Roofing in Miami Gardens, FL

What is on the roofs in Miami Gardens

Most of Miami Gardens was built before it was a city. The city's 2016 Housing Element (2014 data) estimates that about 53% of its housing was built between 1950 and 1969 and about 73% between 1950 and 1979, when these neighborhoods were still unincorporated Carol City, Norland, Scott Lake and their neighbors. Single-family homes make up roughly 72% of housing units, and most of those houses were designed decades before the 1994 South Florida Building Code.⁶

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Miami Gardens incorporated on May 13, 2003, joining seven formerly unincorporated communities: Andover, Bunche Park, Carol City, Lake Lucerne, Norland, Opa-locka North and Scott Lake. The city has issued permits only since 2003; earlier permits were issued by Miami-Dade County.^6,7
• The city's 2020 roofing fee sheet lists required inspections by roof type. Shingle: tin cap, shingle in progress, final. Flat (low slope): tin cap, mop in progress, final. Tile: tin cap, mop in progress, tile in progress, final. Mortar-set tile: sheathing, tin cap, tile in progress, final, plus a pull test before the final. Metal: in progress, final.²
• Slope limits on the city's 2020 roofing sheet: shingles need at least a 2:12 pitch, and a gravel-surfaced flat roof can be no steeper than 3:12. Tile and metal roofs follow the pitch range in their Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA), which must be submitted with the permit and posted at the job site.²
• Miami Gardens treats an expired permit as a violation against the property, and the current owner is responsible for closing it. If you are buying an older house, check it for open or expired roof permits; and a contractor with expired permits elsewhere in the city may not be able to pull a permit for your job.⁸

Storms that hit here

• Wilma (2005). During Wilma, the weather sensor at nearby Opa-locka Airport stopped reporting at 74 knots sustained (about 85 mph), and the National Hurricane Center says higher winds likely occurred there after it failed.⁹
• Irma (2017). Irma brought sustained winds just below hurricane force to nearly all of the inland metro area; Opa-locka Airport measured 56 knots with a 74-knot gust. A rain gauge at Carol City 2 NW recorded 8.00 inches of rain during the storm.¹⁰

What this means for a re-roof in Miami Gardens

How old the houses are. The median home in Miami Gardens was built in 1970; 86.7% of its 37,003 homes predate 2000 and 5.8% 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.^5,11,12,13

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).^11,12,13

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.^12,13,14,15

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.^14,16

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.¹⁷