Cleaning roof tiles before refitting

[overlander matt]

The first major part of the new house project starts this week with the re-roofing of the Victorian extension. It has Staffordshire Blue tiles at the moment which we will remove and refit. Is it normal practice to clean the tiles with a suitable reagent? There is a bit of moss on certain sections of the roof but overall it is not too bad.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Thank you ,

Matt

 

[Craig89]

When I brought reclaimed roof tiles for my extention I didnt clean them as the weathering made them blend in better with the originals. On the flip side of that, the reclaimed bricks I had I cleaned every single one of them, again to make them blend in. All aesthetic reasons really. If yours is an extension then it may or may not blend in already. Its entirely up to you really. I personally dont like moss on roofs but more because I dont like the thought of it blocking up the guttering. But then again people have been known to paint yoghurt on new roof tiles to stimulate new growth on them

 

[88v8]

+1 for yoghurt. Or sour milk.

I'd check all the tiles to make sure none is delaminating and they have their nibs.
But as to cleaning them, the aspect and rainfall will decide whether they become mossy, no point fighting it.

This stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Metre-Bristle-Gutter-Caterpillar-Protector/dp/B06Y2CL6Y3 is excellent in inaccessible gutters. Keeps stuff out, moss included. Widely available from builders' merchants.
The only drawback is that it has to be secured with a cable tie, which is a bit unsightly, but at first floor level not really visible.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

This stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Metre-Bristle-Gutter-Caterpillar-Protector/dp/B06Y2CL6Y3 is excellent in inaccessible gutters. Keeps stuff out, moss included. Widely available from builders' merchants.
The only drawback is that it has to be secured with a cable tie, which is a bit unsightly, but at first floor level not really visible.

Ivor

I'm a bit surprised at that Ivor. I used to have a house where lots of moss grew on one part of the roof and would block the gutter as it fell off. So I bought a gutterguard - long thin bit of mesh which arcs over the top of the gutter and clips to it's top edges.


This rapidly proved to be an excellent growing medium for moss, and became a little moss roof for the gutter, keeping all that pesky water out :roll:

To the OP - no, I wouldn't bother cleaning roof tiles. A good inspection for any that are starting to delaminate ("shaling") is well worth doing though, I'd seek out some matching reclaims, you're bound to need some. Do try and save any tile-and-a-halves - they are like rocking horse poo in salvage yards - if you have to use new ones you get a "zipper" effect which is not good.

Tile-and-a-halves are rare because they are usually mortared in place at the edge of a roof, and tend to break if not removed very carefully, which doesn't happen when a building is being demolished!

 

[MikeG]

Tile and a halves aren't allowed on listed buildings around here. As I understand it, they're a modern development.

As for the original question, I would clean the the worst off with a quick scrape of a trowel........no more than that. Certainly no chemicals or washing.

 

[overlander matt]

Thanks for the helpful advice. Sounds like a brush/trowel down is the way to go. It's always good when it turns out there is less work to do than originally expected!

The tiles look in reasonable condition. I have a feeling they are probably from the late 19th or early 20th century. I'm interested to know whether they have nail holes. One roofer suggested they normally drill holes in tiles and nail every fourth row in cases where the tiles don't have nail holes.

As for 'tile and a half's, we don't have any... The good news is that the tiles are very common so no problem finding reclaimed to replace those that we cannot reuse.

Looking forward to getting started on a major job on the house at last. Scaffolding going up this week.

Thanks for the help.

Matt

 

[Feltwell]

Tile and a halves aren't allowed on listed buildings around here. As I understand it, they're a modern development.

Not that modern - they were on the 1899 roof here, that we had to replace when we bought this house. Depends where you are and what sort of tile I suppose. Certainly for plain clay tiles they were very common, all the Victorian roofs round here seem to have them. The "zipper" effect of new tile-and-a-halves against an old roof isn't good, I was lucky to find a source of reclaims when I built my garage.

Not a problem for Matt though!

