VERTICAL TILING
Can you use roof tiles for cladding?
Tiles used for vertical tiling or hanging tiles are the exact same tiles as standard plain clay roof tiles and have been used in this way for centuries. They were originally used to keep the rain out on wattle and daub walls, but as building methods and materials changed, they went on to become popular in adding visual interest and detail to the design of a building, particularly during Victorian times and with the Arts and Crafts movement.
Today we see plain clay vertical tiling most often used on dormer cheeks and gable ends, also on first-floor walls, where they can create an attractive visual aesthetic on modern timber frame and block buildings. Sometimes a tile in a different colour is used to provide contrast or pick out a colour in the brickwork.
In recent years we’ve seen a trend for clay roof tiles wrapping over the roof and extending down onto the vertical walls of buildings to give a modern minimalist aesthetic. Special matching mansard tiles can be used to allow the tiles to flow from the roof onto the walls and sometimes the tiles then extend all the way down to the ground.
In terms of maintenance, vertical tiling as a cladding material is hard to beat. It requires no ongoing treatment or painting, and the clay colour will even improve and mellow with
