Roof Repair for Detached or Missing Tiles

Tile roofs are everywhere in Pinellas County because they look good and last a long time. They can still crack, slip or blow off in a storm, and missing roof tiles leave the underlayment open to sun and rain. We repair a lot of them every year, especially after the summer storms.

The usual causes are high winds, old adhesive or fasteners that let go and plain age and weathering. Tiles that have been on a roof for 25 or 30 years don’t hold the way they did on day one.

From the yard, you might notice gaps in the roof, broken tile pieces on the ground or a row that looks out of line. Inside, a new leak is often the first sign.

On a tile roof, the underlayment does most of the waterproofing, and the tile mainly protects it. When a tile is missing, the underlayment sits exposed. Sun breaks it down, and water eventually gets through.

When we repair them, we remove the broken pieces and check the underlayment underneath first. Then we match new tiles as closely as we can and set them with the method the code calls for, which on many Florida tile roofs means foam adhesive or specified fasteners.

Older tiles can be hard to match. Some homeowners kept spare tiles from the original install, and those are worth digging out of the garage. If there’s no exact match, we’ll go over the options.

We’d leave tile work to trained crews, since it’s easy to crack more tiles just by walking on them. After any strong storm, we’d schedule a check, because a few missing roof tiles can expose a large area of underlayment in a hurry.

This post was written by a professional at Old Time Roofing, a roofing company serving St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. If you need roofers in St. Petersburg FL, our team can inspect your roof and explain your options.