By Damow
Cheshire,
United Kingdom 
First of all Merry Christmas to all out there. Do follow it with a productive New Year!
Now then to business...has anyone used old terracotta roof tiles to divide path (gravel) from border before? My plan would be to simply plunge them in, narrow side first, and then overlap them enough to form unbroken lengths. However, should this crazy cold be a feature of future winters, it occured to me that such continuous hard frosts might prove too much for them, being buried in the ground season upon season. What say you?
I'm am recycling wherever possible and want to avoid too fixed a solution, hence the tile idea. Think I may have seen it done in a magazine somewhere but not sure.
25 Dec, 2010
Answers
mine have been in for 19 years & still good, worth a try & look really nice.
25 Dec, 2010
I think ours were rather old to begin with.
26 Dec, 2010
apparantly mine are Dutch tiles with quite an exagerated curve down one edge, certainly different from English clay tiles. Got them cheap from a reclamation centre.
26 Dec, 2010
I've used them as you describe, overlapped, much as on a roof, but 'sideways' as it were, like a feather edge fence, and also in line, butted up ainst each other, set in a weak cement mix. Both mehods worked, but, dependant upon the tiles, they can get broken quite easily if knocked, so be prepared to be replacing with spares. I think if I did it again, I wouldn't use cement, but just sink them in the ground, where, unless they're interfered with, they seem to last a good few years. Worthy
26 Dec, 2010
Sounds like I might be ok to go ahead. The tiles I'm getting are being offered free so I suppose if I get 10 years out of them I shouldn't complain. Thanks again everyone. Ps. Bampy, NY is a hero to me also!
28 Dec, 2010
We did that, they have lasted about 10 years and are just beginning to crumble. Sadly I have had to remove them now and replace with a concrete edging block.
25 Dec, 2010