TRADITIONAL ROOFING

The beauty of natural clay tiles lies in the way which they retain the natural colour of the clay material before maturing to a darker, richer shade. The degree to which this occurs and the rapidity with which any changes takes place depends upon two factors. The first is the nature of the tile itself, and the second is the environment in which it is laid.

Machine made tiles are extremely dense and durable. Accumulations of extraneous material are slow to take hold and the appearance of the tile is slow to change. The colour of the tile will not fade under any circumstances and the slow change that does take place will be a steady darkening of colour.

Due to the nature of the clay tile production process, slight colour variations are to be expected and actually in many cases enhance the look of the finished roof. We advise not to mix tiles from different batches on the roof and to achieve the best effect tiles should be taken from several pallets and mixed at random.

Some clay tile colours are achieved by applying an “engobe” to the surface of the tile prior to firing in the kiln. An engobe is a ceramic slip coating consisting of 45-90% clay, 10-40% Frits (glass) and 1-15% manganese oxides. The glass content produces a strong, vitrified scratch-resistant surface, whilst the manganese oxides give the required colour. The clay content means that when the tile is fired, the engobe and the tile ‘fuse’ together and become one, meaning that the coloured coating is as durable as the tile.

Marley’s collection of affordable concrete roof tiles combines outstanding aesthetics with high-quality to ensure that your roof stands out from the rest.

Their concrete interlocking roof tiles and concrete plain tiles are easy to lay, thus ensuring you can keep our installation costs down. They have also been certified as “excellent” for BES 6001, which means that projects using these products can now achieve extra credits under BREEAM and HQM as well as an A+ rating in BRE Green Guide.

The exceptional versatility of Marley’s plain concrete tiles makes them an obvious choice for any roof project, given the choice of 9 distinctive colours and 3 finishes, and also their compatibility with our clay feature tiles.

 While the interlocking concrete roof tiles have been engineered to meet the most exacting of project briefs, providing greater protection for your roof as well as superb visual appeal.

Slate is one of the longest-lasting roof materials, sometimes lasting more than 100 years. It is a natural rock that is mined and cut to become a form of ‘shingle‘ (a thin, tapered piece of material used as a roof and wall covering). 

Slate has been used for hundreds of years as a roof covering but only after the industrial revolution and the construction of the railway network did they become common outside of the slate mining areas.

Roof slates are often mistakenly referred to as ‘tiles‘ and vice versa. Roof tiles are generally made from materials such as clay or concrete rather than slate but slate is strong and has very good weather resistance as well as low water absorption, meaning that it withstands freezing temperatures well.

However, the initial cost of slate shingles can be higher than other types of roof covering, as can repairs and maintenance. Slate roofs are also relatively heavy so it may not be suitable for every roof structure.

There are a wide variety of slate sizes, although a common large size is 600 x 300 mm. The quality (but also the weight) is determined by the thickness.