At Northern we believe a clay tile roof is the crowning glory of any building.
Northern Roof Tiles is North America's premier importer of fine clay roofing tiles and have been in business for 27 years.
The Greeks, Romans and Chinese used clay roof tiles on their homes and important buildings; the Renaissance revived the practice and we continue the tradition.
Clay is a naturally occurring mineral, it has a proven track record of our performing virtually any other natural roofing material. It is ‘Green’ environmentally sustainable, it affords a fire proof covering for your home and looks even more beautiful and mellow as the years and decades roll over, something that cannot be said for virtually all
man-made supposed ‘look-a-likes!
We have built our business based on Experience, Knowledge, Passion & Personal Service.
English Style Clay Roof Tile
10 ½" x 6 ½"
Large English Style Clay Roof Tiles
12" x 7"
Being old fashioned traditionalists Northern still offer authentic English style shingle tiles with all the traditional fittings and accessories.
Making English style tiles the traditional way is not exactly high tech and they are all the better for it. The unevenness and irregularities of size and shape all add up to the inconsistency which is called in Old English ‘higgledy piggledy’. When the sun moves across the roof each day it casts ever changing shadows making the roof scape seemingly come alive.
Marselha
French Profile
What we know as a ‘French’ tile is possibly the most common profile in the world. In one form or another, this tile can be found from Great Britain in the west, right across Europe, around the southern Mediterranean, through central Europe, the Middle East and throughout the Indian Sub-Continent.
Lusa
Interlocking Roman Profile
Lusa is a Roman style profile, i.e. a one piece interlocking tile with a wide flat pan and smaller tapered barrel. It has a thick butt (bottom edge) which gives a strong horizontal shadow line to the roofscape.
Plana
Flat Interlocking Profile
Plana is a large format flat interlocking tile with a smooth flat surface, sharp square edges and a thick butt (bottom edge) which create straight horizontal shadows across the roof scape. This is especially true when used on low slope roofs.
Diamant
Flat Interlocking Profile
It must be said that it is very rare in the world of clay roofing tiles for someone to come up with a completely ‘new’ profile and Diamant is one very unusual profile.
To find out more about the tile and how it was conceived, I checked with my old friend and fellow clay tile enthusiast Christian Debacker, the Export Sales Manager of Imerys, one of Europe’s big 3 tile makers. Evidently back in 2007 Christian Schenck was appointed to the board of Imerys and he tasked the Development department with designing a completely new profile of tile, as a way to showcase Imerys’s technical abilities and adventurous spirit. I think you will agree they achieved their goal with a home run!
Taken on its own the Diamant does look a bit odd but as you will see when installed on a roof particularly one with a steep pitch it really does looks quite cool.
