Historic District Roofing in St. Augustine, FL

The house on the narrow street south of the Plaza was built before there was a Florida Building Code, the metal roof has been patched twice by people who are no longer around, and the last contractor you called said he does not work downtown. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who works inside the City of St. Augustine's historic preservation districts.

What the crew does first

The crew checks the zoning before the roof. The city has five historic preservation zoning districts, HP-1 through HP-5, and a house inside one, or facing one of the first three, needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Architectural Review Board for a visible roof change before the building permit is issued. The contractor pulls the parcel, reads the district, and tells you which path applies.

Then the roof itself. On the 1880s and 1890s frame houses in Lincolnville and Abbott Tract, that usually means a standing-seam or 5V metal roof over board sheathing, with flashing at chimneys that has been redone in three different metals. On the Flagler-era buildings around King Street it can mean tile or built-up flat roofs over porches. The crew documents what is there, because in-kind repair is the smoothest path through the board.

What to do in the next hour

If water is coming in, protect the building first. A tarp and a bucket do not need a certificate, and the storm damage page covers the emergency order. Photograph the roof from the street, because the board's question is what is visible from the public right-of-way.

Find out whether the house is a contributing structure and which HP district it sits in. The city's zoning map answers that, and the contractor checks it too. If a sale is driving the schedule, tell the contractor the closing date, because the board meets on a calendar.

What usually passes, and what does not

Matching what is there, in kind, is generally approved: metal for metal, tile for tile, the same profile and a compatible color. Standing-seam metal has deep roots on the city's older buildings and several modern profiles read correctly from the street. Wood shingle, flat built-up decks over porches, and barrel tile each belong to particular eras and styles. What generally does not pass is a change that alters the visible character: a new material on a street-facing slope, a different profile, or a color outside the guidelines. Slopes not visible from the street get more latitude.

A repair that matches the existing roof is a roof repair with a lighter review. A change of material is a roof replacement with a board application, product documentation, and photographs, and the contractor who works downtown builds that time into the schedule.

St. Augustine notes: the city, the board, and the water

The districts hold the oldest roofs in Florida. The blocks around the Lightner Museum in the former Alcazar Hotel and the streets between the Plaza and Castillo de San Marcos are almost always inside a district, and a few blocks west it becomes a lot-by-lot question. The permit itself comes from the city's Planning and Building Department, not the county, once the certificate is in hand.

The same low ground that makes the district historic makes it flood. Matthew in October 2016 and Irma in September 2017 put salt water into hundreds of historic buildings from the bayfront to Lincolnville, and Helene in September 2024 flooded the same streets. A roof that leaked during a storm on a house that also took water at the floor is a two-part claim, and the insurance claims page covers what a written roofing scope gives the adjuster.

Calling about a historic district roof

Have the address, the roof material, whether the house is a contributing structure if you know, and whether water is coming in now. Say whether a sale or a board deadline is driving the schedule. Call (904) 895-7548.