Roofing in Westchester, FL

What is on the roofs in Westchester

The original Westchester neighborhood went up quickly. According to the county's historic preservation office, a 1955 subdivision named Westchester appears to have kicked off the post-war boom, and through the 1960s Miracle Manor, Mirador, Westchester Park, Town Park and Coral Park followed. Houses from that wave are now roughly 55 to 70 years old, and whatever roof covering they carry today sits on decks and wall connections built decades before Hurricane Andrew in 1992. When a single-family roof is replaced, the county's hurricane-mitigation retrofit forms, issued under Florida statute, cover roof-deck attachment and a secondary water barrier, and roof-to-wall connections unless the owner qualifies for the posted exemption.^1,6

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• The Census's Westchester CDP is much bigger than the neighborhood most people picture. It runs from SW 8th Street (Tamiami Trail) south to Bird Road (SW 40th Street), and from the Palmetto Expressway west to SW 117th Avenue, while locals often end Westchester at SW 87th Avenue. Before the 2020 census it also absorbed the old University Park CDP. Anywhere inside those lines, your roof permit comes from Miami-Dade County, not a city.^6,7
• This land could not be claimed under the 1862 Homestead Act because it flooded every rainy season. Canals dried it out by the 1920s, yet the area only appears to have had one boom-era subdivision, Olympic Heights (1924), and it stayed largely rural until the 1950s, anchored by the Tropical Park racetrack and the 1940s Tamiami Airport.⁶
• Florida International University opened in 1972 on the site of the old Tamiami Airport, which had closed by the late 1960s. The Tower at FIU is the airport's former control tower, the rest of the airfield became Tamiami Park, home of the Miami-Dade County Fair, and the National Hurricane Center now works from 11691 SW 17th Street on the FIU campus, inside the Westchester CDP.^6,8,9

Storms that hit Miami-Dade County

No storm record specific to Westchester 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 Westchester

How old the houses are. The median home in Westchester was built in 1971; 97.3% of its 18,350 homes predate 2000 and 0.9% 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.^5,15,16,17

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