Cracked or Slipped Roof Tiles: How They're Repaired

This page is about individual cracked, broken and slipped tiles. If the roof leaks while the tiles look fine, the problem is usually underneath: see why a tile roof leaks when the tiles look fine. Whether a whole roof needs a repair, a lift-and-relay or new tile is decided in tile roof: repair, lift-and-relay or replacement. What to check after an earthquake, and how the code wants tile fastened, is in tile roofs and earthquakes.

When in doubt, replace. Tile is made to be swapped one piece at a time, and on many batten roofs only the tiles around the edges are fastened at all, so a broken tile in the field can come out by sliding the course above it, TRI notes. Under the 2025 California Residential Code, tile on battens at a slope under 5:12 doesn't need a fastener per tile; on solid sheathing without battens, every tile gets one (R905.3.8).

1. Pick a dry day. Eagle advises against taking broken tiles off when it's raining or rain is forecast, and against removing more tiles than can be replaced that day.
2. Take the broken tile out in pieces. Breaking it into smaller pieces, Eagle says, disturbs the tiles around it less. Its nails or screws are pulled or cut with a slate ripper or a hacksaw blade slipped under the tile.
3. Patch the underlayment. Any holes left in the underlayment are cleaned and patched before the new tile goes in.
4. Slide in the replacement. The tiles above are wedged up, and the new tile slides in under them. It has to be the same size and profile as the old ones: Eagle warns that mixing tile sizes on a roof can lead to breakage and failure.
5. Secure it. The course above covers the nail holes, so the new tile is held another way: on an L- or S-shaped hook over the tile below, by 12-gauge copper wire fastened to the deck and bent over it, with a copper strip, or with a code-approved roof tile adhesive. TRI places the adhesive where it touches the neighboring tiles without blocking the water's path; on an interlocking water channel it goes above the headlap, so it can't dam water.
6. Check the neighbors. The wedges come out, and the tiles around the new one have to sit properly before the job is done.

Finding a tile that matches, from current production, salvage or a blend set out of sight, is covered in matching and spares. On two-piece barrel roofs, where it's usually the covers that break, see Spanish S-tile and barrel roofs.

The repair is to slide the tile back into its course and fasten it so it stays: with a new nail where the hole is reachable, wire, a hook, or a nose clip, a fastening device TRI describes as holding the lower end of the tile against uplift or sliding down the slope. Cut pieces along valleys, hips and walls need their own fastening: TRI calls for adhesive, wire ties, batten extensions or a cut-tile clip. In earthquake country, NPS notes, every tile may be secured with both a nail and a clip, often with a dab of mastic or mortar as well.

One slipped tile is a repair. Many slipped tiles across a slope point to the fastenings or the battens giving out, and that's a lift-and-relay with new fastening, not a string of spot repairs.

• Stay off the tile. Eagle names foot traffic done wrong and severe impacts as causes of cracks and breaks. TRI's rule for anyone who must walk on tile is to step only on the lower 3 to 4 inches of each tile, where it rests on the one below; Spanish S-tile and barrel roofs covers how roofers spread their weight.
• Don't glue a cracked tile back together. Adhesive is for a small broken corner. Over a crack, roofing cement, caulk or tar is a patch, and NPS notes that water can collect behind patches like these, speeding the decay of the sheathing and fastenings underneath.
• Photograph before anyone goes up. Before a solar crew, a painter or an HVAC tech works on a tile roof, photograph the tiles that are already cracked. On a Northridge job of ours, every cracked tile was photographed and marked before anything was lifted, so the damage that was already there and anything broken during the work stayed two separate lists.
• Keep spares. A few tiles from the original order, kept in the garage, make the next repair simple; NPS suggests ordering extras for exactly this.

If water is already coming in during a storm, see what to do when the roof leaks in a storm first.

• The permit. In the City of Los Angeles, work valued at $2,500 or less may be exempt from a permit under LABC 91.106.2, unless it affects the building's structural stability or public safety, is done under a Department order or changes the use. A tile repair that reaches the deck or the framing is the case to raise with LADBS first; do you need a permit covers the routes, including the express permit for a lift-and-relay.
• Fire zones. In a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, LADBS applies the wildland-urban interface code, under which any covering added in a repair has to be at least Class A, so ask the roofer to confirm the replacement tile's rating. The rules for the eaves, hips and ridges are in California's WUI roofing requirements.
• High Wind Velocity Areas. In the parts of the San Fernando Valley that LADBS bulletin P/BC 2026-016 lists as High Wind Velocity Areas, tile along the eaves, hips, ridges and rakes is nailed with 11-gauge nails or approved ties and also bonded with roofer's mastic, and every field tile is attached.
• Reusing tile. When tiles come off for a relay, cracked or broken ones can't go back on (CRC R908.5).

Code sections, rules and figures on this page come from the primary sources below. Codes, local requirements and product terms change; each was verified October 8, 2026.

1. Tile Roofing Industry Alliance, Concrete and Clay Roof Tile Installation Manual, 2024 edition (Uniform ES ER-2015, revised May 2025): tile repair…
2. Ask a TRI Alliance Expert: Cracked Tiles (Eagle Roofing, September 2016)
3. Eagle Roofing, How to Properly Replace Damaged Concrete Roof Tiles (April 2019)
4. Eagle Roofing, Replacing Roof Tiles (July 2017)
5. National Park Service, Preservation Brief 30: The Preservation and Repair of Historic Clay Tile Roofs (1992)
6. California Residential Code 2025, Chapter 9: R905.3.8 and R908.5 (UpCodes)
7. LADBS, Dwellings in High Wind Velocity Areas (HWA), Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-016, effective January 1, 2026, revised April 24, 2026
8. Los Angeles Building Code 2026, Chapter 1, Administration: 91.106.2 (UpCodes)