With over 10 years of roofing experience, one general question I always get asked is this: What is the true name? Gerard, Stonetiles, Metrotiles, or Stonecoated?
In fact, I do not think I have come accross any client who does not find this confusing. I decided to dig deep and lay the matter to rest.
What is the true name? Gerard, Stonetiles, Metrotiles, or Stonecoated?
If you are a Nigerian reading this, then you will definitely know that every toothpaste brand in Nigeria is called Maclean and every instant noodle is called Indomie or every detergent is called omo (hahaha).
Do not mind me, I am kidding. But just as we have these generic trademarks for different sectors, we also do have it in the roofing sector.
Stone-coated roof tiles also have various designs like Bond, Classic, Milano, Roman, Shingle, Shake, etc. These different designs also come in various colours like Spanish Red (Wine Red), Wine Red and Black Patches, Pure Black colour, Black with white patches, Green, Nut Brown etc.
The original founders (Gerard) initially called it stonetiles.
So where is the name metro tiles from?
After stone-coated roofing sheet was introduced in Nigeria by Gerard roofs, it was mostly used by the country’s elite who imported them from New Zealand (the parent country). This became a symbol of wealth and was mostly seen in urban cities like Abuja and Lagos. This led people who didn’t fully know the name to call it Metropolitan tiles (In short form, metro tiles). So the word metro is shortened from metropolitan which describes something related to large cities.
Today, the name is no longer common but still in use but people use stonetiles/Gerard more while describing stone-coated roofing sheets.
Why do people call it Gerard or Stonetiles instead of Stone-coated?
So like I cited earlier, Gerard is a generic trademark for stone-coated roof tiles. That is, Gerard is a brand name just like Indomie, Omo, Google, Excel, etc. In fact, in Nigeria today, most of the stone-coated roof tiles in circulation are not Gerard Roofs. They are mostly produced from “you know where” but they are produced based on the popular Gerard standards and have little differences.
The common stonecoated roof tiles in Nigeria today way around 3 to 5 Kg per sqm while Gerard Roofs weigh around 7 kg per sqm.
They have the same look, they are also produced from alu zinc coated with stone chips.
The word stonetiles is simply a shortened form of stonecoated roof tiles.
I believe with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you on the naming conventions of Nigeria’s favourite roof tile.
I am more than pleased to here from you. Please do give me a call to place your order 08059431517
I am very glad to have come across your write ups and deep explanations of your products, that creates wider understanding to your clients.
We have a building in the East that we are planning to roof, but with inflation of products prices nowadays , I would like to know if you have branches in the East and what price you can supply to us.
Hope to hear from you
Thanks for your warm feedback Engineer. Although we do not have a branch in the east, we currently supply to all parts of the East from Lagos.