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Skylight and Roof Vent Installation in South Florida

Impact-rated skylights, curbs that shed water, and attic vents sized by the code's 1/150 and 1/300 rules. What the job involves in Florida.

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FL Certified Roofing Contractor CCC1335466

Every skylight and every vent is a hole in your roof on purpose. Done right, a skylight brings in daylight and a vent lets the attic breathe. Done wrong, either one becomes the first place wind-driven rain gets in, and in a hurricane a skylight can become an opening that lets wind into the house. Florida’s code treats both seriously, and Florida law puts skylights squarely inside a roofing contractor’s license.1

Skylights in Miami-Dade and Broward (HVHZ)

The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone covers Miami-Dade and Broward only.2 There, skylights are held to the same product-approval and impact rules as windows:

  • Product approval. Every skylight needs one (FBC Section 2410.4).3 That can be a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA) or a state approval listed for HVHZ use.45 You can look up an NOA on Miami-Dade’s Product Control Search. Choose “High velocity hurricane zone,” category “Roofing,” subcategory “Skylights.”6
  • Impact resistance. Skylights must pass impact testing or be protected by an approved device (Section 1626.1).7
  • The large-missile test. Up to 30 feet above grade, three samples of the complete unit are tested as installed, with the frame and anchors. Each is hit twice with a 9-pound 2x4 moving at 50 feet per second, and on skylights both hits land on the glazing (TAS 201 and TAS 203).7

In practice, this means the skylight you buy must match its approval, and it must be installed the way the approval shows, with the same fasteners and spacing.

Skylights everywhere else in Florida

  • Florida Product Approval. State law lists skylights among the products that must be approved before use in Florida. A local building department cannot demand more testing for a product installed within its statewide approval.8 Look up the FL number at floridabuilding.org.5
  • Wind-borne debris region. This region covers areas within 1 mile of the coast where the design wind speed is 130 mph or more, plus anywhere it is 140 mph or more.2 There, glazed openings must be impact-resistant or protected. Openings within 30 feet of the ground must pass the large-missile test of ASTM E1996 (FBC Section 1609.1.2).7
  • Marketing. It is illegal to advertise a product as hurricane or wind-borne-debris protection unless it has been approved under Florida’s product approval law.8

Curbs, glass and flashing

  • Curbs. Skylights set at less than 45 degrees must sit on a curb at least 4 inches above the roof. On houses with a slope of at least 3:12, the code allows a skylight without a curb. Unit skylights on roofs flatter than 14 degrees (about 3:12) go on a 4-inch curb unless the manufacturer’s instructions say otherwise (FBC Section 2405.4).3 On a flat roof, plan on a curb.
  • Glass. Sloped glazing must be laminated glass (with at least a 30-mil interlayer), wired glass, approved plastic, or heat-strengthened or tempered glass. Tempered or heat-strengthened single-layer glass needs a retention screen under it, unless an exception in Section 2405.3.3 applies (2405.2 and 2405.3).3
  • Flashing. Rusted or damaged vent flashing, collars and counterflashing may not be reused on a re-roof.9 In the HVHZ, roof flashing must meet RAS 111.4

Replacing an old skylight is a good time to fix its flashing, and the reverse is also true: a re-roof is the easiest time to replace a skylight.

Attic ventilation: the math in plain numbers

If your house has an attic, the Florida Building Code, Residential requires cross ventilation for each separate attic space, with openings protected from rain.10 Here is what Section R806 asks for:

  • The basic rule: 1/150. The total net free area of all vents must be at least 1/150 of the attic’s area (R806.2).10 Net free area is the open area air actually moves through, which is less than the vent’s outside size.
  • The balanced rule: 1/300. You can halve that to 1/300 if 40 to 50 percent of the vent area is in upper vents no more than 3 feet below the ridge, and the rest is in the bottom third of the attic, usually at the soffits (R806.2).10

Example: a 1,500-square-foot attic.

  • At 1/150: 1,500 ÷ 150 = 10 square feet, or 1,440 square inches of net free area.
  • At 1/300: 1,500 ÷ 300 = 5 square feet, or 720 square inches. Between 288 and 360 square inches go up high, near the ridge, and the remaining 360 to 432 go down low, at the soffits.

