The short answer
Keep people and pets clear of the area where the tile landed, photograph it from the ground, and do not climb up to look. Tell your roofer or insurer, because a missing ridge tile leaves the roof open to rain and the tiles beside it are probably loose too. A temporary cover can be fitted, followed by a replacement matched to your existing tiles.
First, make the area safe
Capping tiles run along the apex of a pitched roof, bedded in mortar or clipped on, and a missing one has dropped from the highest point of the house. Others may follow. Start at ground level.
Move people, pets and cars away from the strip beneath the gable or slope where it landed. Pick up broken pieces with gloves if they are on a path or drive, and keep children away until you have. Bag any small fragments, but leave larger pieces where they lie until you have photographed them, so the broken edge can be examined. Photograph the tile and the spot where it lies, and take a wide shot of the roof as well, because a picture of the gap from the pavement tells a roofer a lot before they arrive.
Stay off the roof yourself, and keep a ladder away from loose tiles. A ridge is a poor place to put your weight, and a ladder resting near the gap can bring more tiles down. If the fallen tile has damaged a car, a fence or a neighbour's property, tell your insurer as well as your roofer. On a semi or terrace the ridge often runs across both homes, so let your neighbour know too, since the loose stretch may carry on past the boundary.
Why one fallen tile usually means more are loose
Ridge tiles are laid in a continuous line, each one bedded onto the same mortar and held by the same fixings. When one comes off, the cause is often shared along the run: bedding that has perished, or fixings that have corroded or never been fitted. The tiles either side of the gap have lost some of their support and are the next most likely to move.
In a high wind, a ridge with a gap in it behaves badly. Air gets under the tiles on either side and lifts them, so a single missing tile can turn into several. Our guide to storm-loosened ridge tiles explains why ridges loosen before they fall, and the same risks apply once a gap has opened.
What we check on the rest of the ridge
We press each remaining tile, look for mortar crumbs and rust staining, and check the end tiles and any hip tiles that join the ridge. We note whether the fallen tile broke away from sound bedding or took its bed with it, because that tells us how far the fault runs.
Temporary cover and keeping the rain out
A gap in the ridge is a direct route for rain into the roof space, because the ridge sits above the underlay's highest edge. Where the weather is turning, a temporary cover is sensible while a permanent repair is arranged. A roof that is actively leaking comes ahead of routine jobs in our diary, and we make it safe first.
A temporary repair is typically a weighted sheet or a fixed length of lead or flashing tape over the gap, secured so that it will not blow off. It is designed to last a few days or weeks, not years. It also gives us a look at the underlay and the timbers beneath, so we can see whether water has already got in.
You can help by checking the loft for damp patches, drips or daylight near the ridge, and by noting them with a photograph. If you can see the sky from the loft, tell us when you call. Do not rely on a tarpaulin you have tied on yourself, because an unsecured sheet can be a hazard in wind.
Replacing and matching the tile
A replacement has to match what is already there: the same profile, whether half-round, angled or a roll-top, and as close as possible in colour and age. A new tile next to weathered ones can look conspicuous. On many roofs that is acceptable, but on a prominent gable or a protected building we try for a closer match, sometimes using reclaimed tiles, which can help where new ones would stand out against weathered neighbours.
The tile is then bedded and mechanically fixed. BS 5534:2014 expects mechanical fixing on ridge and hip tiles, so a replacement is screwed or clipped to the roof as well as bedded. If the surrounding bedding has failed, a short run either side may need re-bedding too. The guide to fitting dry verge to an older roof shows how fixing differs at the gable edge.
As a guide to scale, MyBuilder's 2026 national figures are £300 to £600 for re-bedding or replacing ridge tiles and £100 to £300 for a minor roof repair; neither is a Supreme price.
Insurance and what to tell your insurer
Report the incident early, and keep your photographs. Insurers tend to ask what caused the damage and whether the roof was in good order beforehand. Our answer on whether loose ridge tiles are covered goes through how storm damage and worn mortar are usually treated.
At survey we photograph your roof, and you are free to pass those pictures on. The quote that follows covers temporary cover, tile, bedding, access and waste. We put our 10-year workmanship guarantee on the finished repair, in writing. For the full range of work along the top of the roof, see our ridge, verge and dry-fix page.