Why do roof tiles slip, and how are they fixed?

Most pitched roofs rely on small hardware doing a big job. A clay or concrete tile has a nib on its back, a lip that hooks over the batten, and the tile hangs from that. Many tiles are also pinned by a nail through a small hole at the head of the tile, and in exposed spots or on newer work a clip grips the tail. The weight of the tile and the overlap of the one above keep the rest of it flat.

If any of those links fail, gravity does the rest. The tile creeps downward a few millimetres in each storm until it sits proud of its row, or it drops out altogether. Our page on whether roof tiles need clips covers the modern fixing standard in more detail.

Nails in roofing are driven through a hole in the tile into the batten, and over many winters they can rust through, especially if they were plain steel rather than a corrosion-resistant type. Once the shank has thinned, the nail snaps or lets the tile move, and the tile relies on its nib alone.

Nibs are the weak point on older tiles. Clay and concrete both become brittle with age and repeated freezing, and a nib can snap off with no visible damage to the face. You will spot this when a tile is lifted, because the back is clean where the hook used to be. A tile with a broken nib cannot be refixed on its own and should be replaced.

Work done in a hurry can also leave tiles badly fixed in the first place: a missed nail, a nail set slightly too high, or a hole that is oversized and lets the nail move. Those tiles may hold for several years before they start to creep, which is why a slipped tile on a fairly young roof is worth a closer look at the workmanship, not just the tile.

Frost has a part as well. Water that soaks into a porous tile or a hairline crack freezes, expands and widens the damage, and a nib that has been weakened this way gives out in the next stiff breeze. Shaded slopes that stay damp longest can be where this shows first, though the pattern differs from house to house.

When several tiles slip in the same place, look under them. A batten that has rotted holds a nail poorly, and the tiles above it settle. We explain the signs in our page on how to tell if roof battens are rotten.

Wind plays its part, too. It lifts the tail of a tile and drops it again, and every cycle loosens an already weak fixing. Verges, ridges and the lower courses at the eaves take the most uplift, so they are usually where loose tiles show up first. Exposed positions and large open spaces around a house make it worse.

A roof that is pitched too shallow for its covering can also suffer. Wind-driven rain gets under the laps, rots the batten and loosens the tile. Our page on the minimum pitch for roof tiles explains the limits, and the same logic appears in the economical roof pitch page.

For one or two slipped tiles on sound battens, the roofer raises the neighbouring tiles, frees the loose one, inspects the batten beneath and either refixes the tile or fits a replacement with fresh nails or a clip. That is usually a minor repair, and the whole visit can be short. MyBuilder's roof repair guide, updated in August 2026, puts minor repairs at £100 to £300 nationally, though access can add to that.

Where tiles have broken nibs, the old ones come out and matching tiles go in. Where the nails have failed along a whole course, the course is refixed with stainless or other corrosion-resistant nails and clips.

Where the battens are soft, they are replaced and the tiles are fixed back. If rot extends over much of the slope, a partial strip and re-roof is the sensible answer. Smearing sealant or mortar over a loose tile is not a fix; it hides the movement until the next gust.

Look from the ground rather than the roof. Binoculars show tiles out of line, gaps, and fragments caught in the gutter or scattered across the path beneath. Keep any fallen tile, because it helps with matching and shows whether a nib has broken. Our page on cracked roof tiles explains how damage of that kind is handled.

Please do not climb up to push tiles back. They break under a foot, and a slipped tile may be hiding a weak batten. If water is already coming in, say so when you call. We prioritise leaks, and a wet roof gets made safe before anything else is discussed.

After the visit you hold survey photographs from the roof itself, together with a quote on paper. Keeping the written quote and the guarantee together means you know exactly what was agreed. Workmanship comes with a 10-year guarantee, which is also in writing. If you would like to know how the different roof shapes fail, see pitched roof types and the pitched roofing hub.