A few details decide whether those numbers work:

  • Opening size. Vent openings must measure between 1/16 and 1/4 inch at their smallest dimension, or be covered by a screen in that range, to keep out birds, rodents and snakes (R806.1).10
  • Keep the path open. Insulation and blocking may not block eave vents, and there must be at least 1 inch of space between the insulation and the roof deck at the vent (R806.3).10
  • Install to the instructions. Roof vents are installed per the manufacturer’s instructions and the code’s weather-protection rules for roofs, Section R903 (R806.4).10
  • Unvented attics (for example, with foam insulation under the deck) are allowed only when every condition in R806.5 is met.10 Adding vents to an attic designed to be sealed can cause problems, so we check before we cut.

In Miami-Dade and Broward, soffit vents and ridge vents are exempt from the impact tests that skylights face. Their size and location must still be detailed by the designer and must not compromise the edge of the roof’s structural diaphragm (Section 1626.1).7 Every roofing component there also needs a product approval.4

How the job works

  1. Check the approval for the skylight or vent against your county’s rules: NOA or HVHZ-listed state approval in Miami-Dade and Broward, Florida Product Approval elsewhere.
  2. Permit. A new skylight or vent cuts the roof deck. Florida law requires a permit to alter a building unless a law exempts the work,11 and in the HVHZ any roofing application or repair needs a roofing permit.4 We pull the permit.
  3. Frame, curb and flash the opening as the approval and the manufacturer’s instructions show.
  4. Inspect as the permit requires.

Insurance and grants

The Florida wind mitigation form records the opening protection on your house.12 A roofing contractor can install impact-rated skylights, but the form insurers must accept has to be signed by an inspector on the F.S. 627.711(2) list, and roofers are not on it.13 My Safe Florida Home’s FAQ lists skylights under opening protection, one of the improvements it can fund. The work has to be recommended in your initial program inspection, the grant must be approved before work starts, and the program has its own eligibility rules.14

Sources

  1. Florida Statutes 489.105 (2026): Definitions (roofing contractor) — Florida Legislature ↩

  2. 2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 2 Definitions (High Velocity Hurricane Zone; Wind-Borne Debris Region) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩ ↩2

  3. 2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 24 Glass and Glazing (Sections 2405 and 2410) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. 2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 15 Roof Assemblies and Rooftop Structures (Sections 1512–1525) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Product Approval: Product or Application Search — Florida Building Commission ↩ ↩2

  6. Product Control Search — Miami-Dade County ↩

  7. 2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 16 Structural Design (Sections 1609 and 1626) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. Florida Statutes 553.842, Product evaluation and approval (2026) — Florida Legislature ↩ ↩2

  9. 2023 Florida Building Code, Existing Building, 8th ed., Chapter 7 (Section 706 Existing Roofing) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩

  10. 2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., Chapter 8 (Section R806 Roof Ventilation) — UpCodes (text of the Florida Building Code) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  11. Florida Statutes 553.79, Permits; applications; issuance; inspections (2026) — Florida Legislature ↩

  12. Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form OIR-B1-1802 (Rev. 04/26) — Florida Office of Insurance Regulation ↩

  13. Florida Statutes 627.711 (2026), Uniform mitigation verification inspection form — Florida Legislature ↩

  14. Frequently Asked Questions — My Safe Florida Home, Florida Department of Financial Services ↩

Questions about skylight & vent installation

Do skylights in Miami-Dade and Broward have to be impact-rated?
Yes, unless they are covered by an approved impact protection device. Every skylight in Miami-Dade and Broward needs a product approval and must pass the code's impact tests, including a 9-pound 2x4 fired at 50 feet per second for skylights up to 30 feet above grade.
What about skylights outside Miami-Dade and Broward?
Everywhere in Florida, skylights must be approved under the state's product approval law. In the wind-borne debris region, glazed openings must also be impact-resistant or protected. That region covers land within 1 mile of the coast where the design wind speed is 130 mph or more, and every area rated 140 mph or more.
How many attic vents does my house need?
The code sets the total open area, not a vent count. It is 1/150 of the attic floor area, or 1/300 if 40 to 50 percent of it is high on the roof and the rest is low in the attic. For a 1,500-square-foot attic, that is 1,440 or 720 square inches of net free area.
Can a roofer install a skylight, or do I need a window company?
Florida law puts skylights inside a roofing contractor's scope of work, so a licensed roofing contractor can install them. The skylight itself still has to carry the right product approval.

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