We Will Drive You to the Tile Plant
Before You Pick a Color

It Starts With Two Numbers, Not One

Somebody calls and says they want new tile, or that they are thinking about a tile replacement, or just that they need a roof. We come out to the house and we price two things.

One is a tile reset, which you will also see called a tile lift and relay. Same job, different words depending on who you ask. We lift your existing tile, replace the worn membrane underneath, and relay the tile you already own.

The other is a full tile replacement with new tile.

You get both numbers and you decide. I am not going to steer you to the bigger one when the smaller one is the honest answer, and I say which is which out loud.

The Catalog Is Where Most Roofers Stop

If it is a full replacement, we bring a physical catalog. You can look at the colors and the profiles right there at your kitchen table.

And that is where almost everybody stops. But a printed page is a printed page. It has been color corrected, it is lit by whatever light is in your kitchen, and it is about the size of a playing card. You are about to commit to something that will be on your house for decades.

So I make the offer: how about we take a drive out to the plant? We can set an appointment, or if you have the time, we can go right now.

Concrete tile up close. A catalog swatch cannot tell you how the profile throws a shadow.

What Happens at the Plant

Eagle Roofing Products has a plant in Rialto, which is minutes from most of our service area. They have a showroom where all the different tiles are laid out in the sun.

That last part is the whole point. In the sun. Not under a fluorescent tube, not on a screen. The way your roof is going to be lit every day for the rest of its life.

And they let you take tile home. About six pieces, in our experience, so you can set them next to each other, see how they interlock, and carry them around your own house at different times of day. You can ask for more than one color. Most people do.

That part is unsung and it is the most useful thing about the whole trip. If a homeowner cannot make the drive, I will go get the samples myself and bring them out.

The Question I Ask While You Are Standing There

With the Eagle rep in front of us, I ask how long it takes to get the tile you just picked.

Sometimes it is already made and sitting there. Sometimes it is about a one to two week lead time for them to produce it. Either way, you hear the answer from the manufacturer rather than from me, and now you know when your project can realistically start and finish.

That is a better way to set a schedule than anything I could tell you at your kitchen table.

The Part Nobody Expects

New tile has a smell. It is a fresh concrete smell, and honestly it is a little like a new car. They also come with a sheen on them from the coating, so they look bright and new in a way your current roof has not looked in twenty years.

Homeowners pick one up, and almost every time it is the same reaction. Oh wow. This is nice stuff.

You cannot get that from a catalog. That is the reason we make the drive.

The finished version of a decision somebody made holding a sample in their hand.

We Show You the Underlayment Too

While we are at it, we go through what goes under the tile, because that is the part actually keeping water out of your house. Titanium PSU-30, or TileSeal from Westlake Royal, depending on the system.

The tile is the face. The membrane is the roof. We have written about that at length, and it is worth understanding before you sign anything.

If You Are Shopping Tile Right Now

Ask whoever you are talking to whether they will take you to see it. Not a photo, not a sample board in the back of a truck. The actual product, in daylight, with a rep you can ask questions.

If they will not, that tells you something. If they will, you are going to make a better decision.