As a Santa Barbara home designer specializing in Spanish-style homes, I’ve spent years studying what makes our town’s iconic clay tile roofs so distinctive. Whether you’re building new or replacing an existing Spanish roof, the details matter!
While there are several quality tile brands and many installation approaches, I’ve consistently achieved the best results with specific choices: Redland tiles, thoughtfully selected color blends, petite profiles, and staggered installation techniques.
Here’s what I’ve learned works for achieving the timeless Spanish roofing aesthetic Santa Barbara is renowned for.
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“Hey guys, I thought I would share a breathtaking set of photos I shot up at a custom house project I designed, and the roofing team was just phenomenal. Period.
They knew exactly how to lay a Santa Barbara style red tile roof. And we of course had meetings with the client and the roofing team and the general contractor and myself before the actual tiles were laid.
In fact, we had a couple of different mock ups for spacing and boost and stagger, and all the things that go into a special roof like this—which I’ve outlined in the blog post below.”—Jeff Doubét, August 9, 2025
Santa Barbara Spanish Roofing: A Photo Gallery
Photos: Expert roofers install a Redland tile roof on a custom Jeff Doubet Spanish home design, under construction in beautiful Los Olivos, CA.
Spanish Roofing: Pro Recommendations for Quality Spanish Roof Tiles
I created this article for Santa Barbara and Montecito, CA homeowners who have discriminating taste, and would like to (in my opinion) install the very best in Spanish roof tiles.
Above: A closeup of the Spanish home design drawing I created for this project. I’ve been designing custom Santa Barbara Spanish home renovations and new builds for 22+ years.
My recommendations here are the same as those I share with clients who are designing, building or remodeling a high-end Spanish-style homes throughout our area.
Above: The design sketch comes alive as the front entry tower is being developed. Over those years I have learned of top products, and the nuanced installation techniques for them.
I have gained this knowledge from talking with local experts who sell these roofing materials, as well as the top roof installers.
A lot can be learned while attending on-site meetings with clients, their contractors and roofers. Also by observing a wide variety of installations at high-end roofing projects in Santa Barbara, Montecito and the Santa Ynez Valley.
Installing a high quality Santa Barbara Spanish-style roof will require several important considerations. At the top of my list for success is hiring an expert roofing team who knows the idiosyncrasies of exactly how to lay these particular clay roof tiles.
A Jeff Doubét recommended product for designing and building your charming, high-quality Spanish style home +landscape. A 240 page, full color Coffee Table Book.
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1) Choose a High Quality Brand for your Spanish Roofing Tiles
The next most important decision is choosing a high quality clay roof tile. The brand I recommend the most is Redland Clay Tile. In fact, Redland is the brand of clay roof tiles installed in the featured project photos on this page.
2) Choose an Appropriate Clay Roof Tile Size
For local Santa Barbara area projects, I highly recommend a petite clay roof tile. They are slightly smaller than a standard barrel roof tile and provide a more authentic, historic appearance.
The specific petite tiles I like to recommend (and are installed on this project) are Redland Clay Tile Baja Mission Sandcast 4300 series.
These Baja Mission roof tiles are considered petite. They are tapered from 6.75″ on the large end to 6″ on the small end. They measure 17.5″ in length. Compare their width to standard two-piece Mission roof tiles that average 8.5″ on the large end, tapering to 7″. The larger tiles are also longer… typically measuring 20″ in length.
3) Choose Spanish Roofing Color Appropriate for Santa Barbara
Clay roof tiles can be ordered in a variety of colors. There are a couple of colors and blends of colors I like and recommend for projects in the Santa Barbara and Montecito, CA. area.
The Spanish roofing colors specified for this project are: Redland Clay Tile (qty ratio) 80% of 4351 Old Hacienda Sandcast Blend mixed with (qty ratio) 20% of 4343 Cafe Antigua Sandcast Blend.
In future posts I will share additional roof tile color recommendations, and more Santa Barbara project photos helpful for those who seek to create a historic appearance.
