Sturctural Support For A Clay Roof

Nevertheless even with heavier tiles most homes will require only minimal reinforcement.

Sturctural support for a clay roof.

A house frame constructed with lightweight prefabricated roof trusses is generally not intended to support the loads imposed by a clay tile roof. This means that most roofs and long as they don t suffer from maintenance issues can support lightweight concrete or clay roofing without modification or added support. Still it is important to seek the advice of a structural engineer for certainty. Clay tiles are typically selected only for roofs that have a pitch greater than 4 inches.

Clay tile roofing is commonly applied to steeper pitches. Your roof structure must be able to handle the weight of a tile roof which may be as much as 850 pounds per square for clay tile and 950 pounds per square for concrete tile. These objects are made from commonly occurring natural materials which are mixed with water formed into the desired shape and fired in a kiln in order to give the clay mixture a permanent bond. This is not a diy project.

The clay tiles you are using weigh about 8 pounds per square foot adding 5 pounds to the design dead load. A clay tile roof is a weighty choice like concrete tile a clay tile roof is a very heavy roofing material more than three times the weight of a comparable asphalt composite shingle roof. An asphalt roof by comparison weighs only around 225 to 325 pounds per square. Lay out battens to provide equal courses with a minimum 3 inch head lap unless the tile profile is designed for a specific head lap.

So all things being equal if you were able to use a rafter table for dead loads of 10 pounds per square foot for the asphalt roof you should be able to use a rafter table for dead loads of 15 pounds per square foot for the tile roof. That means that the framing of your roof supports must be sturdy enough to carry all that extra weight. Typical structural clay products are building brick paving brick terra cotta facing tile roofing tile and drainage pipe.