 

[MikeG]

I'll ask the guys at Bulmer Brick and Tile, and see what they say about tile and a half tiles. You simply don't see them on old rooves around here, and we're talking plain tiles. If this does turn out to be a regional variation, then viva la difference.....

 

[Craig89]

When I peeled back my roof it also had, what I can only assume were original, Broseley tile and halves (probably the same maker as Feltwell). I believe they stopped making roof tiles at Broseley in the 40s so at least that old

 

[Feltwell]

Mine actually came from Dennis of Ruabon, much further away than Broseley! They supplied a lot on this house - decorative terracotta work, chimney pots, roof tiles, floor tiles and wall copings. But yes, you're right, I think Broseley did stop around the 1940's, I think all the land stability problems in the Ironbridge Gorge did for their mines in the end. I don't think Dennis made roof tiles that late either, they switched to concentrating on quarry tiles I believe.

I know mine were definitely the original tiles - this house really had nothing much done to it from the day it was built!

 

[Craig89]

Feltwell how bazaar. My facing bricks, quarry tiles, chimney pots and ridge tiles were all from the Randlay brickworks, Broseley roof tiles, Benthall soil pipe and Craven Dunhill hallway tiles. It seams strange that you are on the doorstep of all those manufacturers and they choose to go to Ruabon (I do believe they were renouned for being the best of the best at that time though). Irronically its Dennis Ruabon facing bricks that I used to match the Randlay ones.

Sorry to digress Matt, I get a bit caught up in local history

 

[Feltwell]

Oh yeah, I forgot - all my facing bricks came from Dennis Ruabon as well! The house is built with better quality, fine jointed facing brickwork on the front and cheaper, wider jointed commons on the side and rear - typical show off Victorians - the commons came from a long since closed local brickworks.

I guess it must have been because Wellington was a reasonable size junction on the railway back then, all the materials I presume would have come by rail - fairly easy run from Ruabon, through Shrewsbury - and then horse & cart for the final mile to the house. Doesn't totally explain it though, because Broseley was well served by the railways as well back then, and as you say is much closer.

If ever you need more facing bricks then you'll find that Accrington facing bricks are a pretty good match for Ruabon Reds as well. Ironically it's the cheap commons here that are almost impossible to match!

Just a shame here that the builder didn't use the tile works in Jackfield - I haven't got any beautiful encaustic tiled floors, alas

I take it you've been round the tile museum at Jackfield? Fascinating, both the tile works history and all the stuff about the landslips in the gorge.

 

[Craig89]

My house is built exactly the same, my bricklayer certainly had fun continuing the tight joints on the front. My commons also came from the local brickworks, using clay that was the bi-product of the coal mine. As you say they were very difficult to match, the ones I used wernt perfect but it turned out ok.

It does seem strange that you would have such a fancy house and have no geometric tiles, mine is simply a miners terraced house at the end of the day.

I have not been to the museum, it is on the long list of things to do when the build is complete

 

[Feltwell]

No, just Dennis Ruabon red and buff/yellow small tiles laid diagonally in my hallway. They're nice enough but nowhere near as nice as a proper geometric design in encaustic tiles. Ahh well. First world problems!

I quite like the fact here that the fittings get cheaper and smaller as you move further away from the areas that guests would have seen, it's a bit of an insight into just how desperate the middle class Victorians were to impress. So the doors in the hallway get mortice locks, the main reception rooms get very wide skirting and architrave, ceiling roses, cornice etc. Move further in and the locks turn to rim locks, the skirting and architrave is the same design but a bit smaller, no cornice or ceiling roses, some doors only have the mouldings on one side. By the time you get to what would have been the servant's room at the back of the attic, the door is a plain plank affair with the cheapest pressed steel lock on it, no fireplace, exposed rough sawn roof timbers, no frills at all.

Looks like you're getting on really well with your place. The Ironbridge Gorge museums are well worth a visit when you want some downtime, might well give you some ideas as well - they have to me! You could easily spend several days going round them all. Quite cheap with a passport ticket as well.