Roof Replacement in St. Augustine, FL

The renewal letter says the carrier needs proof the roof has five years left, the roof went on in 2003 when the street was built, and the neighbor two doors down just had a dumpster in the driveway for a week. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who replaces roofs in St. Johns County.

What the crew does first

Before anyone talks about a new roof, the crew walks the old one and looks in the attic. On shingle they check granule loss, seal strips, and whether the decking under the north slope is soft. On metal they check the fastener lines, the panel laps, and the closures at the ridge. On tile they lift a few pieces to see the underlayment. The point is to confirm the roof is at the end and not just leaking in one place, which is a roof repair.

Then they measure, note the number of layers, the deck material, the pitch, and the flashing details, and write a scope: tear-off, deck repair by the sheet, underlayment, the new covering, ridge vent, and the permit. On a house in a deed-restricted community they add the product and color the committee has to approve.

What to do in the next hour

Find the year the current roof went on. It is on the original permit in the county or city permit portal under the address, and it is often on the last wind-mitigation form the house was insured with. Pull the insurer letter and note the deadline and what form they want.

If the house is in a community with an architectural committee, find the exterior-change form now. If the house is inside the city's historic preservation districts, the review board step comes first, and the historic district roofing page explains it.

What usually goes on, and what it means

Architectural shingle stays the common choice from World Golf Village to Julington Creek, and a re-roof there is a permit through the county, a tear-off to the deck, re-nailing the deck to the current pattern, a self-adhered or synthetic underlayment, and new shingle rated for the local wind speed. On the island, at Vilano, and along the Intracoastal, a growing share of replacements go to standing-seam metal for the salt, covered on the metal roofing page. Tile shows up on the Mediterranean-style homes in Davis Shores, the Shores, and Palencia, and a tile replacement is often a lift-and-relay over new underlayment when the tile is sound.

Every replacement here should end with a new wind-mitigation form, because deck re-nailing, secondary water resistance, and the roof-to-wall connection are documented while the deck is open, and the wind mitigation page explains what each line is worth.

St. Johns County notes: three permit desks and a review board

Unincorporated St. Johns County, which covers Nocatee, Palencia, World Golf Village, Julington Creek, Fruit Cove, Vilano, Butler Beach, Crescent Beach, St. Augustine South, the Shores, and the farm country, permits re-roofs through the county Building Department. The City of St. Augustine Beach permits its own 2.5 square miles between Pope Road and Sandpiper Village. Inside the City of St. Augustine, the Planning and Building Department issues the permit through the city's own portal, and a house in an HP zoning district needs a Certificate of Appropriateness first.

Since May 2022 Florida no longer forces a full replacement when a repair crosses 25 percent of a roof built to the 2007 code or later, so a roof permitted after March 2009 can be repaired in sections. And since 2022 an insurer cannot drop a policy over roof age alone if the roof is under 15 years old or an inspection shows five years of life, which is why a written roof inspection sometimes ends the replacement conversation instead of starting it.

Calling about roof replacement

Have the address, the roof material and year if known, whether an insurer letter or a sale is driving the call, and which community or district the house is in. Say whether the attic is accessible. Call (904) 895-7548.