The short answer first: you replace a loose or broken roof tile by lifting the tile above it slightly, unhooking the damaged tile from the batten at its bottom edge, and pulling it out. Then you slide a new tile of the same model back in until the nib hooks over the batten again. One tile is a five minute job. The real work is getting onto the roof safely and finding the right replacement tile.
That is usually where it stalls. A tiled roof is lethal to walk on, and your old tile model is often no longer for sale. Do not underestimate either of those.
Below you’ll find when replacement is needed, how to work safely on the roof, how to tackle a loose, broken or slipped tile, what to do about ridge tiles, when to call a roofer, and what the whole thing costs.
When do you need to replace roof tiles?
You replace a single tile as soon as it is broken or gone. But there are also signs that something bigger is going on. Check your roof at least once a year with binoculars from ground level, ideally after winter and after a storm.
Replace, or have it inspected, as soon as you see this:
- A broken, cracked or flaking tile. Water is running through to the roof deck.
- A slipped or crooked tile. Wind, birds or a cat can lift a tile off its batten.
- A tile blown off after a storm. Have a look whether the neighbours have one of yours in their garden.
- Powdery, crumbling or crazed tiles (a fine pattern of hairline cracks in the surface). That is frost damage: the tile has soaked up water and is cracking from the inside out in freezing weather.
- A thick layer of moss between and on top of the tiles (more on that further down).
- Damp patches in the loft, wet roof boarding, or daylight where it does not belong.
Not sure whether it will stay at one tile? Have a roofer inspect it before you start fiddling yourself. Small damage now is cheaper than rotten timber in the roof structure later.
How do you work out which type of tile you have?
This is the step most DIYers skip, and it is exactly where things go wrong. You cannot just replace a broken tile with “a roof tile from the builders’ merchant”. Tiles interlock with side and head locks, and those only fit the same model.
Broadly speaking, there are two materials:
| Material | Characteristic | Service life |
|---|---|---|
| Clay (fired ceramic) | Harder, often glazed or engobed, colourfast | Roughly 50 to 70 years, glazed sometimes longer |
| Concrete | Coarser surface, discolours and fades faster | Roughly 30 to 50 years |
On top of that there are dozens of models: old Dutch pantiles, improved Dutch pantiles, trough tiles, improved fast-lay interlocking tiles, tuile du nord, Roman tiles and the modern flat storm tiles. Every model has its own size and its own interlock.
So first work out what you’ve got:
- Take a whole, undamaged tile off the roof (or grab a spare from the shed, plenty of houses still have some left over from when they were built).
- Look at the underside for a moulded-in brand and model name. Almost every tile has one. Think of names like Koramic, Monier, Wienerberger or Nelskamp.
- Look that model up online, or take the tile along to a roof tile merchant.
Can’t find any lettering? Then measure the tile (length, width, covering width) and photograph the top, underside and side. A specialist roof tile merchant can often identify the model from a photo.
What if my roof tile is no longer available?
Perfectly normal with older roofs. Models get discontinued, and then an exact new tile is simply no longer for sale.
You then have three options:
- Reclaimed tiles. There are dealers and online marketplaces that sell nothing but used, discontinued roof tiles, by the tile or by the pallet. Often you’ll still track down your exact model that way.
- Poach a spare tile from somewhere nobody sees. Do you have an extension, a garage or a rear elevation nobody looks at? Take a good tile from there for the visible front, and lay a non-matching tile or a modern storm tile that fits the dimensions in the spot nobody sees.
- A comparable model that matches in size and interlock. Get advice from a roof tile merchant on this, because a tile that not quite fits will leak or sit loose.
Rule of thumb: when you do a repair, buy a few spare tiles at the same time and keep them dry in the shed. In ten years you’ll be glad you did.
Working safely on the roof: read this first
This is the most important part of this article. Working on a pitched roof is genuinely dangerous. From a roof pitch of about 15 degrees you’re already talking about a pitched roof, and most house roofs are a good deal steeper than that. A fall from up there rarely ends well.
Be honest with yourself. Do not go up on the roof yourself if:
- Your roof is steep or your house is tall (two storeys or more).
- The tiles are wet, mossy or frosted over. Then it is like glass.
- It’s windy (from force 6 professionals stop roof work) or rain is coming in.
- You’re afraid of heights or don’t feel confident.
- You don’t have proper fall protection or a decent ladder.
If you do go up, stick to the following:
- Never walk directly on the tiles. They aren’t made to carry your weight and will break or slide away under your foot. Use a roof ladder or a crawling board with roof hooks that hooks over the ridge and spreads your weight.
- Secure yourself with a harness and line to a safe anchor point. Professionals use roof anchors to EN 517 and crawling boards or roof ladders to EN 516.
- Set your ladder firmly, at the right angle (about 1 in 4), and secure it against slipping.
- Never work alone. Make sure someone is standing at the bottom.
- Lift tiles by the side, not by the nose, and put loose tiles down so they can’t slide off.
