You spot a dark gap in the roof after a windy night. Nothing is dripping indoors and life carries on. So how worried should you be? Honestly: not panicked, but not relaxed either.
What the gap actually exposes
Under the tiles there should be a felt or membrane underlay. If it is intact, it is a secondary barrier and you have some breathing room. If the roof is old, the underlay may be brittle, torn or absent entirely — in which case rain is landing straight on the sarking and timbers each time it falls.
Rough urgency guide
- Modern roof, intact membrane visible, no interior signs: get it fixed within a few weeks.
- Older roof, torn or missing underlay, or slate on sarking: get it fixed within days.
- Any damp appearing on a ceiling or loft timber: treat as urgent.
- Gap at a valley, ridge or chimney abutment: urgent regardless of age, because those points carry concentrated water.
Costs
Replacing a tile or slate typically runs around £120–£280 in Scotland, largely access cost. Wind-blown gaps often come in groups — the same gust that took one tile will have lifted or cracked others nearby, and those are far harder to see from the ground. Fixing five at once is barely more expensive than fixing one.
Never go up yourself in the aftermath of a storm. Wet slate and tile are extremely slippery and displaced units are unstable underfoot.
Check the whole roof, not just the gap
Our drone survey photographs every elevation at close range and circles each defect with a description and severity grade, so one obvious gap does not distract from the four cracked tiles beside it. £99 for a residential property, £149 commercial, report typically within one working day across Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Edinburgh postcodes.