Lake Worth Beach · Palm Beach County

Tile Roof Replacement in Lake Worth Beach

Lake Worth Beach's six historic districts cover most of the east side of the city, and the City's preservation guidelines are unusually specific about tile.

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Post-1930 masonry houses there were typically roofed in flat white concrete tile, occasionally white glazed barrel tile; Mediterranean Revival houses almost always in clay barrel tile. The guidelines say the right replacement is the original material, and they publish a chart grading replacements from most successful to unsuccessful. A Certificate of Appropriateness is required before a building permit can be issued, and the City says not to order any products until you have both. The permit follows the Florida Building Code with Florida Product Approval; this is not the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone.

Six districts, and the COA comes first

The City has designated six local historic districts: College Park, Northeast Lucerne, Old Lucerne, Old Town, Southeast Lucerne and South Palm Park. A Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required before exterior work begins and before a building permit can be issued for a property in a district or an individually designated landmark. Use the City's zoning map viewer to confirm whether your address is inside one.

The COA application is filed concurrently with the building permit, online. Include a completed COA application, photographs of all sides of the house with close-ups of the work area, and details on the existing and proposed materials, sizes and product approvals. The Building Division lists a missing COA as one of the reasons plan review gets delayed. The guidelines are blunt about timing: do not order any products until you have been issued both the COA and the building permit, and read the COA result letter and permit card, because conditions written there can affect the products and installation methods you may use.^1,2,3,4

Find out what your roof was

The guidelines start with research. The City keeps property files that can include original architectural drawings, original permit cards, later permits, photographs and Property Appraiser description cards from the 1940s, 1950s and 1970s. You can request them through the Building Division or preservation staff and use them to tell original features from later replacements.

What you are likely to find depends on the style. Post-1930 Masonry Vernacular houses typically had hip roofs of flat white concrete tile, occasionally asbestos shingles or white glazed barrel tile. Mediterranean Revival roofs are almost always clay barrel tile, sometimes with flat sections. Mission Revival houses have flat roofs behind parapets, with barrel tile on parapet caps and small shed roofs, drained by scuppers. Older Frame Vernacular cottages started with wood shake, shingle or rolled roofing, often replaced later with asphalt or metal shingles. If the original material is no longer made, the guidelines call for the closest match, and preservation staff can help find one.²

The City's chart: successful and unsuccessful replacements

The guidelines include a chart titled "A Range of Successful and Unsuccessful Roof Material Replacements," with the original material as the most successful replacement. For a flat white concrete tile roof, the original, successful and less successful columns are all flat white concrete tile; asphalt shingles are listed as unsuccessful. For barrel tile, the original is clay barrel tile with masonry, clay S-tile with masonry is shown as successful, clay S-tile without masonry as less successful, and a 5V-crimp metal roof as unsuccessful.

The guidelines explain that a replacement that copies the historic feature's appearance and material, in the same place, is the most successful and easiest to permit. A request that departs from that needs more review by staff or the Historic Resources Preservation Board. When a replacement with dimensional asphalt shingles is approved, staff typically recommend white or light grey shingles for energy efficiency.²

What a roof approval does not cover

The guidelines list special considerations for roof replacements. Approvals generally should not include changes to the roof structure that would alter its configuration or height, and unless stated otherwise they do not cover changes to decorative trim, fascia or soffits. On a flat roof behind a parapet, the new roof should not add a metal flashing or coping cap on top of the parapet that shows from outside; the parapet's appearance should not change.

The guidelines also flag as not recommended: tearing off a repairable roof to get a uniform or "improved" look, removing sound clay tile, coating a roof that was never coated, and adding dormers, vents or skylights that change the roof's configuration. Plan the work area early, too. In 1925 the town re-platted parts of Northeast Lucerne and other sections into 25-foot lots, so many houses there are small and close together, which can leave little room to stage tile and debris.²

The permit and the code

Lake Worth Beach issues its own building permits. You can apply online with either the City's application or the Palm Beach County universal permit application; one copy of submittal documents is required, and the City reviews plans digitally and sends the issued permit to the contractor of record by email or file transfer.

Palm Beach County is outside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which the Florida Building Code limits to Broward and Miami-Dade. A tile roof here is installed under the code's general roofing rules with Florida Product Approval, and because the COA application also asks for product approvals, submit the same products to both reviews. The City also notes that under the 2026 state law HB 803 some small projects no longer need a building permit, but in a historic district they may still need a zoning permit and a Certificate of Appropriateness.^2,3,4,5

Questions

My house has flat white concrete tile. Can I switch to shingles?

The City's chart lists asphalt shingles as an unsuccessful replacement for a flat white concrete tile roof, and a request that departs from the original material gets more review by staff or the Historic Resources Preservation Board. Plan on flat white concrete tile unless preservation staff tell you otherwise.

Can my roofer order the tile while the COA is being reviewed?

The City's guidelines say not to order any products until both the Certificate of Appropriateness and the building permit have been issued, and to read the COA result letter and permit card for conditions that could change the products or installation.

I have clay barrel tile. Is S-tile acceptable?

The City's chart rates clay barrel tile as the best match, clay S-tile with masonry as a successful replacement and clay S-tile without masonry as less successful. A 5V-crimp metal roof is rated unsuccessful.

Sources

Facts on this page come from these public sources. Last checked September 2026.