Brava Cedar Shake, Old World Slate, and Spanish Barrel tiles are the visible part of the roof. Underneath them are the roof deck, underlayment, ice-and-water protection, flashing, fasteners, and other materials that help keep water out of the home.

A beautiful Brava tile installed over a poorly prepared roof deck or bad flashing is still a roof with a problem. A good Brava installation starts with making sure the roof underneath the tile is ready and then paying attention to the details around valleys, walls, chimneys, skylights, vents, dormers, and other areas where leaks can develop.

A Brava Roof Includes Much More Than the Tile

Once a Brava roof is finished, most of the work underneath it is hidden. You see the cedar shake, slate, or barrel tile, but several other parts of the roof are doing important work:

• The roof deck provides the solid surface beneath the roofing.
• Underlayment and waterproofing materials provide additional protection beneath the Brava tile.
• Ice-and-water protection is used in vulnerable areas such as eaves, valleys, and transitions.
• Flashing directs water away from chimneys, walls, dormers, vents, skylights, and other interruptions in the roof.
• Starter pieces and field tiles make up the main visible portion of the roof.
• Valleys, hips, and ridges each require their own installation details.
• Vents and other roof penetrations need to be flashed and worked into the surrounding roofing correctly.

Brava provides installation requirements for these parts of the roof because the tile can’t do everything on its own. When comparing Brava estimates, it is worth looking at more than the price of the tile. What the contractor plans to do underneath and around it is important too.

We see this clearly in our completed Brava projects. Our Mound project involved replacing an existing natural cedar roof with Brava Shake. The Atwater project was new construction with steep gables, dormers, valleys, chimneys, hips, ridges, and curved eaves. In Independence, the Brava roof was installed along with custom copper flashing and other exterior work. The same Brava product can be part of three very different roofing jobs depending on the house.

The Existing Roof Is Removed Before a Brava Roof Is Installed

For the reroof installations covered by Brava’s current code evaluation, the existing roof covering and underlayment are removed before the new Brava roof is installed.

Removing the old roofing exposes the roof deck so it can be inspected. A roof can look relatively normal from the outside while hiding damaged sheathing, old repairs, moisture damage, or other problems that should be addressed before the new roof goes on.

Our Brava Shake roof replacement in Mound, Minnesota is a good real-world example. This was not new construction. The home already had a natural cedar roof that needed to be removed before the new Brava Shake in Weathered could be installed.

The project also shows why homeowners replacing cedar are often thinking about more than the condition of the old roof. They may want a different material without changing the character of a home that was designed around the appearance of cedar.

Once the cedar is removed, however, the focus temporarily shifts from appearance to the roof underneath it. This is the opportunity to inspect the deck and deal with problems before the new roof covers it.

The Roof Deck Is Inspected and Prepared Before Installation

After the old roofing is removed, the roof deck can be inspected and prepared for the new roof.

Depending on the home, the existing decking may already be in good condition. In other cases, damaged or deteriorated sections may need to be repaired or replaced. Installing Brava does not automatically mean the entire house needs new sheathing. What needs to be done depends on the condition and construction of the existing roof.

This can be especially important on older Minnesota homes. Some conditions simply aren’t visible during an estimate and only become apparent after the shingles or old cedar have been removed.

At Anchor, roof replacement work can include roof deck repair and new sheathing where the existing conditions require it. We don’t want to replace good decking unnecessarily, but we also don’t want to cover a problem that should have been repaired while the roof was open.

“You really don’t know everything about an existing roof until you tear it off. If we find a bad section of decking, that’s the time to fix it. You don’t want to put a roof like Brava over something we already know needs attention.”

— Joe Larson, Anchor Roofing & Exteriors 

Underlayment and Waterproofing Protect the Roof Beneath the Brava Tile

Underlayment and waterproofing aren’t very exciting to look at, but they are important parts of the roof.

Underlayment provides another layer of protection beneath the Brava tile. The exact materials and installation can vary depending on the Brava product, roof slope, roof design, local requirements, and the particular area being covered. Brava’s installation instructions also call for additional water protection in certain vulnerable areas.

