How to Replace a Broken Ceramic Roof Tile

Roofing tiles are so cheap to replace that there’s usually no sense in repairing them. Unlike shingles, ceramic roof tiles are mostly held in place by the weight of the tiles surrounding them.

Ceramic is also not easy to repair. When it breaks, there is no adhesive that will really stick it back together, so usually there’s little that can be done. Fortunately, roof tiles can easily be lifted out of their place and replaced with new tiles that are in good condition. This job does take some strength and you need to be very careful when moving about on a tile roof, as it is easy to slip and fall.

Roof tiles can be replaced using nothing more than a few pry bars and a little elbow grease. Place the pry bar underneath the tiles that surround the tile you want to replace, including those above and to the left and right of the tile. You can lift the pry bars up and set them so that they’re holding the roof tiles they’re under up a bit. This removes the weight of the roof tiles from the one you need to replace. Once the weight is off, you just slide out the old tile and slide in the new tile, and then let the surrounding roof tiles back down.

In some cases, you may have a hard time finding roof tiles that match those already installed on your house. You can work around this quite easily. Your replacement tile can be swapped with roof tiles that are hard to see but that match what’s already there. Take the old broken tile to the hardware store or roofing firm to help them match the color of the rest of the roof.