Storm Damage Roofing in St. Augustine, FL

The wind dropped around dawn. There are shingles in the neighbor's yard, a live oak limb across the back corner of the roof, and a wet patch spreading on the bedroom ceiling. The street is still under a few inches of tide. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who handles storm damage in St. Johns County.

Tarp at the deck, then walk every slope

The first job is stopping the water. The crew tarps the open section with a tarp fastened at the deck, not weighed down with bricks, and photographs the damage before and after. Then they walk the whole roof, because the hole you can see is rarely the only damage. Wind creases shingles that will fail next month, lifts ridge caps, opens the seal on pipe boots, and backs fasteners out of metal panels without leaving a mark visible from the ground.

Everything gets written down: which slopes, how many courses, where the underlayment is torn, whether the decking is wet. The scope, with its photos, is the document your adjuster receives.

Photos, the claim number, and a receipt for the tarp

Before touching anything, photograph the roof from the yard and the damage inside the house. Move soaked furniture and any electronics out of the wet room. A sagging ceiling should be drained with a screwdriver hole at its lowest point. If the roof is open and a contractor cannot get there today, a tarp from the hardware store secured at the eave is better than nothing, but do not climb a wet roof to place it, and do not climb at all with a limb still on it.

Open the claim with your insurer and note the claim number they give you. Hold onto tarping and cleanup receipts, because reasonable emergency protection is usually covered under the claim. In the week after a storm, nobody who knocks on your door should leave with your signature.

Lifted shingles go back down, creased ones come off

Lifted shingles that are intact go back down with new sealant and fasteners. Creased or torn shingles are replaced by the course from matching stock. Small tears in underlayment get patched; a long tear means new underlayment across that slope. Wet decking that dries in a few days is usually kept; decking that has delaminated is cut out. A metal panel bent by a limb is replaced, and the panels around it get new fasteners.

A roof with wind damage on every slope, or a roof that was already at the end of its shingle life, becomes a roof replacement conversation. The insurance claims page covers what to document and how the adjuster visit goes.

Matthew to Milton: the storms that never hit head-on

Matthew passed just offshore on October 7, 2016, as a Category 3, and the surge, two to seven feet along the coast, put water into the bayfront, Davis Shores, Lincolnville, and Vilano. Irma followed on September 11, 2017, with one to four feet of surge in the same streets. Ian dropped sixteen inches of rain on the island between September 28 and 30, 2022, and Nicole on November 10 took the dunes at Vilano, Summer Haven, and South Ponte Vedra. Helene on September 26 and 27, 2024, flooded Davis Shores, Butler Beach, Treasure Beach, and North Beach, and Milton on October 10 dropped nine to fifteen inches of rain that set a record on Deep Creek and put five feet of water on parts of Hastings and Flagler Estates.

None of those were direct hits. Between them, nor'easters do the quiet roof damage every fall and spring, and the county keeps a record of all of it on its historic hazard events page. After every named storm, out-of-town crews sweep A1A and the subdivisions. Look up the Florida roofing license at myfloridalicense.com before work begins, and keep in mind that a contractor has not been able to take an assignment of your policy benefits since January 2023.

When you call after a storm

Have the address, the storm date, your claim number if you have one, and a description of what you can see from the ground: shingles in the yard, a tarp already up, a limb on the roof, water inside. Say whether the home is occupied right now and whether the street is passable. Call (904) 895-7548.