Category: How to

Roofing Tiles and Nailing: Nails or screws ? Do You Really Need It?

When it comes to roofing, every component has its unique purpose and contribution to the overall structure’s stability. One such element that often raises questions is the use of nails in hanging ceramic roof tiles. Unlike traditional clay tiles, ceramic tiles don’t have legs or hangers to support their weight. So, how do these tiles stay in place, and why might they still require nails, even if they’re not nailed down?

There’s often a debate: nails or screws? While these tiles are designed to interlock and stay in place, some situations call for extra measures. Let’s dive into the world of fasteners and find out what works best.

The Anatomy of Ceramic Roof Tiles

Ceramic roof tiles are celebrated for their enduring strength and visual charm. Unlike traditional clay tiles, ceramics are the result of a specialized manufacturing process that imparts uniformity and slimness to their shape. This uniqueness is achieved by eliminating the legs or hangers typically found on clay tiles, which are integral for their support and spacing during installation.

The Challenge: The Absence of Legs

With no legs or hangers to rely on, ceramic tiles face a distinctive challenge: how to remain firmly in position. Unlike clay tiles that interlock or depend on their hangers for stability, ceramic tiles must find an alternative means of secure attachment.

Nails: The Silent Saviors

To solve the “no legs” problem, ceramic tiles often call in the cavalry – nails. But don’t worry; these nails aren’t there to nail the tiles down like you might hammer a picture frame. Instead, they’re like the invisible legs that these tiles never had

  • Hanging Tiles: Roofing professionals employ stainless steel nails or rivets to hang ceramic tiles. These nails step into the role of invisible legs, bearing the tiles’ weight and averting any unruly shifts or untimely descents.
  • Spacing and Strength: The strategic placement and well-calculated spacing of these nails are pivotal. They ensure each tile enjoys adequate support and uniform placement, thus bolstering the stability of the entire roofing structure.

corrosion resistance

An essential consideration when using nails in ceramic roofing is their composition: stainless steel. The preference for stainless steel nails arises from their exceptional resistance to rust and corrosion. Roofing tiles, including ceramic ones, face exposure to the elements, including rain and moisture. Opting for stainless steel nails acts as a shield against rust-related woes, preserving the roof’s long-term resilience.

Screws: Another choice

In regions with harsh weather conditions or exceptionally strong winds, screws are sometimes chosen over nails. These robust fasteners offer added stability, which can be a game-changer in extreme environments. These tiles can be screwed to the purlins and this will give it more strength and support. If we hang with just nails in these areas, it may fly off.

Screws: Pros and Cons

While screws can provide exceptional strength, they come with their own set of challenges. One significant drawback is their accessibility. Picture this: you need to replace a single tile at the bottom of your roof. If screws hold your tiles in place, you’re in for a bit of a puzzle.

To access that troublesome tile, you’ll first need to remove all the tiles stacked on top of it. It’s like taking apart a stack of books just to reach the one at the bottom. Once the top tiles are off, you can unscrew the problem tile, replace it, and then reinstall all the tiles above. Why? Because the screwing area of the bottom tiles is covered by the tile above, making them inaccessible without some deconstruction.

Also screwing is a hazardous task and takes up much time. so most of the time, the labours suggest to install it by hanging with nails or screws or rivets, which are corrosion resistant.

conclusion

While ceramic roof tiles aren’t typically nailed or screwed down in the traditional sense, there are circumstances where these fasteners come into play. Nails are the time-tested choice, offering reliability and rust resistance. Screws provide additional strength, especially in areas with extreme weather. However, they can be a headache when it comes to tile replacement. The best approach depends on your location, the skill level of your installation team, tile thickness, and the desired level of stability. In some scenarios, a combination of both nails and screws might be the ultimate solution, offering durability and ease of maintenance. So, when it comes to securing ceramic roof tiles, the choice isn’t always black and white – sometimes, it’s nails and screws.

How to select the Best roof tile colour for your home ?

