How many is too many?
A few, in one area. Usually someone walked on the roof, a branch came down, or an aerial or air conditioner went in. Monier, a major tile maker, says only the individual damaged tiles need replacing. Get them swapped and move on.
Scattered across the roof after a storm. Hail is the likely cause. Get them replaced, but talk to your insurer before you pay anyone. Our guide to hail damage claims covers what to record.
Cracks everywhere, and tiles that flake or crumble when handled. The tiles themselves may be near the end. That's when it's worth comparing a restoration with a replacement, because coating tiles that are breaking down is money spent twice.
Repair, restore or replace?
| Repair | Restore | Replace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | A few cracked tiles, the rest sound | Tiles mostly sound, but ridges, moss and colour are tired | Tiles cracking or crumbling across the roof |
| What happens | Cracked tiles swapped for matching ones | Clean, broken tiles replaced, ridges rebedded and repointed, often a recoat | Old tiles off, a new roof on, usually with new sarking |
| Watch for | A tile in the wrong profile that won't lock in | Paying to coat tiles that are failing | A change to a lighter or heavier roof may need engineering advice |
Stopgaps, and why they stay stopgaps
Before a storm, a roofer may seal a crack or nudge a slipped tile back into line to keep water out for now. That's sensible. It isn't the repair, though. Sealant weathers, and a cracked tile stays weaker than a whole one, so ask for the proper swap to be booked in.
If a quote's only answer to a dozen cracked tiles is a coat of paint, be wary. Paint makes a roof look even. It doesn't hold broken tiles together.
Are they definitely clay or concrete?
Some older roofs that look tiled are really asbestos cement slates or shingles, or imitation tiles with a bitumen coating, and ASSEA says only a NATA accredited lab test can confirm asbestos. If the house was built or renovated before 1990 and you're unsure what's up there, don't let anyone cut, drill, pressure clean or walk on it until it's checked. Whatever the roof is made of, cracked tiles are a reason to stay down on the ground, because the NSW heritage schedule warns against walking on brittle roof tiles.
How to check your tiles without going up
Get some height and some zoom
Stand across the road, at an upstairs window or on a neighbour's balcony, and work along each row with binoculars or a phone camera on full zoom.
Know what a crack looks like from below
A dark line across a tile, a corner missing, a tile sitting higher than its neighbours, or a gap where light shows between tiles.
Check the garden and gutters
Pieces of tile on the path, in garden beds or in the gutters, especially after wind or hail, mean something up there has broken.
Look for daylight from the manhole
On a bright day, a sliver of light through the roof from inside points to a cracked or slipped tile, unless there's sarking in the way.
Photograph everything
Mark roughly where each crack is on a sketch of the roof. It helps the roofer quote accurately, and your insurer if it was a storm.
What's yours, and what's the roofer's
You can
- Spotting cracked or out-of-line tiles with binoculars
- Keeping tile pieces you find after a storm, for the roofer and insurer
- Telling the roofer about spare tiles in the garage or under the house
- Keeping trades off the roof unless they really need to be up there
Leave to a roofer
- Swapping cracked tiles and reseating slipped ones
- Finding matching or second-hand tiles
- Judging whether the tiles are near the end of their life
- Checking the battens and sarking under damaged areas
Our take
With a few cracks and solid tiles elsewhere, we'd repair it and not let anyone talk us into a new roof. If the roofer says tiles are cracking all over, we'd ask them to show us, with photos from several slopes, and then get a restoration price and a replacement price side by side. Our restore or replace quiz is a good place to start that comparison.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.