Tile Features / Differences between interlocking concrete tiles?

[puntloos]

So, purely based on color and price I picked two roof tiles that seemed suitable

 

- Forticrete Minislate

and

- Marley Edgemere

 

Now we have them both in hand, I have a few questions:

- The forticrete ones have a noticeable curve to them, Marley is flat. Any pro/con to this?

- Forticrete ones are about 33% smaller overall (and while cheaper per tile, pricier per sqm). Are there any benefits or downsides to having more tiles? Easier to replace, but takes 33% longer per roof?

- Forticretes are also that 33% thinner, both tiles were surprisingly fragile, on the thin bits (the interlocking mechanism) could be damaged super easy. In a battle of wills between this tile and a normal drinking glass I would seriously not know who to bet on. I imagine forticrete is even weaker than Marley overall when dealing with .. uh.. meteors? OK hail? Or weight? (snow)? - Is this something to care about? 

 

Basically, I *suppose* there's no huge difference in either choice but any thoughts?

 

[ProDave]

We used the Marley Edgemere Riven tiles.  That was a planning decision as the planners wanted us to use slate, and the Edgemere Riven finish were about the only concrete tiles they would accept that looked enough like slate.

 

The Riven version of the Edgemenre tiles were thinner than the standard Edgemere and so probably about the same as your Forticretes ones.

 

I didn't have any problems with breakages in use but I did have a LOT of broken tiles coming off the pallet.  So much so that I notified the supplier that we had an issue with breakages.  As it turned out, by carefully picking out the broken ones and putting them in 2 piles, broken left side, and broken right side, we were then able to use the ones broken on arrival for all the valley cuts so there were not in fact many wasted and we never did have to proceed with a claim for breakages.  I did the roof myself so I was happy to spend the time sorting the tiles in that way.  I wonder if a roofer paid on a price would do that, or just pick them off the pile and then end up with a pile of unusable broken tiles?  Once I discovered the breakage issue, I had a golden rule, NEVER cut a good whole tile, go and find a broken one on one of the pallets.

[puntloos]

36 minutes ago, ProDave said:

We used the Marley Edgemere Riven tiles.  That was a planning decision as the planners wanted us to use slate, and the Edgemere Riven finish were about the only concrete tiles they would accept that looked enough like slate.

 

The Riven version of the Edgemenre tiles were thinner than the standard Edgemere and so probably about the same as your Forticretes ones.

 

I didn't have any problems with breakages in use but I did have a LOT of broken tiles coming off the pallet.  So much so that I notified the supplier that we had an issue with breakages.  As it turned out, by carefully picking out the broken ones and putting them in 2 piles, broken left side, and broken right side, we were then able to use the ones broken on arrival for all the valley cuts so there were not in fact many wasted and we never did have to proceed with a claim for breakages.  I did the roof myself so I was happy to spend the time sorting the tiles in that way.  I wonder if a roofer paid on a price would do that, or just pick them off the pile and then end up with a pile of unusable broken tiles?  Once I discovered the breakage issue, I had a golden rule, NEVER cut a good whole tile, go and find a broken one on one of the pallets.

 

Yeah they are super fragile. I assume that if laid correctly they gain the strenght needed by getting the right support in the right places. This also makes me think the curve of the forticrete might actually be intended to create somewhat of an arch structure that spreads the attacking forces (similar to an egg being able to resist much more than you'd think)