Improve Your Fire Protection with a Tile Roof

If you live in an area where fires spring up, the type of roof you have is one of the most important factors in determining whether your home will survive. Some roofs cannot handle fires, but tile roofs most certainly can.

Fires are part of the natural process. Unfortunately, they can wipe out entire neighborhoods when the conditions are correct. Still, one cannot help but notice that after a big fire, some people still have their homes and some do not.

The obvious question is why some of these homes burn to the ground and some survive. The answer in most cases has to do with the type of roofing material used. The fires up and down the coast of California provide proof.

When big fires break out, it appears obvious that the threat they cause is due to their rolling across the ground burning everything in their path. While a threat, there is actually a much bigger problem as shown by fires in California each fall.

When fires spread in Southern California, it is because embers fly long distances through the air in the hot, dry Santa Ana winds. These embers are red hot and just looking for fuel. When they land on a roof, the winds will ignite them into fire if there is any fuel.

In this case, the fuel is usually the roof itself. When they land on dry wood shingle roofs, there is plenty of fuel and the home will be severely damaged or burned to the ground. When the land on tile, the tiles do not burn so the ember does no damage.

Once the fires have burned out, you can drive the area. The lesson is always the same. Properties that use tile on the roof will almost always be standing. Those with wood, even fire resistant wood, will be gone.

Why does tile do so much better than wood? To answer the question, consider how tile is made. It is essentially a form of mud. Ever seen mud burn? Nope. The worst that tends to happen to tile is it might crack under extreme heat.

Another benefit of tile has to do with how it is used on a roof. Tile is placed so that it steps down and overlaps the piece below it. As a result, there is no risk of embers blowing up under tiles and getting to the wood framing of the home.

If fire is a potential threat in your community, you need to seriously consider converting your home to a tile roof. Failure to do so can result in the saddest of situations when you return to a home that is nothing but charred remains.

By Thomas Burrell
About the Author:
Thomas Burrell is with 866FixMyRoof.com - a Riverside county roofer in Southern California.