What Are Roof Tiles?
Tile roofs are one of the oldest and the most conventional roofing systems. Tile roofing is mostly adopted for residential buildings and country houses. The country tiles are easily and locally manufactured and are available for cheap rates.
So, they are and were used widely. The rural areas and the countryside do not have high-rise buildings like in towns and cities. So tile roofing was one of the most used roofing systems.
The roofing tiles were made up of locally available materials like clay. There are various types of roof tiles available these days.
The tiles are named according to their shapes and their pattern, and the roof tiles are manufactured in the same way bricks are manufactured.
Different Types Of Roof Tiles
Various types of roof tiles are given below:
- Plain or flat tiles
- Curved or Pan tiles
- Pot tiles or half-round country tiles
- Italian or Allahabad tiles, and
- Interlocking tiles
Let us study the above listed types of roof tiles in detail below:
1. Plain or Flat Tiles
Plain roofing tiles are made of clay or concrete. Clay tiles are more commonly used in India. Plain or flat roof tiles are manufactured in a rectangular shape.
The size of plain or flat roof tiles varies from 25 cm * 15 cm to 28 cm * 18 cm, with thicknesses ranging from 9 mm to 15 mm, respectively.
These tiles are not perfectly flat. They are 5 mm to 10 mm cambered along the length which ensures that the tails will bed and not ride on the backs of those in course below. They have stubs or nibs which project on the bed or underside at the head so that they may be hung from the battens.
Sometimes, the head is provided with a continuous nib. Each of these tiles is provided with two holes formed at about a distance of 25 mm from the head and 38 mm from the edges.
The tiles can be fixed using nails through these holes. The nails used for nailing plain tiles are copper or composition nails of 38 mm size. It is not required to nail every tile.
Before laying the flat roof tiles, common rafters are laid at a spacing of 20 cm to 30 cm, respectively. Then the battens or reapers are fixed across the rafters at an average spacing of 4 cm to 6 cm.
The flat tiles are laid over it carefully with sufficient overlap on sides and corners. Plain roof tiles are generally laid in a regular bond. For normal exposure of plain tiles, it is necessary to nail every 4th or 5th course.
2. Curved Or Pan Tiles
Curved roof tiles, also known as pan tiles, are 33 cm to 36 cm in length, 22.5 cm to 25 cm in width, and around 12 mm to 19 mm in thickness.
Longitudinally, these tiles are flat but they are curved transversely to a flat wave or S-curve. A nib is given at the head on the underside of the trough of the wave, a nail hole is provided below the nib and two of the opposite diagonals are rounded.
Curved tiles are usually laid with overlapping side joints with two thicknesses only at the head joints and a single thickness at the un-lapped part.
Pan roof tiles are not bonded. They have continuous side joints from eaves to the ridge. Thus, the pan tiles are single-lapped in contrast to the plain roof tiles which are double lapped.
3. Pot Tiles Or Half Round Country Tiles
Pot tiles or half-round country tiles are most commonly used in villages and rural areas. These areas have houses instead of high-rise apartments. The half-round country tiles are laid in pairs of under tiles and over tiles.
The under tiles are laid in such a way that the concave surface faces upwards and the over tiles are laid in such a way that the convex surface of it faces upwards.
These tiles are semi-circular in the section at the ends and the diameter of it tapers longitudinally. The half-round country tiles are similar to Spanish tiles.
4. Italian Or Allahabad Tiles
Italian roof tiles are also used in pairs – flat broad bottom under tile which alternate with curved over tile. The under tiles are flat, tapered, and have upturned edges or flange at the sides.
Its size is 23 cm at the interior end, 26 cm at the wide end with a length of 37 cm, and flange height of 4 cm, respectively. Italian roof tiles have under tiles with tapered flanges, with a little increase in depth towards the head.
5. Interlocking Tiles
Interlocking tiles are available under patent names, with patent locking devices in them. The object of interlocking tiles is to prevent their dislodgement even in the most exposed conditions too. Interlocking tiles are machine-made.
Also Read
Types Of Plaster Finishes For Building
Types Of Plaster In Construction
Types Of False Ceilings Used In Buildings
Difference Between Tile Flooring & Marble Flooring
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These are very important tropics for the building construction and easy to know for who wants to build a building, thank to the admin