We just finished a tile lift and relay on a two-story home in Rancho Cucamonga. Same flat concrete tile on top, new everything underneath. Here's the job, day by day, from the tile coming off to the finished roof.
On a lot of older concrete tile roofs, the tile is still in good shape. What wears out is the layer under it, and that's the layer that keeps the water out. So on a lift and relay, the tile comes up, the old underlayment comes off, new underlayment goes down, and the same tile goes back on. What the job includes, and when it's the right call, is on our tile lift and relay page.
Every tile came off and got stacked right on the roof. Stacked, not thrown in a pile, because it's going back on. The old underlayment came off down to the deck, so we could see the wood before anything new went down. The garage was already dressed for Halloween.
Every tile stacked on the roof, deck open.
The crew stacking tile on the lower roof.
Two days later the deck was clear and the new underlayment was up on the roof: Westlake Royal TileSeal HT, a self-adhered peel and stick membrane. This is the part nobody sees once the tile is back on, and it's the part that keeps the water out. The tile is the armor. The underlayment is the waterproofing.
Not every underlayment carries the same warranty, and the papers don't all say what you'd expect. I wrote up what each one actually says in what the underlayment warranty papers say.
Deck clear, TileSeal HT rolls staged.
TileSeal HT rolls on a lower roof, next to the stacked tile.
A lift and relay is the one time everything under the tile is open, so that's when the rest gets done. On this roof that meant new 2x2 drip edge and new bird stops at the eaves, new metal flashings painted to match, new valley metal at every valley, new concrete crowns at the hips and ridges, and six low profile O'Hagin vents for the attic. Then the tile went back on and got fastened down. How all of those layers stack up is in tile roof installation, layer by layer.
Same tile, back on. From the street it looks like the same roof, and that's the point. The difference is underneath.
The finished roof, same tile back on.
The front slopes from above.
Up close: relaid tile, a low profile vent, a painted pipe flashing and a valley.
If the tile is still good, keep it. Replace what's under it.
Three things I look for, and any one of them is enough to have the conversation. Leaks showing up in more than one spot. Tile from the 80s or 90s that has never been lifted. And tiles sliding out of their rows. If your tile is cracked, chipped or discontinued so it can't be matched, a relay isn't the right job, and I'll tell you so. That's a tile replacement with new tile.
Free in-home estimate, in writing. We'll tell you straight whether your roof needs a relay, a repair or new tile. We do asphalt shingle roofs, tile replacement with new tile, tile lift and relay, and flat roofs across the Inland Empire.
(909) 819-8394