Question answered
Roof tiles blown off in the wind: what now?
The short answer
If roof tiles have blown off in the wind, stay off the roof and keep people clear of the area below. Photograph the damage and any fallen tiles from the ground, check ceilings and the loft for water, and contact your insurer. Then arrange a roofer to make the gap weatherproof. Permanent repair comes once the reason the tiles lifted is understood.
Finding tiles on the lawn after a gale is unsettling, but the next hour is simple: keep everyone safe, record what happened, limit any water and arrange a proper look at the roof.
Make the ground safe before anything else
Broken tiles on a path, drive or lawn are sharp and heavy enough to injure. Look up before you walk beneath the eaves, because loose tiles may still be sitting on the slope, held only by their neighbours. Another gust can bring them down, and a tile falling from eaves height is easily enough to hurt someone standing underneath.
Keep children, pets and neighbours away from that side of the house until the roof has been checked. If tiles have landed on a car or a shared path, tell the people affected. Do not gather tiles from directly under a damaged edge.
Resist the urge to climb up and push things back. Tiles that have lifted may be resting on other loosened ones, and the slope is slippery and exposed. Binoculars from a safe spot give you a better view of the gap than a ladder does, and nobody gets hurt using them. A phone camera on its zoom setting does the same job and gives you a record at once.
Photograph, collect and write it down
Take pictures of the fallen tiles where they landed, of the gap in the roof from several angles, and of any other damage, such as a bent gutter or a shifted ridge. Write down the day, roughly when you heard or saw it happen, and how the wind was behaving. If you can, keep the broken tiles, since a roofer can match the type from them.
Look at the broken edges. Clean, bright fractures suggest sudden damage; old, mossy, flaking or already-cracked tiles suggest age, and your insurer will want to know which. The wider test of a storm claim is set out on the page about what counts as a storm.
Contact the insurer before any permanent work is ordered, and keep a note of who you spoke to and when. A claim that begins with dated photographs and a clear account is far easier to deal with than one pieced together weeks afterwards.
Check for water indoors
A gap in the covering does not always mean an immediate leak, because the underlay beneath is a second line of defence. It will not last through a downpour, though, and old underlay can tear or sag. Look at the ceilings under the damaged area and, if you can do so safely, shine a torch around the loft for damp timber or drips.
If you find water, put a bucket under it and move belongings away. If it has reached a light fitting or socket, isolate that circuit at the consumer unit and read what to do with a leak near electrics. If a ceiling is sagging with trapped water, the bulging ceiling guide describes a safe way to drain it.
Do not assume the trouble ends at the visible gap. Wind often loosens several tiles together, and the loosened ones can look perfectly normal from below.
Temporary cover and the permanent fix
A roofer can fit temporary protection, usually a secured sheet or replacement tiles over a small area, so the loft stays dry until the repair is planned. The temporary roof repairs page sets out the options and what each achieves.
The lasting repair starts with the reason the tiles lifted. Wind suction is strongest on lower pitches and exposed edges, so the verge, ridge and eaves are where we look first. Since the 2014 revision of BS 5534, ridges and hips can no longer depend on a mortar bed alone and get a mechanical fixing too, while single-lap tiles carry at least one mechanical fixing each. Where the failed tiles were held by gravity or tired mortar, the better answer is to refix the whole area to current practice, not just drop new tiles into the hole.
Our guide to tile fixing in coastal wind explains the detail.
What we check on site
We look at the gap, then at everything around it: the tiles either side, the battens beneath, the underlay, the ridge and the verge line. Blown-off tiles often point to a fixing problem across a wider area, and finding it early means one visit instead of several.
You are sent pictures of what we found up there, and the written quote gives one price for the repair. Where a few tiles and a batten or two will properly cure it, that is what we recommend. Where the fixings across a whole slope have failed, we explain why and what the alternative would cost you later.
If the tiles came from next door, the case has its own page: a neighbour's tiles damaging your roof. For the next forecast gale, the emergency roof repairs hub lists the checks to make beforehand.
Blown tile questions
Can I just push the loose tiles back into place myself?
No. Tiles that look easy to reach sit on a wet, sloping surface, and a replaced tile that is not fixed will blow off again. Call a roofer, who can refit tiles with the right clips or nails, and use binoculars from the ground to see what has happened.
Will a single missing tile cause a leak?
It can, though not always straight away. The underlay may keep the water out for a while, particularly in light rain. Heavy or wind-driven rain, or a tear in old underlay, can let it through. A missing tile is worth covering promptly, however small the gap looks.
Tell us about your roof
Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.
- Photographs of what we find
- A written quote with one total price
- Or call 01903 299063
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.