Roofing in Opa-locka, FL

What is on the roofs in Opa-locka

Opa-locka was built as an Arabian Nights fantasy: Glenn Curtiss and architect Bernhardt Muller put up about 105 buildings with domes, minarets, crenelated parapets and outside staircases. Most of the city today is a mix of residential, commercial and industrial zones, but the surviving Moorish Revival houses are real homes people live in, and preservationists report that many are in disrepair. On those houses, roof work has to protect domes, parapets and decorative details, not just keep water out.^5,6,7,8

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• Opa-locka was chartered as a town on May 14, 1926, by 28 registered voters. Curtiss and Muller built 105 buildings with domes, minarets and outside staircases, and streets were given names like Ali Baba Avenue, Sharazad Boulevard and Sesame Street.^5,7
• Twenty Opa-locka buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Opa-locka Thematic Resource Area, starting in 1982 and mostly in 1987; three have since been demolished. Most are houses and duplexes, on Sharar Avenue, Dunad Avenue, Peri Street, Jann Avenue, Superior Street and Sesame Street, not public buildings.^5,7,8
• The city's Historic Environmental Preservation Board reviews and approves modifications to historic properties, so a re-roof on a historic house goes through it. In 2022, board members were exploring incentives such as grants and loans to help owners restore the signature features of historic homes.^8,9
• The U.S. Navy opened a base at Opa-locka Airport in 1933, which drove the city's growth; the base closed in the 1950s and the city declined. The airport still operates as Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport.^5,6

Storms that hit Miami-Dade County

No storm record specific to Opa-locka 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 Opa-locka

How old the houses are. The median home in Opa-locka was built in 1969; 76.6% of its 5,951 homes predate 2000 and 10.1% 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