Reclaimed roof tiles, to seal or not to seal...

[Pvapour]

Hi all

about to use some reclaimed tiles on a renovation, have read they can become more porous over time so have been looking at some of the roof tile sealers available on the market, this should help with UV protection & moss build up to.

question is...

the majority of the roof specific sealers are water based & carry very similar ingredients to water based patio sealers, does anyone know if there are any drawbacks in using patio sealer? I have a ton of patio sealer to hand but no roof specific sealer so it would mean a trip to blighty

I was going to spray it with the compressor but for some reason they state airless spraying (like a jet wash system I guess) anyone know the reason?

[roofer]

If the tiles are not de laminating, they will be fine. Any type of sealer applied will stain them a different hue as well.

[Pvapour]

they're not delaminating but would like the added piece of mind of an additional sealer, saying that I'm guessing a sealer is not going to last more than a couple of years at best so would mean re-coating maybe

i do like the idea of not putting it on at all though

eta: these are hand made clay tiles if that makes a difference on wether to treat or not.

Edited by Pvapour on Thursday 29th September 08:32

[ShredderXLE]

Personally I would not seal or coat them in anything - after a few years its likely to let some moisture into the tiles eventually and you definitely do not want the sealer to trap water underneath and then prevent it from evaporating out naturally, especially when frosty.
I would have thought that the level of absorbstion through the tile would be so minimal that in the unlikely event that any does come through it will drain away on the underlay.

[Pvapour]

thats a good point, think i will leave well alone, the tiles we removed were over 200 years old and the roof did not leak, god knows how as there were plenty missing and the battens looked more like bananas

we're even reusing half of them they're that good,

thx for the pointers

[blackcab]

Most of these sealants are silicone based and will fail anyway unless the tile is totally spotless, the coating of roof tiles is a fairly new trend mainly marketed by our travelling friends

My advice is if they are not cracked then they should be fine