How to light a barrel tile roof without cracking a single tile

The only hardware that belongs on tile

Ridge and pan clips designed for barrel profile sit over the tile lip and hold the line by geometry, not by penetration. On flat concrete tile we use a wider bearing clip. On the fascia and gutter line we use rated gutter and shingle tabs.

Nothing gets stapled into wood, nothing gets screwed into tile, and nothing gets adhered with construction adhesive that has to be scraped off in January.

• No penetrations of any kind into tile
• No staples into fascia or soffit wood
• No adhesives that require scraping at takedown
• Clips matched to the specific tile profile on your roof

Where a crew is allowed to step

Weight goes on the bottom third of the tile, directly over the batten or the head lap of the tile below, never on the unsupported crown. On steep pitches we work from ladders and roof hooks rather than walking the field at all.

If your roof is over fifteen years old or has previous repair patches, we photograph the condition before we start so nobody is arguing about a hairline crack in February.

Why the line looks straight on some houses and wavy on others

Barrel tile is a wave, so the bulbs sit at slightly different heights unless the clip spacing is matched to the tile pitch. Spacing every twelve inches on a tile whose crown repeats every ten reads as a wobble from the street.

We set clip spacing to the tile module on your specific roof. It is slower and it is the difference between a display that looks installed and one that looks draped.

Takedown is part of the install

Takedown starts January 2. Strands come down cut to your roofline, labeled with your address, and go into climate-controlled storage. Nothing stays on the roof, including clips.

Leaving clips up through hurricane season is how they become projectiles and how sun-brittled plastic snaps into the gutter line.