Sound like a lot of faff for one tile? It is. On a steep or tall roof, a roofer with the right kit is not expensive set against the chance of a fall. More on that at the bottom.
Replacing a loose roof tile: step by step
An ordinary pitched-roof tile usually isn’t fixed down. It hangs by its nib at the top over a batten and interlocks with the neighbouring tile at the side. That makes replacement simple, as soon as you can safely reach the tile.
1. Lift the tiles above it slightly
The tile you want to replace is overlapped at the top by the row of tiles above. Lift that tile (or tiles) a few centimetres and, if needed, slide a wooden wedge or a batten offcut underneath to hold them open.
2. Unhook the broken tile
Push the tile you’re replacing up a little so the nib comes free of the batten, tilt the bottom edge upwards and pull the tile towards you. On most models it comes out smoothly.
3. Check what’s underneath
While you’ve got a gap anyway: take a look at the roof deck. Is the batten sitting properly? Is the weatherproofing layer (breather membrane, or boarding with roofing felt) sound and dry? If you see wet patches, rotten timber or a torn membrane, there’s more going on than one tile, and you call a roofer.
4. Slide the new tile in
Fit the new (identical) tile the other way round: slide it under the tiles above, drop the side interlock into the neighbouring tile and push it up until the nib hooks over the batten again. It should sit flat and not rock.
5. Lay the tiles above back down
Take the wedge out and let the tiles above settle back down over the new tile. Check that everything lines up and overlaps neatly.
Done. Water runs down from tile to tile, so as long as everything overlaps and the interlocks are right, your roof is watertight again.
Replacing a broken roof tile
Is the tile broken and stuck, and you can’t get it out in one piece? Then work like this:
- Remove the fragments carefully, bit by bit. Wear gloves, clay is razor sharp.
- Make sure no broken pieces are left under the tiles or in the gutter. Those block the outlet or hold water.
- If a piece is jammed under the tile above, lift that one as described earlier.
- Then fit the new tile following the steps above.
If a tile has broken because of frost, take a moment to look at the tiles around it. Frost damage often shows up in patches, especially on the north side or under overhanging trees where the roof stays wet for a long time.
Slipped roof tiles: look first, then slide them back
A slipped tile doesn’t always need replacing. Often it has just been lifted off its batten by wind, a bird or a cat.
- Is the tile still intact? Lift it slightly and slide it back until the nib hooks over the batten again and the side interlock drops into the neighbouring tile.
- Do several tiles keep slipping in the same spot? Then something is probably wrong with the batten, there’s a broken tile underneath, or the fixing is missing. Have it checked.
- In wind-exposed spots (roof edges, corners, the bottom course), tiles are often held down with storm clips or tile screws. If those aren’t there and a tile keeps working loose, adding them is a sensible move.
Never “just quickly” straighten a tile by climbing onto the roof without fall protection. This counts as working at height too.
Ridge tiles: bedded in mortar or dry-fixed?
The ridge is the top edge where two roof slopes meet, capped with ridge tiles (the half-round tiles on top). It’s a vulnerable point, because the ridge catches the most wind and weather.
There are two ways the ridge can be finished:
1. Traditionally bedded in mortar.
The ridge tiles are fixed with mortar. That mortar weathers over the years, cracks and crumbles out. Loose or rattling ridge tiles are the result, and that’s a serious risk: a ridge tile falling off the roof is heavy.
Loose mortar-bedded ridge tiles can be re-bedded, but that’s skilled work and it happens at the highest, most dangerous point of the roof. This is genuinely one for a roofer.
2. Dry ridge.
Modern roofs often have a dry ridge: the ridge tiles are screwed to a ridge batten bracket, with a ventilated, waterproof ridge roll underneath. No mortar to crack, and the ridge can breathe. If a mortar-bedded ridge is being tackled anyway, switching straight to a dry ridge is often the more durable choice.
Can you see cracks in the ridge mortar or crooked ridge tiles from the ground? Don’t wait, because this is one of the first places a tiled roof starts to leak.
Moss on the roof: why it destroys tiles
Moss isn’t just ugly. It’s a genuine cause of broken tiles, and a lot of people don’t know that.
Here’s how it works: moss holds water like a sponge. That water creeps into the pores of the tile and sits in the moss instead of running off. When it freezes in winter, that water expands. That expansion breaks the tile apart from the inside: first fine hairline cracks (crazing), then flaking and breaking.
On top of that, a thick layer of moss pushes water underneath the tiles and blocks the gutters.
What to do about it:
- Remove moss gently, ideally dry and by hand or with a soft brush. Don’t go at it with a pressure washer: that blasts water under the tiles, damages the tile’s surface layer (especially concrete) and actually speeds up the wear.
- Leave a big cleaning job to a specialist company that works from scaffolding or with fall protection.
- Tackle the cause where you can: prune back overhanging branches so the roof dries out faster. Moss loves shade, damp and the north side.
In short: removing moss is maintenance that genuinely extends the life of your tiles.
When does the whole roof slope need replacing?