The technique of blending a mix of clay roof tile colors enhances the three-dimensional aesthetic of your roof. It is also a way to create the highly desired, “aged look” for a custom built home.
4) The Best Way to Start A High Quality Spanish Roof
The handcrafted first course of installed roof tiles should be carefully planned with your roofer.
First, the pan tiles are set with cement mortar. They are installed 2 or 3 inches over the edge of the eave. This is so rain will drain off the front row of roof tiles, and directly into the gutter.
Short little “Booster” roof tiles (3″ in length) are added on top of pan tiles. These boosters give a “lift” to the front row of roof tiles and helps achieve a high quality textured look. Then, a row of shorter (14.5″ length) starter roof tiles are set on top of the boosters (shown below).
In this photo you can see the cupped pan tiles on the bottom row. They are tied with wire to the rows of twisted wire system installed all the way to the top ridge of the roof.
The dark gray smudges are actually weatherproofing that is smeared over the small deck anchor brackets. These are the attach method of the rows of twisted wires to the roof deck.
As an FYI, the special underlayment (material under the clay tiles) is what provides the bulk of the waterproofing for your tile roof home. The installed clay tiles are decorative and protect the underlayment.
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This twisted wire attachment system for Spanish roof tiles is preferred for earthquake and high wind prone areas of the country.
The heavy roof tiles are all wired into place. The wires allow some movement of individual tiles- without damaging the waterproofing of the house.
5) Staggering Your Spanish Roof Tiles For a higher Perceived Home Value
Another very important part of installing high quality Santa Barbara style Spanish roofing is to stagger the roof tiles. The purpose of staggering tiles is to give the roof a more handmade look.
The process of staggering roof tiles is indeed extra work for the roofers. Even though this is a tedious process and at an extra expense, the goal is to produce an exceptional roof. A timeless, handcrafted appearance that will increase the perceived value of your home.
In this close up photo you can see more details in how two piece mission tile Spanish roofing is installed. Note the use of roof tile nippers to roughly trim clay tiles to fit. Also, the small amount of cement mortar applied to the roof tiles just placed.
6) Upgrade Your Spanish Roof Tiles With Handcrafted Details
High quality Spanish clay roof tile manufacturers offer handcrafted detailing that replicate historic tiles. Shown throughout this post are Redland roof tiles, specified with a sandcast texture and a thumb-butt front edge detail.
In this photo you can see the subtle randomness to the tile color blends, and the random staggering of the tiles. Also, the surface texture of the Redland rustic mud wash finish.
In Spain and France, clay tile roofs can be hundreds of years old. Throughout Santa Barbara, I regularly see old tile roofs being carefully removed, stacked and re-installed over new underlayment materials. In other words, clay roof tiles can be recycled over and over again.
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7) Classic Santa Barbara Roof Details
Another traditional Santa Barbara detail in Spanish architecture is to incorporate “shadow lines” in exterior stucco (that radiate down from individual clay roof tiles). This is achieved through a multi-step process during the exterior plaster work.
Above: The first scratch coat of the exterior plaster has been applied. After it hardened, the roofing contractor was invited back to install the roof tiles along the gable ends.
This photo shows the second (brown) coat of exterior plaster after it was applied. Note how the special red stucco tape protects the roof tiles. The plaster team can apply the plaster right up to the individual roof tiles- creating the shadow lines.
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8) More Spanish Roof Details
As I conclude suggestions on how you can implement high quality Spanish-style roof details into your own project, I thought I would share a few more images.
A week or two after the roofers installed the roof, Santa Barbara sandstone boulders and flagstone were brought in for landscaping accents.
This is a Spanish-style cupola I designed for the whole house re-design and subsequent renovation. The cupola was built into a new gable roof added above the garage door.
Note the special care the roofers put into the clay roofing details. For example, how they stacked four roof tiles on each corner. Beautiful!
Learn more about other Santa Barbara style Spanish roofing techniques. Here you will find many other installation photos, including a hybrid roofing technique using primarily lightweight S-tile intermixed with 2-piece mission roof tiles.