Roofing in Miami Shores, FL

What is on the roofs in Miami Shores

Miami Shores was planned in 1924 by the Shoreland Company as America's Mediterranean, with Italian-inspired houses near the water, and about 50 homes were finished by early 1926. The village is still mostly single-family homes, with very few multifamily buildings. Its zoning code keeps that look: pitched roofs are limited to clay tile, white concrete tile, solid-color cement tile, slate or glazed tile, with standing-seam metal allowed only on certain architectural styles.^2,6,7

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Village code limits roofs with a slope of 2.5 inches per foot or more to clay tile with color impregnated throughout, white concrete tile, solid-colored cement tile with color impregnated throughout, thick-butt variegated slate, glazed tile, or approved metal. Slurry coats on concrete tile are not permitted, imitation barrel tile is prohibited, and multicolored or nonstandard colors need advance Planning and Zoning Board approval.²
• A metal roof is allowed only as standing seam, only on houses in the high modern, post-war modern, ranch or Key West style, and only with the planning director's approval. It must carry a Miami-Dade NOA, be one factory-finished, non-reflective neutral color (no white, no primary colors), and have an initial solar reflectance of 0.50 or less or an SRI of 60 or less. Metal that imitates barrel or Spanish-S tile is excluded.²
• Asphalt shingles may be used only to replace an existing shingle roof, and only if an engineer certifies to the village that the structure cannot carry any of the approved roofing materials.²
• Roofs flatter than 2.5 inches per foot must be built-up roofing with gravel, modified bitumen, or fiberglass cap. New flat roofs are allowed only on additions to pitched-roof houses, when the Planning and Zoning Board finds a sloped roof impractical, up to 15 percent of the pitched roof's ground area or 300 square feet, whichever is greater, counting any existing flat sections, and out of sight from the street front.²
• All buildings must be harmonious in character and appearance, including exterior color, with the neighborhood, and any substantial change from the existing roofing material needs village staff approval for aesthetics. A metal-pan and clay-cap hybrid tile system is allowed on homes only with Planning and Zoning Board approval.²

Storms that hit here

• Great Miami Hurricane (1926). The September 18, 1926 hurricane stopped construction of the Shoreland Company's Miami Shores, and together with other factors drove the company into bankruptcy in 1927. Bessemer Properties bought the holdings in 1928, and the village incorporated on January 2, 1932.⁶

What this means for a re-roof in Miami Shores

How old the houses are. The median home in Miami Shores was built in 1954; 96% of its 3,917 homes predate 2000 and 1.2% 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.^5,8,9,10

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).^8,9,10

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.^9,10,11,12

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.^11,13

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.¹⁴