Roofing in Naples, FL

What is on the roofs in Naples

The city's best-known neighborhoods are on the water. John Glenn Sample began dredging Port Royal off Naples Bay in the early 1950s, and Aqualane Shores, Park Shore and the Moorings followed in the 1960s and 1970s, all waterfront neighborhoods with large homes and boat access. The city itself says its stock of historic buildings is matched by very few other Florida cities, and some of those historic houses are still lived in.^6,7

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Naples has a Historic Building Ordinance with its own historic building permit application and exemption form. Under the city's flood rules, a historic structure may be exempt from substantial-damage requirements if compliance would threaten its historic designation.^2,7
• Small roof repairs have a cutoff: the city lists repair of an existing single-family roof under 2 squares (200 square feet) as work that does not need a building permit. Anything larger needs one.⁸
• After Ian, city inspectors visually rated every structure as Affected, Minor (not substantially damaged) or Major (substantially damaged), and the FEMA 50% rule was enforced in plan review for homes in flood hazard areas. Owners could ask the Building Department for a reassessment based on the actual repair estimate.²
• Naples' emergency rules after Ian let owners put up tarps and do roof-covering repairs of up to 500 square feet without a permit; bigger roof work still needed one.²

Storms that hit here

• Ian (2022). Ian's surge reached 6 to 9 ft above ground in Naples on September 28, 2022. The Naples Pier tide gauge read 6.18 ft above high tide before it was destroyed, and flooding was reported at the Naples airport.⁹
• Irma (2017). Irma's center passed just east of Naples after landing at Marco Island on September 10, 2017. Naples Municipal Airport recorded a 142-mph gust, and the Naples tide gauge rose 9 ft in three hours once the winds turned onshore.¹⁰
• Wilma (2005). Wilma landed at Cape Romano, south of Naples, on October 24, 2005; the Naples Pier station measured a 102-mph gust, and Olde Naples, Port Royal, Aqualane Shores and the Moorings were under mandatory evacuation.^11,12

What this means for a re-roof in Naples

How old the houses are. The median home in Naples was built in 1983; 76.4% of its 18,902 homes predate 2000 and 11.7% were built in 2010 or later. So most houses here went up before Florida’s first statewide building code took effect on March 1, 2002.^5,13,14,15

Pre-2002 wood-deck houses. When the old covering comes off, the deck gets re-nailed to current code and a secondary water barrier goes on; in the wind-borne debris region, insured homes of $300,000+ may also need roof-to-wall connections (capped at 15% of the re-roof cost).^13,14,15

Repair or replace. Replacing 25% or more of a roof section in 12 months generally means redoing the section to current code — unless that roof was built or replaced under the 2007 code or later.^14,15,16,17

Product approval. This area is outside the HVHZ, so roofing products need Florida Product Approval (an FL number you can look up at floridabuilding.org); a Miami-Dade NOA is not required.^{16,18,19,20,21}

Roof age and insurance. An insurer can’t refuse a policy just because the roof is under 15 years old. If it is 15 or older, you can get an inspection first; at least 5 years of remaining life means age alone isn’t grounds to refuse.²²