Roofing in Key Biscayne, FL

What is on the roofs in Key Biscayne

Key Biscayne is mostly condominiums: the Village counts about 7,207 residential units, 1,296 of them single-family homes and 5,911 multifamily. The island opened to large-scale development when the Rickenbacker Causeway was finished in 1947, and starting in 1951 the Mackle company sold new houses here for $9,540. If you live in a condo, the roof is the association's; this page is mostly for owners of the island's 1,296 houses, all of which sit a short walk from salt water.^6,7,8

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• The Village of Key Biscayne incorporated on June 18, 1991, the first new municipality in Miami-Dade in more than 50 years. It covers the central 1.25 square miles of a barrier island about four miles long and two miles wide, between the Atlantic and Biscayne Bay.⁶
• The whole village is in Evacuation Zone A, the zone with the highest risk of storm-surge flooding on Miami-Dade's map, and it has taken part in the NFIP Community Rating System since 1998. As general guidance on a barrier island, salt air shortens the life of exposed metal flashing, drip edge and fasteners, so ask for corrosion-resistant components on a re-roof.⁹
• The Village's Garden District Flood Mitigation Project, still in design, is meant to add stormwater drainage with a new pump system and injection drainage wells along East Enid Drive, Sunrise Drive, Galen Drive and Ocean Lane.¹⁰
• The Village's roofing packet warns owners that the existing wood roof deck may have to be re-nailed to current HVHZ standards during a re-roof, and that the amount of existing attic ventilation cannot be reduced.²

Storms that hit here

• Andrew (1992). On Key Biscayne, Andrew brought down large trees that blocked the bridge to Virginia Key and Miami. Falling trees and power poles damaged several of the smaller homes, though most houses only lost roof tiles, while condominiums and hotels had extensive wind and water damage, especially on higher floors.¹¹

What this means for a re-roof in Key Biscayne

How old the houses are. The median home in Key Biscayne was built in 1977; 86.6% of its 7,310 homes predate 2000 and 4.8% 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.^5,12,13,14

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).^12,13,14

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.^13,14,15,16

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.^15,17

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.¹⁸