That is especially relevant in Minnesota. Snow can remain on a roof for long periods, temperatures regularly move above and below freezing, and melting snow can refreeze. Valleys handle water from multiple sections of the roof, while eaves can be vulnerable when ice dams form.

Brava tile is the main surface that sheds rain and melting snow off the roof. Underlayment, ice-and-water protection, flashing, and roof metal provide protection underneath and around the areas where water is more likely to cause trouble.

Brava Tiles Are Spaced, Fastened, and Laid Out According to the Roof

Once the roof deck is ready and the underlayment, flashing, and other preparation work is complete, the Brava tile can be installed.

Starter pieces are installed along the eaves, and the field tiles are installed in courses according to Brava’s requirements for exposure, spacing, overlap, and fastening.

Because Brava is a composite material, installers also need to allow for normal expansion and contraction as temperatures change. Brava’s installation instructions specify spacing between tiles rather than placing each piece tightly against the next one.

Installers use reference lines across the roof to keep the courses where they need to be. Careful layout helps the roof shed water properly, but it also has a big effect on how the finished roof looks.

Tile Layout Has a Big Effect on the Finished Appearance

Appearance is a major reason homeowners choose Brava. Cedar Shake is designed to have the variation and character of natural cedar, Old World Slate has the dimensional look of traditional slate, and Spanish Barrel has the profile of a traditional clay tile roof.

The installer needs to pay attention to how the courses line up, where cuts occur, how tiles meet adjoining areas, and how the pattern looks across the larger sections of the roof.

Our Mound project shows this on a relatively broad, highly visible lakeside roof. The original roof was natural cedar, so replacing it wasn’t simply a matter of choosing something that would keep water out. Brava Shake in Weathered needed to look appropriate on a house where the roof was already an important part of the architecture.

The same idea becomes even more noticeable on a complicated roof. Steep gables, dormers, valleys, and changing rooflines break the roof into smaller visible sections, so the installer has more transitions and cuts to work through.

When someone is investing in Brava partly because of its appearance, the layout of the finished roof deserves the same attention as the material selection.

Brava Roof Valleys, Hips, and Ridges Require Their Own Installation Details

Some of the most important details are found where different sections of the roof meet.

A valley is the inside angle where two roof slopes come together. Because water from both slopes drains toward it, a valley can handle a lot of water during heavy rain or snowmelt.

Brava has specific installation requirements for valleys. Depending on the approved valley detail being used, the work can include self-adhered waterproofing, valley metal, tile cuts, proper spacing, and keeping fasteners out of areas where they could create problems.

Hips and ridges are the outside and upper edges where roof slopes meet, and they are finished with the appropriate Brava pieces and installation details.

Our Atwater, Minnesota custom home is a useful example because these weren’t isolated details on one small section of roof. The project included numerous steep and intersecting roof planes, gables, dormers, valleys, hips, ridges, chimneys, and curved eave sections.

On a roof like that, the installer is repeatedly moving from an open section of tile into another valley, ridge, wall, dormer, or transition. Those details have to be planned as part of the installation rather than figured out after the field tile reaches them.

Flashing Protects the Areas Where Brava Roofing Meets Walls and Other Surfaces

Most homes have something that interrupts the main surface of the roof. There may be a chimney, dormer, plumbing vent, skylight, sidewall, or another section of the house meeting the roof.

Flashing directs water away from those areas and back onto the roof where it can drain away.

The durability of Brava tile doesn’t make flashing less important. If the chimney flashing is poorly installed, the fact that the surrounding tile may last for decades doesn’t fix the chimney flashing. The same applies to roof-to-wall areas, skylights, vents, and other penetrations.

Our Independence, Minnesota exterior project is a good example of flashing being treated as part of the finished work rather than an afterthought. Anchor replaced the home’s aging cedar roof with Class 4 Brava Shake and also installed custom copper flashing, along with copper half-round gutters and downspouts.

