Life of tile roof in Sun City Center (Tampa: HOA, houses)

[dlhanson]

I had the idea that tile roofs would last 30 to 40 years. However, an article written by the owner of a home in the Greenbriar subdivision in Sun City Center stated that over half of the 210 homes had their tile roofs replaced during the past 3 years. These homes were build from about 1984 to 1989 so they are at the most 26 years old.

Is this tile roof life normal for the Tampa area or did the orginal builder use substandard materials or labor?

As a side note, the home owner stated that over 100 of the homes have been invaded by bats. Apparently, they find ways into the space underneath the tile. The homeowner had to pay $2,500 to lawfully (can't kill the bats) remove the bats.

[BucFan]

wow, thanks - my new place has tiles. Better check up in the attic for bats once in awhile

[Ken E]

Bats most likley would be between the tile and whatever they used for sheathing underneath. They tend to be more of a problem with the older barrel style tile. Tile roofs really have that tropical style look , but unless installed properly and maintained on a regular basis can really be more of a pain in the butt than they're worth. A lot of the older houses up this way are starting to take off the tiles and installing shingles. Flat type tiles don't seem to allow as many possible entry points.

[Ken E]

Probablly the worst thing for a tile roof is to have someone up on it that doesen't know what there doing. Some of the pressure cleaning guys wreck tile roofs. Back in the old days they used to use a full 1'' board for sheathing which gave a lot stronger base for the tiles. Newer houses arent like that. Valleys arent constructed like they used to be. It doesent suprise me that some of the 50 year old roofs are still in use. They built roofs a lot better back then.

[dlhanson]

Originally Posted by BucFan

wow, thanks - my new place has tiles. Better check up in the attic for bats once in awhile

Like the other gentleman wrote, the bats are between the tiles and the material under the tiles --- not in the attic. The homeowner also wrote that the new tile roofs don't have the problem because there is less space under the tiles. So if he is correct, you should be fine since you live in a newer subdivision.

This HOA requires either a tile roof or a metal roof that looks like a tile roof so changing to shingles is not an option.

FYI, the article is online, just google SCC Observer and you can either view this week's entire newspaper online or you can download it as a pdf (takes awhile for some reason).

[BucFan]

my place was built in 2009, so hopefully they've figured out how to prevent the problem..but thanks for the information.