Roof tiles are designed mainly to keep out rain and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as terracotta or slate. Modern materials such as concrete and plastic are also used, and some clay tiles have a waterproof glaze.

Roof tiles are ‘hung’ from the framework of a roof by fixing them with nails. The tiles are usually hung in parallel rows, with each row overlapping the row below it to exclude rainwater and to cover the nails that hold the row below. There are also roof tiles for special positions, particularly where the planes of the several pitches meet. They include ridge, hip, and valley tiles. These can either be bedded and pointed in cement mortar or mechanically fixed.

Similarly, to roof tiling, tiling has been used to provide a protective weather envelope to the sides of timber frame buildings. These are hung on laths nailed to wall timbers, with tiles specially molded to cover corners and jambs. Often these tiles are shaped at the exposed end to give a decorative effect. Another form of this is the so-called mathematical tile, which was hung on laths, nailed, and then grouted. This form of tiling gives an imitation of brickwork and was developed to give the appearance of brick but avoided the brick taxes of the 18th century.

Slate roof tiles were traditional in some areas near sources of supply and gave thin and light tiles when the slate was split into its natural layers. It is no longer a cheap material, however, and is now less common.