The copper adds to the architecture of the home, but the flashing still has a practical job to do. It has to move water away from the areas where the roof meets other parts of the structure.

“Valleys handle a lot of water, especially when snow is melting. I don’t want to rely on the tile alone in an area like that. The waterproofing, metal, cuts, and fasteners all need to be where they’re supposed to be.”
— Stu Hudson, Founder, Anchor Roofing & Exteriors

Chimneys, Skylights, Vents, and Dormers Need Their Own Roofing Details

The tile and flashing around a chimney have to be installed so water is directed around the masonry and back onto the roof. Skylights need to be flashed into the surrounding roofing, while plumbing vents and other roof penetrations have their own flashing details.

Dormers can involve several of these details in one small area. A dormer may create sidewalls, valleys, corners, flashing, and changes in the direction water travels across the roof.

The Atwater home shows how quickly those details can add up. Its roof includes multiple dormers and chimney penetrations along with intersecting roof sections. Instead of one large uninterrupted area of Brava Shake, the roofing has to work around the architecture throughout the house.

A house with several dormers, chimneys, skylights, or other architectural features will naturally require more detail work than a roof made up mostly of large, open slopes.

Complex Rooflines Require More Planning During a Brava Installation

The Atwater project is probably our clearest example of what we mean by a complex Brava roof.

This was a new custom home, so Anchor was able to work from the construction plans rather than starting with an existing roof. The plans already showed gables at different heights, dormers, curved eaves, chimney locations, valleys, and numerous roof transitions that needed to carry through into the finished home.

Brava Cedar Shake in Weathered was installed across those steep and intersecting roof sections. The material was a strong fit because the depth and variation of the shake helped define architecture that puts the roof front and center.

There is a practical side to that architecture. More gables, valleys, dormers, chimneys, and changes in direction mean more places where the installer has to stop working across an open roof and work through a detail.

“On a house like the Atwater project, you can’t treat every section of the roof the same. You have steep pitches, dormers, valleys, and roof sections coming together in different places. You work through those details one at a time and make sure the next part of the roof works with what you just finished.”
— Stu Hudson, Founder, Anchor Roofing & Exteriors

That is useful advice for a homeowner comparing Brava contractors. If your house has a complicated roof, ask to see a completed project with similar details. A contractor being familiar with Brava tile is useful. Seeing how they have handled Brava on a roof that actually resembles yours tells you more.

Installing Brava Roofing During a Minnesota Winter Requires the Right Conditions

Brava is made to handle very cold temperatures once it is on the roof, but installing it in cold weather is a separate issue.

Brava’s current cold-weather guidance states that the Brava material needs to be above 32°F during installation and recommends planning installation when temperatures are expected to remain above freezing during the workday.

Other roofing materials can have temperature limits too. The roof deck and underlayment need to be free of snow and ice, while underlayments and sealants may have their own minimum application temperatures. Materials may also need to be stored in a way that keeps them warm enough to install properly.

In Minnesota, winter installation depends on the weather and the conditions at the jobsite. The fact that a finished Brava roof can handle subzero weather doesn’t mean the material should be installed in any temperature.

A Properly Installed Brava Roof Starts With the Details You Won’t See

There usually isn’t one detail that determines whether a Brava roof was installed well. It is the quality of the work from the tear-off through the final pieces of roofing.

A good Brava installation should include:

• Inspecting the roof deck before it is covered
• Using the appropriate underlayment and waterproofing
• Protecting vulnerable areas with ice-and-water protection where required
• Proper flashing at walls, chimneys, skylights, and roof penetrations
• Careful work in valleys and other transitions
• Following Brava’s requirements for tile spacing, exposure, and fastening
• Planning the tile layout so the finished roof looks right
• Installing the materials under appropriate weather conditions
• Paying attention to the particular details of the home

The three projects in this article show how those details change from house to house.

Mound started with an existing natural cedar roof that had to be removed before the Brava replacement went on. Atwater started with construction plans and a highly complex new roof full of intersections and architectural details. Independence combined Brava with custom copper flashing and other exterior work where the roof details also contributed to the appearance of the house.

