- 1525 Ogden Ave Downers Grove, IL 60515
- Email Us
Composite tile, slate and cedar shake systems from Brava. Free inspection, written findings, and a straight answer on repair versus replacement.
Burr Ridge and Oak Brook have a housing stock most of the western suburbs do not: heavy cedar shake, tile profiles, and slate or slate-look roofs on homes built to a standard that asphalt would look wrong on. They also age differently. Cedar splits and cups. Tile and slate profiles crack individually rather than failing as a field, which is why a single storm can take out eight tiles and leave the rest sound.
Royal Craft has worked on these roofs out of Downers Grove since 1973. Start with a free roof inspection: you get drone imaging, an attic check, and written findings telling you what your roof actually is and what it actually needs.
Most of what we install on these homes is Brava composite roofing. It is moulded from recycled polymer and colored all the way through rather than surface-coated, so a chip does not show a different color underneath. Three profiles cover almost everything people ask us for:
The reason it comes up so often here is weight. Genuine slate and concrete tile are heavy enough that a structure built for one is not always built for the other, and a composite profile gets the same appearance at a fraction of the load. It also handles freeze-thaw better than cedar does, which matters more in Chicago than it does in most of the country.
These roofs usually fail in one spot, not across the whole field, and the repair is a matching problem more than a roofing problem.
A recent example from a Victorian near Denburn Woods: a straight-line wind event took several synthetic slate-look tiles off the west-facing dormer. The damage turned out to be contained to one eight-tile area near the dormer valley, and the flashing underneath was still sound. We sourced the specific tile from the original manufacturer so the color matched, replaced the dormer flashing as preventive work while we were up there, and did not push a full replacement the homeowner did not need.
That is the normal shape of this work. If you have a leak or storm damage, our roof repair page covers the process, and the inspection is free either way.
Cedar shake typically gives 20 to 30 years in this climate. Toward the end of that, homeowners here generally face three options, and which one is right depends on the deck condition and how much of the field has gone:
We will tell you which the roof is actually asking for. In Burr Oaks Glen we have also replaced cedar with architectural shingles where the homeowner wanted the cost down and the profile was not critical.
Composite tile, slate and shake cost more than asphalt and less than genuine slate. The spread is wide enough that a number without your roof in front of us would not be worth much, so we do two things instead.
You can run your own numbers with the Brava roof cost calculator, which estimates by roof area and profile. Or book the free inspection and get pricing on site rather than a follow-up appointment. There is also a general roof cost calculator if you are comparing against asphalt.
For larger projects, financing is available.
Most of our tile, slate and shake work is in Burr Ridge, Oak Brook, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs, Darien, Downers Grove, Westmont. Royal Craft is based on Ogden Ave in Downers Grove, so all of these are inside our normal radius.
Reasonable question, and the honest answer is that it depends on the profile and the sightlines. Brava is moulded from real shake and slate so the face varies rather than repeating, and the color runs through the material. On a two-storey elevation most people cannot tell. We can show you finished work nearby before you commit.
Usually not. These roofs fail locally far more often than they fail as a field. The Denburn Woods job above was eight tiles. The inspection tells you which situation you are in.
That is exactly why weight comes up in the first conversation. Genuine slate and concrete tile are heavy, and a structure framed for asphalt or cedar is not automatically framed for them. Composite profiles weigh a fraction of the equivalent in stone or concrete, which is often what makes the look achievable at all.
Longer than the cedar it usually replaces. We register the manufacturer warranty in your name and back our own work with a 10-year workmanship warranty.
Ask us before you assume either way. Natural slate and true clay or concrete tile are a different trade from composite, and the right answer depends on what is actually on your roof. The free inspection identifies the material first, and we will tell you plainly whether it is work we take on.
Tell us the address and what you are seeing. We will identify the material, tell you whether it is a repair or a replacement, and put the findings in writing.