Question answered
A ridge tile has fallen off: what now?
The short answer
Keep people and pets away from where the tile landed, and do not climb up to look. From the lawn, take pictures of the gap, hold on to the broken pieces for matching, and ask a roofer to cover the opening and refix the ridge. A missing ridge tile exposes the underlay and the rafter tops to the weather, so temporary cover and the lasting repair should follow quickly.
A tile that has dropped from the top of the roof leaves an open gap along the ridge, where wind and rain can reach the timbers. Here is what to do today and how the repair is made.
Make the ground safe, then look from below
The first job is on the ground. A ridge tile weighs enough to hurt anyone it lands on, and broken edges are sharp. Check where it fell, move the pieces away from paths, gates and the car, and warn the neighbours if the tile came down on their side of the fence.
Then look up from a safe spot. Binoculars, or a phone camera on full zoom, will show the gap, the line of mortar either side and whether the tiles next to it have shifted. Take a few pictures in daylight. They tell a roofer a great deal before the visit, and they record the date and the state of the damage if you ever need to refer back to it.
Stay off ladders while it is windy. A gale that dislodged one tile can easily pull at its neighbours, and the crest is the most exposed spot on the whole house, so a second tile may follow before you have finished looking.
Why a gap at the top matters even if the loft looks dry
The ridge is the high line of the roof, where the rising slopes come together. The tiles that sit over that line, bedded on mortar or clipped on, close the narrow slot between the slopes. Take one away and the upper ends of the underlay, the battens and sometimes the rafters are open to the sky.
Rain driven across the roof can then enter at the very top and run down inside the structure, so the first sign may be a stain on a bedroom ceiling a long way from the gap. Sunlight also ages exposed underlay, and birds and wasps look for a gap like this to nest in.
The tiles on either side of the hole lose the support of the one that fell. Their bedding is often loose too, which is why a single missing tile is rarely a single-tile job, and why the neighbouring ones are tested by hand before any repair is planned.
Temporary cover until the repair is made
Temporary cover is a roofer's task, because it means working at the ridge. Usually a sheet or tarpaulin goes over the gap and is held down under the neighbouring tiles or battened across, so wind cannot flap it loose. A leaking roof gets priority from us, and the first visit makes it safe before the permanent work is planned.
What you can do indoors is simple. Shine a torch along the timbers under the gap for damp, and set a bucket or dust sheet where water is coming through and shift stored belongings out of the way. Switch off and keep clear of any wet light fittings below the area.
Resist the urge to fill the gap with expanding foam, sealant or a spare broken piece wedged in place. These hide the problem, trap damp against the timber and make the proper repair harder to carry out.
How the ridge is refixed
The permanent repair starts with finding a matching tile. Ridge profiles, colours and weathering vary, and a bright new tile beside faded ones is noticeable from the road. We keep your broken pieces as a pattern, and check the bedding either side by hand.
Loose or crumbling mortar is cleared back, and the replacement is then bedded and fixed. Since the 2014 revision of BS 5534, a ridge tile is not left to its mortar alone: a fixing goes in beside the bedding. On many roofs a dry ridge system is the better answer, and that decision depends on what is already up there.
If several tiles along the run have gone soft, lifting and relaying the length is often sounder than patching one gap. Our page on ridge rebedding explains when that applies.
What else we check on the day
A tile that falls usually has a reason. Old bedding can shrink and lose its grip, a gale can lift a run that was only lightly held, or a hairline crack may have been growing for a while. The page on a cracked ridge tile shows what to look for on the ones that remain.
The gable edges deserve a look at the same visit. Verge caps on a dry system can blow off in the same weather, and blown dry verge caps explains how that failure is dealt with.
Photographs from the survey show the ridge as we found it, and a written price for the repair arrives as a single sum. The wider list of ridge work sits under ridge tile repairs, and the repair is matched to what the survey turns up, not to the largest job available.
A missing ridge tile: two practical points
Can a missing ridge tile wait until the weather settles?
If the roof is dry inside, it can wait a few days for a booked repair, provided the gap is covered. Left open, the underlay degrades and rain reaches the timbers, and the next gale may take more tiles. A leak or a run of loose tiles should be seen sooner.
Should I keep the pieces of the broken tile?
Yes. Collect them carefully, wearing gloves, and store them somewhere dry. A roofer can match the profile, size, colour and glaze from the fragments, which saves guesswork and helps source a tile that blends with the others along the ridge.
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.