The material was Brava Shake in all three cases, but the roofing work was different on every home.

Experience Becomes More Important as the Roof Gets More Complex

Brava provides detailed installation instructions, but every house is different.

A real roof can have intersecting valleys, changing slopes, dormers, chimneys, walls, additions, older construction, and problems that don’t become visible until the existing roof is removed. The contractor needs to know how to apply Brava’s requirements to the roof in front of them.

Anchor Roofing & Exteriors is a Brava Preferred Contractor, and our experience goes beyond installing the tile itself. Our team works on everything from residential roof replacements like Mound to custom new construction like Atwater and larger exterior renovations like Independence.

For homeowners with a complicated roof, completed work is useful evidence. Look for projects that show valleys, dormers, chimneys, steep pitches, roof-to-wall intersections, or other details similar to your own home rather than judging a contractor only by photos of large open roof sections.

A Brava Roof Is Only as Good as the Work Underneath and Around the Tile

Brava gives Minnesota homeowners the appearance of cedar shake, slate, or traditional tile without using those natural materials. But the quality of the finished roof still depends on all of the work that happens before and around the tile.

The roof deck needs to be in good condition. The right underlayment and waterproofing need to be installed. Flashing needs to keep water out around chimneys, walls, skylights, and vents. Valleys and other intersections need to be handled correctly. Then the Brava tile needs to be laid out, spaced, fastened, and finished according to Brava’s installation requirements.

Our completed Brava projects also give homeowners something more useful than a generic installation claim. They can see a natural cedar replacement in Mound, a complex custom-home installation in Atwater, and a Brava and custom-copper exterior project in Independence and compare those roofs with their own home.

Anchor Roofing & Exteriors is a Brava Preferred Contractor with experience installing Brava on Minnesota homes, including steep and architecturally complex roofs. We can inspect the existing roof, explain what would be involved in replacing it with Brava, and show you relevant completed projects before you decide how you want to move forward.

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About Stu Hudson

Stu Hudson is the founder and owner of Anchor Roofing & Exteriors and has more than 25 years of hands-on construction and roofing experience. His background includes steep-slope roofing, complex custom homes, and projects that require careful planning around valleys, dormers, flashing, and other detailed roof areas. As a Brava Preferred Contractor, Anchor has installed Brava roofing on both roof replacements and custom new homes throughout Minnesota. Stu works closely with homeowners, builders, and remodelers to make sure the details underneath and around the finished roofing are handled correctly.

Questions to Ask a Contractor Before Hiring Them to Install a Brava Roof

Homeowners don’t need to know how to install Brava themselves, but a contractor should be able to clearly explain how they plan to handle the roof.

Have you installed the Brava product I’m considering before?

Cedar Shake, Old World Slate, and Spanish Barrel are different products. Ask to see completed work, particularly if your home has an unusual or complicated roof.

Have you completed a Brava project with a roof similar to mine?

A contractor may have installed Brava before without having worked on the same kinds of valleys, dormers, chimneys, steep slopes, or other details found on your house.

What happens after my existing roof is removed?

The contractor should be able to explain how the roof deck will be inspected and what happens if damaged or deteriorated decking is found.

What underlayment and ice-and-water protection will be used?

The answer should be based on the roof, the Brava product, local requirements, and Brava’s installation instructions.

Are there any areas of my roof that will require additional planning?

A good inspection should identify valleys, dormers, chimneys, skylights, walls, turrets, changing roof slopes, and other areas that deserve discussion before the project begins.

How will flashing be handled?

Ask specifically about chimneys, walls, skylights, vents, and existing flashing rather than treating flashing as a minor line item.

Who will be managing the installation?

It is useful to know who is responsible for the project and who will be checking the work as it progresses.

What does Brava’s manufacturer warranty cover, and what does the roofer’s workmanship warranty cover?

These warranties cover different things. Understanding both makes it easier to know who is responsible if there is ever a problem with the material or the installation.