Lifetime of roofs in Japan

[Lothor]

Our house is 25 years old and the company who built it (Daiwa House) did a free 25 year inspection of our place the other day. I wasn't there at the time but according to Ms Lothor, they were muttering about the roof and mentioned a figure of 5 million to replace it. I suspect it's scaremongering and that the job could be done a lot cheaper if necessary. The roof looks fine to me.
Any long-term residents ever had roofing issues or know how long they tend to last in Japan? If it helps, it's a standard sloped roof with rectangular tiles not the traditional ones.

 

[Mike Cash]

屋根種類ごとの寿命年数と1日でも長く延命させる方法

 

[thomas]

We are currently in the process of having our house (12 years old) replastered and repainted. Upon inspecting the roof it was found out that almost all the roof tiles had cracks.

There is in fact a cheaper option than replacing the whole roof: sealing the cracks with silicone and applying a layer of galvalume (ガリバリウム). That technique is supposed to add another 25-30 years of protection and costs about 7-8% of what Daiwa House have quoted you, at least in our case.

 

[johnnyG]

We have traditional tiles, tar paper underneath. House is maybe 45 yrs old.

20 yrs or so ago a neighbour (w/2nd floor slightly above us) pointed out some out of place tiles. I reset them and used some sealant on a couple that were cracked.

Never any leaks, etc., but I'm sure if we asked some company, they'd offer reasons it should be replaced!

Due to modern construction site regulations we're not able to rebuild on our plot--so we've considered a mega-reform: take it down to the absolute barest minimal skeleton allowed, and "rebuild" from there.

Maybe...

 

[Lothor]

Thank you very much for the useful comments. It really is good to know that there are cheaper alternatives - allow me to buy you a virtual beer Thomas!
Johnny - 45 years old? We're hoping to stay in our place as long as possible, which may be feasible since we've got a reinforced steel structure. Have you had to put in a lot of maintenance while you've been living there?

 

[johnnyG]

...
Johnny - 45 years old? We're hoping to stay in our place as long as possible, which may be feasible since we've got a reinforced steel structure. Have you had to put in a lot of maintenance while you've been living there?

We've been in this place for 27 of its 45 or so years. Nothing other than I described for the roof, but I've done a fair amount of interior work. 16-18 yrs ago we had our kitchen done by pros and it came out really well--still looks fine (but we're on our second dishwasher and second or third set of burners/grill).

 

[thomas]

You can use Galvalume Roofing as your roof material, Galvalume Roofing life of up to 30 years

This has already been pointed out to the OP. Please do not advertise any companies here!