Planes, trains, roof tiles and water heaters..

Mangolovers:  My thoughts on number one, replace the tiles but someone else may have a better idea.  I don't think its any bigger a deal replacing your roof here as in North America.  It's relative from my experience.

On number 2, well i bought whatever the closest Ferreteria had to sell.   Cheapest and have had some for 4 years and it is still working fine.  With all the extra hardware I think it cost me about 4-5000 pesos.  I installed them myself.

You have a pressure relief valve, a tap to be able to shut off the supply so in the future you can change it easier, an overflow pipe etc. 

I would send you a picture but I don't have one handy...

Terracotta roof tiles being a natural product will fade over their expected lifespan of about 50 years. if they are old they may be the classic tiles we see on mediterranean houses and not those used on modern houses.

They need regular maintenance with cleaning to remove mosses, mildew  and algae and replacement of damaged tiles and mortar fillings at hips, ridges and  fascias which is inevitable in a tropical climate with wind and rain. And if you get some very windy weather the damage could be large and if the y are spanish style they are probably not secured by pinning on battens as perhaps we are used to with modern tiles.

Often here the roof structure is a concrete inclined slab and not always well compacted being on a slope and then the terracotta roof tiles if the old type are placed over and bedded in places with sand and cement without an intermediate water proofing coat and so you could get dampness creeping into the interior in very wet periods. I do hope it is not a timber truss roof with terracota tiles over fixed to battens as we would find in the UK for example. I would not recommend that type of roof here in the tropics.

I don't think painting is the solution and surely as they fade they give character to the property? But maybe you want the new look and in that case replace as mentioned above and waterproof the concrete slab if it is built that way before the tiles are laid.

I am not sure if or where terracotta tiles are made here these days or if they are imported. There used to be a large clay tile making factory on Duarte in SD at about km 11 which is now a 'zona franca'. Remember visting that factory back in 1983 when looking at material options for a project in the TCI.

Hello, and thank you DominicanadaMike and lennoxnev! I appreciate your feedback on this. Turns out that true terracotta is actually clay-based. Many modern manufacturing methods have moved away from clay to concrete, with a simulated terracotta finish. Clay -based tiles cannot be painted, but concrete-based tiles can. The tiles I have certainly look like concrete, so I've applied a color-matched acrylic paint to a few small areas, and will let that sit for the better part of the next year. I'll assess the situation then, and determine whether or not I'll paint the entire roof.
Thanks again for your help!

good thread.

http://www.tejatec.com/nosotros/index.p … &lan=1

They sell a red tile paint and make the tiles as well with various colors applied.

The small hot water heaters sold in most hardware stores a junk that last a few years.  I finally stopped buying them and found what might be better:

6 gallon US style water American Heater grey E61-06U-17SV-6 from JDL in Puerto Plata with one year guarantee,  made in Mexico to alleged US standard with 6 year US guarantee (If I were in the US, not the DR where 1 year is all you get)