Tile to Asphalt Shingle Roof Conversion
Removing a concrete tile roof and installing shingle isn’t a material swap. The fascia has to be replaced, the gutters replaced, and the ventilation brought up to standard. We do all of it in-house — Clark County, WA and the Portland metro.
Schedule My Free Roof Inspection
4.9 Rating 700+ Reviews!
Tile to Asphalt Shingle Roof Conversion
Converting a concrete tile roof to asphalt shingle is a full tear-off, and it involves more than swapping roofing material. The fascia has to be replaced or lowered, the gutters almost always have to come off and be replaced, and the attic ventilation has to be brought up to current standards. Done correctly, it produces a lighter, better-ventilated, easier-to-maintain roof that a normal roofing company can actually service in ten years. Done as a straight material swap, it produces a roof with a fascia gap, undersized ventilation, and gutters hanging an inch and a half too high.
We do this work in-house across Clark County, WA and the Portland metro. Asphalt shingle only — we don’t install metal, cedar shake, or overlays.
Why homeowners convert
Most of the concrete tile in this region went on in the 1980s and 1990s. The tile itself is generally still serviceable; concrete tile routinely lasts fifty years or more. What has failed is the felt underlayment beneath it, which typically gives out between twenty and thirty years. That leaves a lot of homeowners with sound tile sitting on a dead membrane.
Sectional underlayment replacement is often the right answer, and when it is, we say so. But conversion becomes the better option when:
- The underlayment has failed across most of the field, so sectional work approaches the cost of a full tear-off anyway
- Cracked and broken tile is widespread, and the original profile has been discontinued and can’t be sourced
- The roof structure is carrying more weight than anyone wants on it long-term
- Previous repair attempts have left mismatched tile, mortar patches, and improvised flashing
- The homeowner is tired of every roofer in the county declining to walk the roof
What makes a conversion different from a standard reroof
Four things, and all four are non-optional.
The fascia has to change
This is the detail most homeowners have never heard of and most quotes leave out. On a tile roof, the fascia board sits proud of the roof deck — held up roughly 1 to 1½ inches to meet the height of the tile. That’s correct for tile. It is wrong for shingle.
If you install shingles and leave the fascia where it is, you get a raised lip along every eave. Water doesn’t drain cleanly off the shingle edge, the drip edge can’t be set properly, and the gutter sits above the plane it needs to be in.
The board can technically be cut down and lowered. In practice, that’s rarely worth doing — the wood on these roofs is typically thirty-plus years old, often already showing rot on the back face from the original eave detail, and the labor to reset it is close to the labor to replace it. We almost always replace it outright with pre-primed fascia board set flush to the plane of the roof deck. New wood, correct height, primed on all faces, and a drip edge that can finally be installed the way it’s supposed to be.
That last one is the expensive mistake. A tile roof that needs new underlayment is not a tile roof that needs replacing. The tile comes off, gets stacked, the membrane and flashing get replaced, and the same tile goes back down. It’s real work and it isn’t cheap, but it’s a fraction of a tear-off — and it doesn’t put a fifty-year material in a dumpster at year thirty-five.
The gutters have to come off — and usually don't go back
Once the fascia moves, the gutters no longer line up. Even if they did, thirty-year-old gutters that have been hanging on a rotting board are not worth reinstalling on new wood. In nearly every conversion we do, the gutters are replaced as part of the project. We handle that ourselves rather than sending you to a separate gutter contractor and hoping the two scopes meet in the middle.
The ventilation has to be updated
Tile roofs in this region are, almost without exception, under-ventilated. The systems installed in the 80s and 90s predate current intake and exhaust standards, and tile breathes differently than shingle does — the air movement through the tile field itself masked how little dedicated ventilation was actually there.
An asphalt shingle roof needs a balanced intake and exhaust system to perform, and the manufacturer’s warranty depends on it. That means adding or enlarging intake at the eaves and installing proper exhaust at the ridge. Skipping this step is how you get premature shingle failure, ice damming at the eaves, and a warranty claim that gets denied.
Most homeowners choose a designer shingle
dThis surprises people, but it’s consistent. Homeowners coming off tile are used to a roof with dimension and shadow line, and a standard architectural shingle can feel flat by comparison. The three we install most often on conversions:
Malarkey Windsor — heavyweight, deep shadow line, made in Portland. We’re a Malarkey Certified Pro Contractor, which affects the warranty coverage available.
IKO ArmourShake — the closest visual match to a shake or tile profile, with a very pronounced dimensional look.
