The short answer
Stay off the roof and keep the area underneath clear of people. Photograph the damage from the ground, check inside for any drips, and tell your insurer before arranging a repair. A roofer can fit temporary cover first, then refix the ridge with mechanical fixings, since a plain mortar bed is what failed. Keep all photos and receipts, because they back up any claim.
A ridge tile off the top leaves a gap for rain. Here is what to do today, what the repair involves and how insurance fits in.
What to do in the first hour
Start on the ground. A ridge tile is a heavy piece of fired clay or concrete, and one that has come off may be lying on a path, in a gutter or in a neighbour's garden. Keep children and pets clear, and resist the urge to climb up for a look. A roof after a gale may hold other loose tiles you cannot see from a ladder.
Photograph the gap on the ridge and any tile that has landed, working from the ground. Use the phone's zoom for detail, then step back for shots that place the damage on the house. Collect pieces only if it is safe, and hold on to them, because a broken fragment helps a roofer find the profile.
Then look inside. Check the loft for daylight along the ridge, a wet patch on the insulation or a drip. If water is coming in, move belongings, set a bowl under the drip and photograph the stain. Stopping the water comes first, and the proper repair follows. Ring us on 01293 974253 or send photos by WhatsApp, and we will explain what the roofer is likely to find.
Temporary cover and who to call
A gap at the ridge lets rain run under the tiles and onto the underlay, so temporary cover is worth having if more weather is due. A roofer can cover the opening with a weatherproof sheet or a temporary ridge tile, securely fixed so wind cannot lift it. This is a stop-gap, not the repair. Do not use sealant or foam, as these are hard to remove and can hide the real fault.
Access is the main issue. A bungalow ridge may be reached by ladder, but a two-storey house generally calls for a tower or scaffold. Checkatrade's October 2026 tile table, a national guide, lists £500 for up to five tiles where scaffold is needed, against £170 from a ladder. Scaffold that overhangs a public pavement needs a highway licence first, so ask who applies for it.
Ask whether temporary cover sits inside the written price, and who rings you if the forecast delays the visit. Be wary of anyone who knocks at your door after a storm and offers to start at once.
Refixing it properly
Older ridges were bedded in mortar, and the mortar is what usually gives way. Marley reads the 2014 revision of BS 5534 as ending any trust in a lone mortar bed under ridge and hip tiles; clips or screws are expected too. No law demands the standard, yet a roofer refixing a ridge now would work to it.
A proper repair means more than dropping the tile back. The roofer clears the old mortar, checks the ridge batten and the tiles either side, and replaces anything cracked or loose. The tile is then refixed with clips or screws, or the whole run is changed to a dry ridge system, which holds the tiles on a vented strip. BS 8612 is how dry systems are tested.
If the tile is lost or broken, the roofer needs one that matches, and our answer on matching replacement ridge tiles explains how. Our guide to loose ridge tiles also covers why one failure often means others are close behind.
Insurance, evidence and the cost
If you want to claim, tell your insurer first, before you arrange the repair, and ask what they need. Arrange a stop-gap repair against further damage, and keep your photos and every receipt. IStructE calls photographs vital to a storm claim, as they put the damage in front of the reader. Which? reports figures from the financial regulator showing only 32 per cent of storm-related claims made in 2024 resulted in a payout, so check your own policy and do not assume it will pay. Should you disagree with the insurer's decision, the Financial Ombudsman can look at the complaint after you have followed the insurer's own process.
We can send you a written report with photos of the ridge and what we find beneath, which you can pass on. The insurer alone decides whether a claim is paid.
Checkatrade's June 2026 table, a national guide, lists £50 to £70 per metre to repair a dry ridge. One refixed tile is a smaller job, and the price for yours rests on access and the survey, with the written total coming after that. See our dry ridge and dry verge page for more.
More on this in Dry Ridge & Dry Verge Systems in Crawley
Two more questions after a blow-off
Can I put the ridge tile back myself?
That is not a job we would hand to a homeowner. The ridge is the highest point of the roof, the work is at height and a tile dropped from there can hurt someone below. Pushing it back with mortar also repeats the fault. Photograph the gap from the ground, keep the pieces, and let a roofer deal with the roof. A single tile may be the only visible sign of a ridge that has aged along its whole length.
Does one lost ridge tile mean the rest are loose?
Not necessarily, yet it is reason enough to have the whole ridge checked. If the mortar has cracked or dropped in one place, the same ageing is usually at work along the line. A survey from a tower or scaffold shows how many tiles are firm, and whether the ridge needs refixing as a whole.