For homeowners

Types of tile roof: clay, concrete or slate?

Choose Clay tile for a roof in what the National Park Service calls "one of the most distinctive and decorative historic roofing materials" (NPS, 1993); Slate for a roof that, installed properly, needs relatively little maintenance (NPS, 1993).

The right choice depends on whether the roof framing can carry a heavy covering, how much snow and freeze-thaw your area gets, and how exposed the roof is to windborne debris in high winds.

How we know: By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. · Sources read: 17 October 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026

The National Park Service's clay tile brief (1993) sorts clay roofing tiles into two types, interlocking and overlapping; this table compares the materials a tile roof is made of.
Type	Best for	Main advantages	Main drawbacks
Clay tile	a roof in what the National Park Service calls "one of the most distinctive and decorative historic roofing materials" (NPS, 1993)	correctly installed, the tile itself needs little or no maintenance (NPS, 1993); impervious to rot and insect damage, as concrete tile is; HUD Estimated Useful Life table (undated): 60 years (family) and 60 years (elderly) for clay/cementitious barrel tile	not recommended in high-snow-load regions, because snow removal can damage it; the tiles themselves deteriorate mainly from frost damage (NPS, 1993); durable, but can break when windborne debris hits it, as concrete tile can
Concrete tile	no official source names one	heavy tiles add thermal mass that can help regulate indoor temperatures in hot climates; sold in cool (sun-reflecting) versions for steep roofs, as clay tile is (DOE, 2011); HUD Estimated Useful Life table (undated): 60 years (family) and 60 years (elderly) for clay/cementitious barrel tile	generally too thick to match clay tile, and lacks natural clay tile's range of colors (NPS, 1993); about three times as heavy as asphalt roofing, so the framing and sheathing must be able to carry it; FEMA notes that earlier post-hurricane observations found issues with concrete and clay roof tiles (FEMA, 2019)
Slate	a roof that, installed properly, needs relatively little maintenance (NPS, 1993)	can last 60 to 125 years, depending on the type of slate, the roof's shape and where the house is (NPS, 1993)	single slates can be damaged by falling tree limbs, ice dams or the weight of a worker walking on the roof (NPS, 1993); deteriorated slates feel brittle and crack (NPS, 1993)

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What does roof replacement cost?

For roof replacement prices, see How much does it cost to replace a roof?

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Sources for the facts on this page

U.S. National Park Service, Preservation Brief 30, on the preservation and repair of historic clay tile roofs (Spring 1993), government, read 22 October 2026.
PNNL Building America Solution Center (DOE), Clay or Concrete Tile Roofs guide, national laboratory, read 22 October 2026.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), CNA e-Tool Estimated Useful Life Table, government, read 17 October 2026.
U.S. Department of Energy, Guidelines for Selecting Cool Roofs (DOE/EE-0384, February 2011), government, read 22 October 2026.
FEMA Recovery Advisory FL-RA2, Best Practices for Minimizing Wind and Water Infiltration Damage (June 2019), government, read 22 October 2026.
U.S. National Park Service, Preservation Brief 29, on the repair, replacement and maintenance of historic slate roofs (Spring 1993), government, read 22 October 2026.