Tiles blown off in a Stroud storm: what happens next

Loose tiles can still slide off a damaged roof long after the weather has calmed, so shut off the ground beneath. Move parked cars from under the eaves and keep children and dogs out of the garden strip below. Do not climb up to look. Binoculars from the ground and a torch in the loft will show the gap and whether water is entering.

Collect fallen tiles only where it is safe, and keep every piece, even broken ones. They show the type, colour and profile a roofer needs to match, and an insurer may want to see them. Check the gutters and borders for fragments, and think about neighbours or passers-by who might be at risk from anything still hanging.

If the storm was recent, our guide to checking your roof after a storm covers what else to look for from the ground.

A roofer begins by removing anything loose and then closing the opening, usually with a battened tarpaulin or a temporary patch of tile and felt. The aim is to keep the loft dry and stop wind getting under the neighbouring tiles and lifting them in turn. One missing tile exposes those around it, which is why gaps tend to grow.

If the ridge has lost tiles, BS 5534 means the replacements are mechanically fixed, not bedded in mortar alone. Where tiles have gone from a verge, the fixing along that edge is checked for its whole length. The quote covers the make-safe and the lasting repair. Storm damage and active leaks jump the queue, and the roof is covered over before any permanent price is agreed.

This is where a quick job can turn slow. Concrete tiles come in many profiles and the exact one on your roof may no longer be made. Clay tiles fade and weather, so a new one looks different against old neighbours for a few years. Stone and slate are harder again: Cotswold stone slates are cut in varied sizes and laid in diminishing courses, largest at the eaves and smallest toward the ridge.

We match to what is there. Profile, size, colour and material come from the broken pieces and the survey photographs. Reclaimed tiles can be a good match on an older roof, provided they come from a source you can trust. A stone roof gets stone back and a slate roof gets slate, and on a listed building any change of material needs consent from the council, which makes a call to the planning team the first step.

One tile lost in a gale may be bad luck. Several lost over a few seasons point to something else: nail fixings corroded, battens softening, or a clip system that has aged. Tiles are meant to be fixed at intervals according to exposure and pitch, and old fixings often fall short of what a current specification would ask.

If a roof keeps shedding tiles, a survey from the loft will show whether the fixings have gone, and the quote can then cover a stretch of the slope instead of a series of single replacements. That costs more at once and less over several winters.

For a few tiles the sums are modest: in MyBuilder's 2026 guide, minor repairs run £100 to £300 and storm-damage fixes £500 to £1,500. Checkatrade's October 2026 repair guide gives concrete tile repairs at £90 to £120 per m² and clay at £110 to £160 per m², excluding VAT and access. Scaffold, where needed, is extra, at about £1,125 for a re-roof in the same MyBuilder guide.

All of this is national guide data and says nothing about our own pricing. After the survey, the written quote takes in the make-safe, replacement tiles, labour, scaffold and waste removal. If more tiles prove loose once the area is opened, the quote explains how that will be handled before work begins.

Tell your insurer before arranging a permanent repair. Send the dated photographs, the damaged pieces if asked, and the roofer's report. Keep receipts for the make-safe, because most policies expect you to prevent further damage. If the storm is the cause, the claim is generally treated as sudden damage; if the tiles failed because the fixings had worn out, it may be treated as maintenance. See our page on whether home insurance covers a leaking roof for how the wording works.

After the repair, watch for ceiling staining. If a mark returns, read what to do when a roof is still leaking. Timing helps too: our answer on how long a roof repair takes sets out what affects it. We guarantee our workmanship for ten years in writing and take our waste away. Our roof repairs page lists the repairs we carry out.

Tell the roofer what the roof is made of if you know, how high the damage is, and whether water is coming in. Send photographs taken from the ground, from several angles, showing the gap and the tiles around it. Mention anything that has fallen, any damage to the chimney or ridge, and whether the house is a listed building or sits in a conservation area.

With that, a roofer can decide what to bring, whether scaffold will be needed, and how best to make the roof safe on the first visit.