Common myths and fallacies about tiled roofs
Information on doubtful claims made about tile roofs
The CSIRO has produced an information sheet dealing with some of the most common claims made by doubtful roof restoration firms. Here are the claims and how they stand up to informed scrutiny.
- "Tiled roofs need painting or coating" - This is not generally true, unless you are concerned about the appearance of the roof, or want to change its colour.
- "The CSIRO recommends our paint treatment" - The CSIRO does not recommend products or roof-coating businesses.
- "Prolonged weathering of the original surface makes tiles porous" - This is not true. Some clay tiles manufactured more than 30 years ago have been known to absorb water or to fret or crumble under adverse conditions, but coating won't fix this problem and such tiles generally need to be replaced.
- "Concrete tiles absorb so much water that the roof can collapse and stumped houses can get pushed into the ground" - This is simply not true.
- "Lichen eats into concrete tiles" - This is not correct. Lichen can sometimes block small drainage channels at the sidelaps of some tiles, but this is a minor maintenance issue.