CertainTeed Presidential — luxury profile with a distinctive layered appearance, popular on Mediterranean and Spanish-influenced elevations where the tile look is being replaced.
Any of the three carries the visual weight that these houses were designed around. Standard architectural shingle is also an option and performs perfectly well; it just tends not to be what people pick once they see the roof in person.
Schedule a Conversion Assessment
What the project looks like
- On-site assessment. We look at the roof, the eave condition, and the attic. The attic tells us what the ventilation situation actually is, and the eave tells us how much of the fascia and sheathing edge is compromised.
- Tile removal and disposal. Concrete tile is heavy, and the load-out is a meaningful part of the job.
- Deck inspection and repair. With the tile off, we can see the sheathing for the first time in decades. Damaged decking is replaced.
- Fascia, rake board, and rafter tail replacement. Rot rarely stops at the fascia. Anything soft comes out before new material goes on.
- Underlayment, drip edge, and flashing. Full synthetic underlayment, ice and water shield in valleys and at penetrations, and new metal throughout. No reused flashing.
- Ventilation system. Intake and exhaust brought into balance for the new roof.
- Shingle installation.
- New gutters.
All of it is done by our own crews. We have never subcontracted a roof since we started in 2004, and every crew member is background-checked.
When we'll tell you not to do it
Most tile roofs we look at don’t need conversion. If the tile is intact and only the underlayment has failed, sectional underlayment replacement is usually the better value by a wide margin, and we’ll quote that instead. We built this company around maintenance-first work — cleaning, repair, and inspection before replacement — and a tear-off we talked you into is a bad outcome for both of us.
What it costs
Conversion pricing sits meaningfully above a standard shingle replacement, and it’s not because of the shingles. Tile removal and disposal, full fascia replacement, new gutters, and a ventilation upgrade are all real line items that a normal reroof doesn’t carry. Every quote we’ve ever seen that priced a conversion like a standard tear-off was missing at least one of them.
We price it after seeing the roof, the eave condition, and the attic — because until we’ve looked at all three, any number we give you is a guess. Full replacements carry our 14-year labor warranty.
Can I just install shingles over the existing tile?
No. Overlays aren’t an option on tile, and we don’t do overlays on any roof. The tile has to come off completely.
Why can't the existing gutters be reused?
The fascia moves down roughly an inch and a half during a conversion, so the old gutters no longer sit in the right plane. Combined with their age and the condition of the board they were hanging on, reinstalling them isn’t worth doing.
Will my house look wrong without tile?
Most conversions we do use a designer-grade shingle specifically to preserve the dimensional look these homes were built around. Malarkey Windsor, IKO ArmourShake, and CertainTeed Presidential all carry a shadow line and profile depth that reads correctly on a Mediterranean or Spanish-influenced elevation.
Does removing tile weight cause any structural issues?
Removing weight from a structure never creates a problem. Concrete tile weighs several times what an asphalt system does, and taking it off reduces load on the framing.
Do you offer metal roofing as a conversion option?
No. We install asphalt shingle systems only.
How long does a conversion take?
Longer than a standard reroof, because of the tile removal and the fascia and gutter work. We give you a schedule at the time of quote.
Why do so few roofing companies work on tile?
Because volume drives specialization, and tile is maybe a small percentage of the metro’s roofs. A crew that installs asphalt five days a week doesn’t build the habits tile requires — knowing where the load paths are, how to lift and relay a field without a 30% breakage rate, how to source a discontinued profile. So most local companies either decline tile outright, refer it out, or quote it defensively at a price that assumes they’ll break things. The other pattern you’ll run into is a company that only quotes tile as a full replacement, because a tear-off is a job they know how to do and a lift-and-relay isn’t. We’ve kept tile as a standing service since 2004 specifically because the gap exists, and our crews are in-house, so the person handling your tile isn’t a subcontractor hired for the week.
Are you licensed to work in Oregon, and do you actually cover the Portland metro?
Yes — Oregon CCB #196307, current and verifiable through the state lookup. We’re based across the river in Vancouver, WA, which puts most of the Portland metro within our normal service radius: Clackamas, Milwaukie, Beaverton, Tigard, Wilsonville, Happy Valley, and the surrounding communities. All work is done by our own background-checked, in-house crews — we don’t subcontract tile out to whoever’s available. Standalone repairs carry a 2-year labor warranty.
Do you offer free inspections?
Ready to Take Care of Your Roof?
Get a fast and accurate estimate with our Instant Roof Quote tool or schedule a professional inspection at your convenience by clicking Book Estimate Online. Whether you need cleaning, repairs, or a full assessment, we’re here to help!
