Roofing in Miami Springs, FL

What is on the roofs in Miami Springs

Glenn Curtiss built Miami Springs, first called Country Club Estates, in the 1920s with a Pueblo Revival theme. On the landmark houses the city describes, that means flat roofs behind irregular parapet walls, drained by projecting water spouts called canales, and in one case a low-pitch tiled shed roof over a balcony. The town stayed small and mostly residential until after World War II, when airline jobs set off a building boom that lasted for years, so most homes date from the post-war era. The city today is mostly single-family homes with limited apartments.^5,6,7,8

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss founded the town in 1926 as Country Club Estates, a planned community built in a Pueblo Mission Revival style. It was renamed Miami Springs in 1930, and in 2008 it was designated a Preserve America Community.⁵
• The city's Historic Preservation Board, established in 1982 under Chapter 153 of the city code, designates individual historic sites and districts. If your house is designated, check with the city before changing how the roof looks; designation procedures are in Sections 153-20 through 153-26.⁹
• The Curtiss Mansion at 500 Deer Run, built in 1925 and listed on the National Register in 2001, is hollow clay tile with rough stucco, and its roofs are flat with very irregular parapet walls and projecting water spouts. Its original wood casement windows were duplicated exactly in the restoration, but with impact-resistant glass.⁶
• Lua Curtiss House No. 2 at 150 Hunting Lodge Drive, built in 1925 for Glenn Curtiss's mother, was advertised in a 1926 Country Club Estates brochure on a block set apart for homes costing at least $10,000. The city lists it as a National Register property (1985) and a designated Miami Springs historic site (1989).⁷

Storms that hit Miami-Dade County

No storm record specific to Miami Springs was found in the sources we use, so these are the county-level impacts.

• Andrew (1992). Andrew came ashore near Homestead Air Force Base early on August 24, 1992, with a 922 mb pressure. The National Hurricane Center describes its impact as extreme from Kendall south through Homestead and Florida City, and reports 25,524 homes destroyed and 101,241 damaged. It was later upgraded to Category 5. In some cases, reviews after the storm found roof plywood held down by too few nails, or by nails that were too weak.^10,11
• Katrina (2005). Katrina made its first U.S. landfall as a Category 1 near the Miami-Dade/Broward line on August 25, 2005. Its heaviest rain fell over southern Miami-Dade: 14.04 inches at Homestead Air Force Base and 11.13 inches in Cutler Ridge.¹²
• Wilma (2005). Wilma crossed South Florida on October 24, 2005. The National Hurricane Center found parts of northern Miami-Dade likely had Category 2 conditions, with gusts near 100 knots, and reported extensive roof damage across the region. After the 2004–05 storms, Florida began requiring a metal clip on eave tiles and adhesive or mechanical fastening for hip and ridge tiles instead of a bed of mortar.^13,14

What this means for a re-roof in Miami Springs

How old the houses are. The median home in Miami Springs was built in 1958; 97% of its 5,648 homes predate 2000 and 1.5% 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.^4,15,16,17

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).^15,16,17

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.^16,17,18,19

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.^18,20

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.²¹