I had almost finished chopping up some logs in the garden when I heard the ominous words, "Has that tile on the roof slipped down?"
It had. A hip tile four rows down from the top was resting on the tile below, covering it completely. We have a bungalow, but the tile was not easy to get at. With a ladder and long pole I was able to push it partially back into place. It was easy to push it back straight, but it refused to go the last 3 or 4 cm.
About to call our builder out to replace it, I suddenly thought I might be able to access the tile from the loft, and perhaps get it back into place from the inside. Cutting through two layers of roofing felt, I found the tile, and it was obvious why it wouldn't go back into place - its nib was caught on the front of the batten. I thought I could lift the tile up a bit and get it over the batten so the nib was on the correct side of it, but as the one above it was also a hip tile that one would not move at all. So I decided to pull down on the batten as it was not fixed at one end to the hip rafter. By doing that, I got the tile almost all the way over the batten, but it refused to go the last few mm. A bit more pull on the batten would do it...crack! It didn't break off, but was weakened. But I did get the tile nib over it. Although awkward to get at, I screwed a small steel reinforcing plate to hold the batten to the hip rafter and support it.
A couple of pieces of strong duct tape have repaired the roofing felt, and I hope no further slippages will occur. Of course, the loft was like an oven this afternoon, so it was hot, tiring, awkward work. I was pleased to get it done, but can't work out how this tile slipped off its batten as it was so difficult to get back into place.