Hurricane season runs from the first of June to the end of November, and the useful work happens in the quiet months before it. By the time a storm has a name, roofers are booked, materials are short, and permit offices are backed up. Here is what is worth doing while there is still time.
Wind uplift starts at the edges
Roofs almost never fail in the middle. Wind flowing over a building creates the strongest negative pressure at the perimeter and the corners, which is why the drip edge, the starter course and the first few feet of roof matter far more than the field.
The details that decide this are unglamorous. Is the metal edge flashing properly fastened and lapped? Is the starter strip a real starter strip, adhered along its leading edge, or is it a cut-down shingle turned backwards? Are the field shingles nailed in the correct zone, with the right number of fasteners for a high-wind zone rather than the standard four? Those choices cost very little at installation and decide whether the roof peels.
Product approval is not optional here
Miami-Dade and Broward operate under the strictest wind provisions in the country, and roofing assemblies used here need a valid product approval or Notice of Acceptance for this zone. The approval covers the whole assembly — deck, underlayment, fasteners, cap sheet or shingle — not just the visible material.
When you compare quotes, ask which approval the assembly is installed under. A contractor working properly will answer without hesitation. It also matters after a storm: an insurer looking at a claim will ask what was installed and whether it was permitted.
The secondary water barrier
Florida added requirements around secondary water barriers for good reason. When wind removes surface material, the underlayment is what is left between the weather and your ceiling. A sealed roof deck — taped seams or a fully adhered membrane — buys you a dry house even after losing shingles or tiles.
If you are replacing a roof anyway, this is the upgrade worth spending on. It is also one that some insurers recognise in their rating.
What to check in May
Walk the perimeter from the ground with binoculars. You are looking for lifted or missing tiles and shingles, exposed fasteners, cracked or slipping ridge caps, and any place the metal edge has pulled away.
Inside, check the attic in daylight with the lights off. Pinholes of light mean holes. Water staining on the underside of the deck means it has already been leaking, whether or not you have seen it on a ceiling.
On the ground, look at the soffits. Soffit failure is a major and underappreciated hurricane loss pathway — wind gets in under the eave, pressurises the attic, and pushes the roof off from the inside. Loose or brittle soffit panels are worth fixing.
Clear the drains
This is the one people skip. Flat and low-slope roofs on Florida homes and additions drain through scuppers and internal drains, and a tropical system delivers rain faster than a blocked drain can move it. Standing water finds seams. Clearing the drains and cutting back the branches that feed them costs an afternoon.
After a storm
Photograph everything before anyone touches it, including wide shots that establish the property. Be careful with the crews that appear in neighbourhoods within days of a storm offering to handle your claim and waive your deductible — that offer is not legitimate in Florida, and the work that follows it is often what we end up replacing.
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