It’s a complete mystery to me how this could have happened to my roof in Florida. There are no palm trees around to drop a coconut and nobody’s been up on the roof, but somehow two tiles are broken.
No use pondering the cause. The good news is that when we re-roofed the house we kept about 50 left-over tiles for just this type of eventuality. (Something I highly recommend whether you choose asphalt shingles, wood shakes, or tiles.) By code, all of these flat cement tiles are “fastened mechanically” which means they’re screwed down into the plywood roof sheathing. This is to prevent them from flying off in a hurricane.
The repair is simple enough but requires the type of ladder that few homeowners keep around. Sliding the new tile into place and securing with construction adhesive and a couple of screws is easy—the hard part is getting up there.
For more on roofing, check out these articles, slideshows and videos:
Asphalt Shingles: A Showcase of Roofing Styles, Colors and Options