $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate general liability · Dripping Springs Chamber · Lake Travis Chamber · No deposit, pay on completion
Best of Dripping Springs 2025 (Dripping Springs Express News)
Tile work we have published
Tile roof flashing sealed against a stucco chimney in Austin
Step flashing where clay tile roofing meets a stuccoed chimney chase, resealed and photographed from two angles. Tile-to-stucco corners move differently from the rest of the roof, which is why they are usually where the water gets in.
More at our work and where we work. Leaking today? Roof repair. Materials: asphalt shingle, metal, roof replacement.
Common questions
Can you match my old tile?
Often, and rarely perfectly. Profiles are discontinued constantly and thirty years of Texas sun changes the colour of what is on your roof. What we do is salvage sound tile from an inconspicuous slope for the visible repair and put the closest available match where nobody looks up at it. We show you both before we set anything.
Does hail damage a tile roof?
It can crack and shatter tile, and cracked tile lets water onto the underlayment, which is a functional problem rather than an appearance one. Small dings on the surface may not be. We photograph every slope and count the broken units so there is a documented number, and you take that to your carrier — you file the claim, not us.
Can I walk on my own tile roof?
Please do not. Tile carries weight where it is supported and cracks where it is not, and the cracks often do not show from the ground until the underlayment beneath them has been wet for a season. If you need something looked at, we will climb it — that is free and you keep the photos.
How long does a lift-and-relay take?
Longer than a shingle replacement, because every tile comes off by hand and goes back the same way. A typical house runs several days to a couple of weeks depending on size, pitch and breakage. We agree a breakage allowance up front so the tile count is not a surprise.
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Price my roofOr call (512) 305-1111
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