Roofing in Florida City, FL

What is on the roofs in Florida City

Florida City sits mostly on the Miami Rock Ridge, the limestone high ground here at about 5 to 8 feet above sea level. Hurricanes have wrecked it twice: the 1926 hurricane leveled several buildings and badly damaged others, and Andrew in 1992 demolished more than 120 homes and damaged about 700 others in a city this small. So many roofs here were either repaired after Andrew or put on houses built since, and the city is still largely zoned agricultural and residential.^5,6,7

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Settlers moved out from Homestead in 1910, and in 1913 the Model Land Company bought 22,000 acres and advertised in Detroit, so the settlement was first called Detroit. It incorporated in 1914 and was renamed Florida City.⁶
• Florida City is the last mainland stop before the Florida Keys and the eastern end of the only road through Everglades National Park. Lodging, restaurants and stores cluster where the Turnpike meets US 1, while most of the city is zoned agricultural and residential.⁶
• Before development, a slow-flowing slough called Long Slough crossed the rock ridge through Florida City. Canals drained it through the 1900s, and the section near NW 3rd Avenue was filled in the late 1970s with waste rock from a nearby quarry and is now a housing development. The drained slough left a low valley across the ridge, so some homes sit on former low ground.⁵

Storms that hit here

• Andrew (1992). The National Hurricane Center names Florida City among the communities where Andrew's impact was extreme. More than 120 homes were demolished and about 700 damaged, city hall lost its roof and some walls, and the military set up tent cities in Homestead and Florida City.^7,8
• Great Miami Hurricane (1926). The 1926 hurricane leveled several buildings in Florida City and badly damaged others, and the local economy fell back on agriculture alone.⁶

What this means for a re-roof in Florida City

How old the houses are. The median home in Florida City was built in 1990; 59.5% of its 4,283 homes predate 2000 and 17.6% 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.^4,9,10,11

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).^9,10,11

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.^10,11,12,13

Product approval. In the HVHZ every roofing component needs a current product approval — a Miami-Dade NOA or a Florida approval listed for HVHZ use. Ask for the numbers and look them up yourself.^12,14

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.¹⁵