What should you know about a tile roof when buying a home in Scottsdale?

The tile is what you see from the street, but the underlayment beneath it is what keeps water out, and it is the part that sources say wears out before the tile does. So when you look at a home with a tile roof, the useful questions are how old the roof is, whether it has been repaired, and what condition the underlayment is in, and a licensed roofing contractor is the person who can tell you more about that than a walk-through can.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. I've put together what the Arizona Department of Real Estate, the City of Scottsdale, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, two roofing trade sources, an independent reserve-study firm and two insurance guides say about tile roofs, with the source named next to each fact.

This is general information, not roofing, legal or insurance advice. Several of these sources are from outside Arizona or are written by roofing companies, so I say which is which, and a licensed roofing contractor can speak to the roof on the home you're buying. I checked each source on November 7, 2026.

What is under it. The Journal of Light Construction's field guide to clay and concrete tile says that on a tile roof, the underlayment and the flashings provide the actual waterproofing. An older City of Scottsdale handout on re-roofing describes the underlayment, which it also calls roof felt, as the moisture barrier that goes on top of the roof sheathing, and says the finished roofing material goes on top of that. A roofing contractor writing for the Rosie On The House site says plainly that tile is not waterproof and that most tile roof leak repair involves the underlayment.

Tile can look fine from the driveway while the part doing the waterproofing is out of sight, and a general home inspection can't tell you much about it. Supreme Home Inspections, an Arizona company, says on its own checklist that it doesn't evaluate the underlayment because it typically isn't visible, and the Arizona home inspector standards I read don't mention underlayment in the roofing section. I'd treat the roof's age and repair records as the best clues you have until a roofer has looked.

The sources agree that the underlayment has the shorter life, and they don't agree on the numbers, so I'm not going to quote one. Association Reserves, a reserve-study firm that plans long-term repair budgets for associations, says in a 2012 article that the concrete or clay itself can outlast the weatherproofing components, meaning the underlayment and flashings, and that the underlayment's expected life is shorter in a hot desert climate than in a mild one. A 2026 article from an Arizona contractor, Intelligent Design, says the same thing in plainer words: the tiles can last generations but the underlayment beneath them has a shorter lifespan.

Where they split is on how many years. Their figures for the underlayment, and for the tile, differ from each other, and the roofing contractor pages I found differ too. Age gives you a starting point, and the real answer for a specific roof comes from a roofer who has looked at it. Tile is also brittle, which the next sections come back to, so a roof's condition depends on how it has been treated as well as how old it is.

It depends on who you hire. In the Arizona standards for home inspectors, in the 2015 revision I could read, a general inspector observes the roof coverings, the roof drainage, the flashings, skylights, chimneys and roof penetrations, and signs of leaks on the parts of the house below. The same standards say the inspector isn't required to walk on the roofing and isn't required to report the life expectancy of any component. So a general inspection can tell you what is visible and whether there are signs of leaks, and it isn't a prediction of how many years are left.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory (February 2020 edition) says that if the roof is 10 years old or older, a roof inspection by a licensed roofing contractor is highly recommended. That is the Department's wording, and it's the one place I found that exact recommendation, so I'm naming it rather than treating it as settled. If the roof is tile, I'd book the roofer when you book the general inspector. I've written about what a general home inspection reports on, including when a roofing contractor is worth booking, and about how the inspection period works in Arizona, since those inspections have to be done inside it.

Because tile breaks. The older City of Scottsdale handout calls clay and concrete tile relatively brittle and says it is subject to breaking when it is walked on. The Florida Division of Emergency Management's guidance for homeowners on tile roofs says not to walk on a tile roof, because you can break the bond if the tiles are set in mortar or crack the tiles themselves. Eagle Roofing, a tile manufacturer, publishes a how-to for walking tile that is written for professionals, and it advises hiring a licensed and bonded roofing contractor and not walking on the roof yourself at all.

For a buyer, that means two things. Don't climb up to look, and ask the inspector or the roofer how they plan to inspect the tile roof before they start. A cracked tile matters for more than looks, because Eagle Roofing says broken tiles should be replaced quickly to avoid water damaging the underlayment, and the Rosie On The House roofer says a single broken tile can speed up the aging of the underlayment. Florida's guidance is written for hurricanes, so I'm using it only for how tile behaves underfoot.

The City of Scottsdale handout says that in the southwestern desert, wind is the most damaging force on roofing and that water that gets in can cause major damage to the roof system. I've written about what a buyer should know about monsoon season in Scottsdale, including how water leaves the lot and what to check on the roof and the trees.

For a tile roof in particular, ask whether it has ever leaked and what was done about it. The Florida Division of Emergency Management suggests a look inside the attic on a sunny day for stains from leaks and for cracks or holes where light comes through, with extra attention around chimneys and wherever the roof changes shape or slope, and an inspector can do that for you. One roofer on the Rosie On The House site says clogged valleys are the most common cause of tile roof leaks. That is one roofer's view, so I'd ask your roofer whether the valleys and drains on this roof are clear.

Start with the age of the roof and any repair records, and ask what the seller knows about leaks and what was done about them. Ask whether there is any written roof report from a roofing company, and if there is, ask for a copy and look at the date on it. I'm not going to describe a roof certification, because I couldn't confirm what Arizona insurers or lenders accept as one, so ask your insurance agent and your loan officer which document, if any, they would want to see for this roof.

Then book the roofer, and ask them about the underlayment, the flashings, and how they will inspect without walking on the tile. I'll help you put the questions in writing to the seller, and I'd do that early so the answers are in hand before the end of your inspection period.

It can change the price, the type of payout or whether a company will insure the home at all. Texas's insurance department, whose consumer page on roofs was updated in April 2026, says an insurance company will inspect your roof when you apply, may charge you more or refuse to insure you based on what it sees, and that as roofs age some companies switch to actual cash value, and may not cover a roof in poor condition. The Insurance Information Institute says age and condition are among the biggest factors in how insurers pay for a roof, that insurers may limit payment to actual cash value, which counts depreciation, and that some insurers decline policies on homes with older roofs.

Neither source is about Arizona or about tile in particular, and Triple-I's page doesn't mention tile, so I can't tell you what a particular Arizona company will do with a particular tile roof. An insurance agent can, and I'd ask for a quote on the specific home before you commit. I've covered how to compare quotes and what to ask about the roof in what homeowners insurance covers for a home in Scottsdale.

Here's how buying a home works in Arizona, step by step, and here's my guide to buying a home in Scottsdale.

If you're looking at a home with a tile roof and want help working out what to ask, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605. For anything about the roof itself, a licensed roofing contractor is the person to ask, and for coverage, an insurance agent.