Why Matching An Old Tile Is Harder Than It Sounds

Profile, colour, size, era

Concrete and clay tile comes in a range of profiles - flat, barrel, S, and variants of each - and within a profile, in colours that manufacturers change over time. A tile installed twenty years ago may be a profile still made in a colour no longer offered, or a profile the manufacturer has dropped altogether, or from a manufacturer that no longer exists. Any of those makes "the same tile" a search rather than an order.

Standard versus not

This is the distinction behind the wording in our plan terms. The tile allowance covers accessible, readily available standard concrete or clay tile - profiles and colours that a supplier stocks, that a crew can pick up and set. It does not cover specialty, discontinued or exact-match tile, which is quoted separately, because the cost of that tile is unpredictable and sometimes exceeds the cost of the work.

What "close enough" looks like

Often, the honest answer is a tile of the same profile in the nearest current colour, set where it is least visible - a back slope, near a valley - with a sound tile moved from that spot to the visible one. Weathering does the rest; a new tile of the right profile blends within a season or two. On a roof with many replacements this is a normal, sensible approach.

When it is not close enough

A front-elevation slope on a distinctive discontinued tile. There, the choice is a salvage-yard search for reclaimed tile, or accepting a visible mismatch, or - if the roof is old enough - a conversation about the whole roof rather than one tile. That conversation is worth having with the numbers in front of you, which is what a separate quote is for.

What helps

Attic stock. If you have a tile roof and any spare tiles from the original job, keep them dry and keep them. They are the only guaranteed match. If you are having a tile roof done, ask for spares and keep them.

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