As you may know, the roof is the crown of every house. It is where the eyes will go first and a good looking roof is always a deal breaker. It is studied that when someone views your house for the first time, 40% of the view of your house constitutes of your roof. That means an amazing design or attractive colour choice can completely change the looks of your house, and so does a poor one. Unlike olden times, nowadays we have a lot of designs and plenty of colour choices in the roof tiles section, to address to this issue.

roofing tile colour choices
roofing tile colour selection

One of the major advantages of the branded roofing tiles are the wide colour choices available on the market. All of them are popular in our country and you can see different shades of them in every rooftop. But having plenty also comes with its disadvantages. sometimes it is very confusing and puzzling on which colour to chose for the roof, from the wide variety of designs available on the stores.

When selecting the right colour for your home, you need to choose based on the following 5 factors. They are ;

  1. The colour shceme of your house
  2. Architecture style and design of the home
  3. Heat absorption rate of the colour and the energy efficiency
  4. Use colour selectors, visualizers or 3-D design by your architect/designer to compare with the house in your dreams
  5. The environment or neighbourhood of the house

We often encounters home makers who get stunned at the amazing colour choices and doubts if they choose the right colour roof tile for their home or not. So in this guide, we will take you through the list of items to consider when selecting the roofing colour for your dream homes.

  1. Colour Scheme

    The first factor to consider when selecting a roofing tile colour is the colour scheme of your entire house. The colour scheme includes everything from the paint to the claddings on the wall and the landscape you have in mind for your home. The roof tile colour should also stand in accordance with the colour theme. Some colours like white will go on with all the colours, but if you have custom colours for your walls, piller or sidings – you should consider that. We have made a small list of colours and their matching roof tile colours for your assistance. The table given below will show you house colour and their best matching roof colours.

    House Siding Color Best Matching Roof Colors
    Red Steel Grey(black), dark gray, Red Coffee, Teracotta, Red & Black, Antique Red
    White All colours, Red / Dark shades will match more
    Gray Steel Grey(black), dark gray, Galaxy, Blue grey Jasper, Pista green, white
    Beige/Tan Coffee, Steel Grey(black), dark green, Blue grey classic, Antique Red
    Coffee Pista green, Steel Grey(black), blue grey, Antique Red
    Blue Steel Grey(black), Coffee, Dark gray

    beautiful roof tile colour

  2. Architecture Style

    The architecture style of your home is too good a factor to consider when choosing your roofing colour for your dream home. This include everything from the theme of the house to the specific design and message it wants to confirm. An antique style house or traditional looking single floor house may carry the shades of terracotta, Antique red or coffee. A modern box-model house with very little area of roofing may go with brighter shades or special colours like Jasper Galaxy model. So The architecture definitely have a say in your colour selection.

  3. Heat absorption

    This is also an important factor to consider when selecting the roof tiles. It is basic science that dark colours like black absorbs more heat and light colours will reflects heat. So when you compromise the colour for the looks, also bear in mind that it can affect the temperature inside your house too. Even though the black and white combination is one of the classic colour schemes, we would recommend you to go through alternate shades like coffee, deep grey, galaxy etc, unless your home have an efficiently engineered ventilation and cooling system.

  4. Use Colour selector Tools

    You can use the Decision making aids like Roof tile colour selector tools provided by the reputed brands to visualize how each colours will look on your roof. You can find the KPG ROOFINGS colour selector tool in the link provided – https://www.roofings.in/try. Additionally you can ask your architect or designer to do a custom design for you with the selected colours on your own house, so you can easily make the decision aid.

  5. Neighbourhood / Environment

    It is also a fact to keep in mind. Your colour scheme should stand in accordance with your neighbourhood also. A holiday home in the woods will looks better with teracotta or pista green shades, while a futuristic home in the town or highways would look better with special colours like antique red, galaxy or some jasper series colours. Be it in beach side, village, mountains, colonies or wherever your home is, You should consider that also as a factor when picking a colour for your roof tile.

So, consider all these factors before selecting your next roofings. We have the largest colour choice available in india and have the network to deliver you the product. You can see our gallery to view some of our projects or directly head to the colour selector.