Cement tiles look a bit disappointing - what do

[puntloos]

The tiles I've selected (quite a while ago at this point) are forticrete - https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/forticrete-sl8-slate-effect-concrete-roof-tile-pack-of-108.html

 

And a good amount of them look great, but a large amount of them have all types of "white" on them:

 

 

My question:

 

What's reasonable to expect? Of course the picture on the site is 'perfect'

where arguably more than 50% have some level of either "white water stains" 

 

or some type of scratching:

 

 

Could it be a good few raindrops will clear this right off? Or if not, is there some way to fix this e.g. I dunno, spray paint? Or should I complain?

 

Frankly, from the ground level it doesn't look too bad since the viewing angle is pretty shallow, but not a great way to start your new roof..

[dpmiller]

have they been rained on yet?

[mike2016]

I got this on some of my new paving slabs. Was told it was efflorescence due to moisture in storage. It all gone now. Will take some time though. Give it a year?

[Jenki]

Your second picture is like water marks, the third picture is more like scratching, I'm just tiling my roof with Marley Edgemere, and have lots of tiles like the third picture, I think I'd have discarded the tiles in the second pic.

The scratches will disappear after rain / sun.

 

It does wind me up, you get a pack of 240 tiles, and 20 are broke, chipped and all you get is yes that's wastage🤬 no it's £25 of sh*te I shouldn't have to pay for.

[MikeSharp01]

We are cladding our build with the same slates as the roof, which was completed 18months ago - we kept the slates in dry storage, did a corner on Friday and my other half went ballistic, at a distance 2m+ they look great but close up you can see the efflorescence stains and small scratches, only very slight. So now I need to go through 2000 slates and choose the best ones for the front of the house and relegate the stained / scratched ones to high up on the sides (where nobody can see them). I have in the past managed to clean the efflorescence off with a weak vinegar solution. I will get a better picture tomorrow as this one does not really show the issues.

 

[MikeSharp01]

PS - I was told by a roofer that acid rain sorts it all out, the efflorescence anyway, in the end!

[saveasteading]

It should disappear. I had an old tiled wall retiled. Roof tiles on the walls.

The replacement tiles were sooty. The replaced and reused were green. They were all stripped and went on randomly.

In a year, one side was green, one was clean, due to exposure. 

[puntloos]

On 06/08/2023 at 08:14, dpmiller said:

have they been rained on yet?

 

good point, indeed the tiles that look like someone spilled thin white paint on them might indeed just need a powerwash.

 

And seriously: would that be a theoretical option? Getting someone with a pressure washer? Or will that do damage to tiles that dont expect this?

 

On 06/08/2023 at 17:44, Jenki said:

Your second picture is like water marks, the third picture is more like scratching, I'm just tiling my roof with Marley Edgemere, and have lots of tiles like the third picture, I think I'd have discarded the tiles in the second pic.

Ha marley was my 2nd choice as well!

"glad" to hear it's not my bad life choices. I was, and sorta-kinda still am convinced that concrete are a pretty good choice for tiles, but it is a bit grating

On 06/08/2023 at 17:44, Jenki said:

The scratches will disappear after rain / sun.

 

This is an interesting one, indeed I would say that literal dirt might accrue on the scratches 'fixing' this by dirtying the tiles.

 

another option, literally spray painting the roof? Would that be a stupid idea?

 

Frankly, yes with my drone it's easy to get close enough to see the tiles are 'weird' and/or scratched, but from the ground I didn't notice until I was told to look for it.

 

Up close:

 

On 06/08/2023 at 17:44, Jenki said:

It does wind me up, you get a pack of 240 tiles, and 20 are broke, chipped and all you get is yes that's wastage🤬 no it's £25 of sh*te I shouldn't have to pay for.

Absolutely, the amount of unusable tiles was high for me too.. so far the supplier has been fairly good about it.

[Jenki]

7 hours ago, puntloos said:

Frankly, yes with my drone it's easy to get close enough to see the tiles are 'weird' and/or scratched, but from the ground I didn't notice until I was told to look for it.

 

that photo was similar to lots of my tiles, I was not worried about that.  We had a good downpour yesterday / night, and I can report the roof looks so much better and cleaner, its still wet as I speak, so no photo, but if it dries today I'll take a photo.  This is definitely one of those areas on a build where you worry, and obsess about the task in hand and minute detail, but another issue will soon be along to take your attention and the roof will normalise and be a non issue.

[Jenki]

7 hours ago, puntloos said:

Frankly, yes with my drone it's easy to get close enough to see the tiles are 'weird' and/or scratched, but from the ground I didn't notice until I was told to look for it.

 

that photo was similar to lots of my tiles, I was not worried about that.  We had a good downpour yesterday / night, and I can report the roof looks so much better and cleaner, its still wet as I speak, so no photo, but if it dries today I'll take a photo.  This is definitely one of those areas on a build where you worry, and obsess about the task in hand and minute detail, but another issue will soon be along to take your attention and the roof will normalise and be a non issue.

 

7 hours ago, puntloos said:

Ha marley was my 2nd choice as well!

"glad" to hear it's not my bad life choices.

I was interested in the Fortecrete tile, but they just don't supply them this far North. I emailed them and they just said no.😂