Cement Tile Discolorations

Wondering if these cement tile discolorations (darker tiles) mean anything on a new 2024 build in Northern CA. Thinking manufacturing variances, but is there something at work here that I am not familiar with? The front of the home faces West with most of the discolorations at the Northwest corner of the second story. There were a few more scattered on the South and East facing slopes. It rained really hard two weeks ago, but the last week was clear weather.



Looks like a cosmetic issue from SWFL. Which may be a concern for new construction clients (I tell them all, “pick your battles, stick to your guns”. Some installers would blend a slightly darker lot out of several lots throughout the roof within the lighter tiles. In this area my initial concerns are roof sheathing and tile fastening requirements. YMMV

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There is no weather blocking at hip/ridge/gable caps, not sure about requirements in CA, but in my area that would be an issue.

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Looks cosmetic to me. Jose stirred too little color into the batch and Jorge on the job site didn’t mix the batches up too much.

I’m guessing that the slope is low enough it’s not particularly visible from the ground.

As to your concerns, I would only have a concern if the darker side was shaded by some mossy old trees, but then you wouldn’t have light ones co-mingled with dark ones.

Nope.

Yep. Happens all the time.

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Roofer laid them as they came off the stack with no regard for how a drone would see them.

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I suspect it rained or the morning dew is evaporating leaving lower shingles darker. Look at the shaded left side cross gable tiles.
Even the tiles above the garage door have a different hue or blush.

Many roofers would use left over tiles systematically and blend them in with a count from another contract blending them in mathematically to front or rear side of a home, if/when there where enough tiles. Typically they would explain the reasoning to the client. Many times it goes unmentioned.

Just my 2 cents.

Okay. OP here. To wrap this up… when I went through the rest of the photos this morning, I was very lucky to catch a bunch of neighboring homes in one of the drone photos. It turns out that all (most) the homes in the subdivision have scatterings of discolored darker tiles. So, it apparently was either intentional by the tile manufacturer or an intentional mix of tiles (blend) by the builder. However, the home I inspected was the only one I can see in the photos that had such a lopsided pattern (i.e. looking like a defect). I decided that I would not mention anything in the report - the bottom line is that the tiles are likely fine and the only concern is cosmetic.

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Good call. :+1:

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