Tile Roof Replacement in Miami Shores

The tile Section 523.1 allows

The Shoreland Company launched Miami Shores in 1924 as "America's Mediterranean," and the roof list still protects that look. The rule covers every roof with an incline of at least 2.5 inches per foot, and mansard fascias too. The allowed tile is: clay tile with the color impregnated at the same intensity all the way through; white concrete tile; solid-colored cement tile, also colored all the way through; and glazed tile. Thick-butt variegated slate and approved standing-seam metal are the other options.

Three things are ruled out or restricted. Slurry coats on concrete tile are not permitted, so a tile with only a surface color coat does not meet the rule. Imitation barrel tile is prohibited outright. And multicolored roofs or nonstandard colors may be used only with advance approval from the Planning and Zoning Board. If you are looking at a blended or two-tone tile, that approval has to come before the permit, not after.^1,2

When the village reviews looks, not just code

Section 523 says every building must be generally harmonious in character and appearance, including exterior color, with the existing buildings in the neighborhood. If a permit application looks, on its face, inharmonious or inappropriate, the village will not issue the permit unless the Planning and Zoning Board recommends it and the Village Council approves it.

Section 523.1 adds a staff-level check that applies whenever a re-roof changes the material: any substantial change from the existing materials needs village staff approval for aesthetics and harmony with nearby buildings. Going from white concrete tile to a colored clay tile, or from shingles to tile, is the kind of change to raise with the village early. Bring photos of the house and the street and a sample of the tile you want.¹

If your house has shingles now: the engineer's-letter rule

Asphalt shingles are not on the village's list of pitched-roof materials. Section 523.1 allows them in one case only: to replace an existing asphalt shingle roof, and only if an engineer's evaluation is given to the village certifying that the roof is not structurally adequate for any of the approved materials.

So if your house has shingles today, the default under the code is an approved material, such as tile. Staying with shingles means paying an engineer to evaluate the roof structure first, and the letter has to reach a specific conclusion: that the structure cannot carry tile, slate or approved metal. If the engineer finds it can, the shingle option is off the table. Either way, get the evaluation before you collect quotes, because it decides which roof you are pricing. A shingle re-roof that qualifies still follows the HVHZ shingle rules, RAS 115.^1,3

The clay-cap hybrid and flat sections

Section 523.2 allows one hybrid: metal pan tiles with clay cap tiles, on homes, with Planning and Zoning Board approval. The rules are exact. Every roof section must begin and end with clay caps at the hips, rakes and ridges, never with a pan. Cap rows run straight from eave to ridge, with spacing between rows varying no more than four inches, within an inch either way. Caps are colored all the way through, pans and caps are natural clay colors matched as closely as possible, and nothing may sit between the caps except the pans.

Some houses also have a flat section over a porch or addition. Anything flatter than 2.5 inches per foot must be built-up roofing with gravel, modified bitumen or a fiberglass cap. New flat sections are allowed only on additions, 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 existing flat sections, and out of sight from the front, or from the side street on a corner lot.¹

The HVHZ side of a village tile roof

Village approval settles the look. The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone chapters of the Florida Building Code settle how the tile stays on at Miami-Dade's 175 mph design wind speed for houses. Every component needs a product approval. Tile goes only over a solid sheathed deck and is installed under RAS 118, 119 and 120, with the fasteners or adhesive for each tile calculated under RAS 127 from the uplift values in its product approval. Underlayment nails are 12-gauge ring-shank nails through tin caps 1-5/8 to 2 inches across, or approved cap nails. Mortar- or adhesive-set tile needs a TAS 106 field uplift test after installation and before the final inspection.^3,4