Sometimes patching in loose tiles is just papering over the cracks. Consider doing the whole roof slope (re-laying or renewing it) if:
- You keep having to replace tiles because they’ve gone powdery and brittle. On an old roof, all the tiles are getting on in years by then.
- The tiles are nearing the end of their life (concrete after roughly 30 to 50 years, clay after 50 to 70 years).
- The roof deck is no longer sound: rotten battens, damaged or missing weatherproof membrane, wet insulation.
- You’re renovating or insulating anyway. Roof off means insulating properly at the same time, and new modern storm tiles that you fix down with clips.
For a completely new roof slope, the old tiles and battens are stripped off, the roof deck is inspected and repaired, and new battens and tiles go on. That’s an investment, but then you’re sorted for decades.
What does replacing roof tiles cost?
The prices below are guide figures for 2026, including VAT, and they vary by region, roof pitch and access. Treat them as a range, not a quote.
Replacing a single tile yourself (materials):
| Item | Guide price |
|---|---|
| Single roof tile (new, each) | around 1 to 3 euros |
| Delivery cost for individual tiles online | often 10 to 20 euros per order |
| Reclaimed/discontinued tile | varies, per tile or per pallet |
So a few spare tiles cost next to nothing. The “expensive” part isn’t the tile, it’s getting onto the roof safely.
Bringing in a roofer:
| Item | Guide price |
|---|---|
| Roofer laying in individual tiles | around 5 to 15 euros per tile |
| Roofer’s hourly rate | around 40 to 70 euros per hour, excluding materials |
| Call-out charge | separate, budget for this on small jobs |
Watch out: with individual tiles you pay the call-out charge and labour all over again each time. So get everything that needs doing done in one go.
Having a whole roof slope re-laid:
| Item | Guide price |
|---|---|
| Replacing roof tiles (labour + tiles) | around 50 to 150 euros per m² |
| Tiles only (materials, concrete) | around 30 to 40 euros per m² |
| Tiles only (materials, clay) | around 35 to 75 euros per m² |
| Complete tiled roof, average house | roughly 3,000 to 12,000 euros |
The wide spread comes from the roof type, roof size, the tile model you choose and the condition of the substructure. If you want to insulate at the same time, the price per m² climbs considerably. Always get several quotes.
When do you call in a professional?
Putting a single loose tile back on a low, shallow-pitched outbuilding roof yourself: perfectly doable, as long as you go about it safely.
Call a roofer as soon as:
- Your roof is steep or tall, or hard to get to.
- The job is at the ridge (re-bedding or replacing ridge tiles).
- Several tiles are broken, or the roof is getting on in years.
- You see damage to the roof deck, battens or membrane when you open it up.
- You have doubts about your own safety. That’s not weakness, that’s sense.
A good roofer already has the scaffolding, roof hooks and fall protection standing ready. That’s exactly what you’re paying for.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a roof tile myself?
You can replace a single loose or broken tile yourself on an easily accessible roof that isn’t too steep. You lift the tiles above, unhook the broken tile and slide an identical one back in. The biggest condition is safety: work with a roof ladder or a crawling board with roof hooks, and secure yourself. For a steep or tall roof, or work at the ridge, you bring in a roofer.
Where do I find a replacement roof tile that’s no longer made?
At dealers in reclaimed and discontinued roof tiles, and on online marketplaces. Take your old tile with you, or photograph the top, underside and side plus the moulded-in brand and model name. If you can’t track down your exact model, use a good tile from somewhere nobody sees (extension, rear elevation) for the visible front.
How long do roof tiles last?
Concrete roof tiles last 30 to 50 years on average, clay tiles roughly 50 to 70 years, and glazed clay tiles sometimes longer still. Good maintenance, such as removing moss in good time, extends their life. Powdery, crumbling or crazed tiles are finished and due for replacement.
Is moss on roof tiles harmful?
Yes. Moss holds water that creeps into the pores of the tile. In freezing weather that water expands and breaks the tile apart from the inside, which leads to hairline cracks and flaking. A thick layer of moss also pushes water under the tiles and blocks the gutters. So remove moss gently and dry, not with a pressure washer.
What does it cost to have a single roof tile replaced?
A new tile costs you around 1 to 3 euros yourself. If you have a roofer lay in individual tiles, reckon on around 5 to 15 euros per tile, plus their hourly rate (roughly 40 to 70 euros) and a call-out charge. Because you pay that call-out charge every single time, it’s smart to combine several jobs into one visit.
When does my whole roof need replacing instead of individual tiles?
When you keep having to replace brittle, powdery tiles, when the roof is nearing the end of its life, or when the roof deck (battens and weatherproof membrane) is no longer sound. With a big renovation or insulation job too, re-laying the whole roof slope is often more sensible than carrying on patching.
Besides that broken tile, are you really getting stuck into your roof, an extension or a dormer? Then make sure the roof build-up is right from the start: roof pitch, battens, ridge detail and the weatherproofing layer all need to be properly drawn up before the first tile goes on. At fredsdiyplans.com you’ll find building plans with that roof structure neatly drawn in, so your project lands right and safe first time.