Metal roof installation and repair in Miami, FL

Miami-Dade and Broward are the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone of the Florida Building Code, and a metal roof here is held to it: the panel, the clips or fasteners and the underlayment all have to be covered by a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA), and the roof goes on the way that approval says, down to the fastener spacing. A metal roof that would pass in Orlando can fail inspection in Kendall.

Say what the house has now (tile, shingle, flat, an old 5V roof), how far it is from salt water, and whether this is a repair or a replacement. The roofer looks first and puts the finding and the price in writing.

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The metal roofs you will see on a quote

• Standing seam: long panels with raised seams, fastened by concealed clips, so no screw goes through the face of the roof. The usual choice for a new metal roof on a house here.
• 5V crimp: panels with five V-shaped ribs, fastened by exposed screws with rubber washers. Common on older Florida houses, porches and outbuildings, and the one most often repaired: the washers age in the sun and the screws back out.
• Stone-coated steel: steel formed to look like tile or shake, with a granular coating. Lighter than concrete tile on the same rafters.
• R-panel, or corrugated: exposed-fastener panels made for sheds and commercial buildings; on a house here it is usually a porch or carport roof, and it needs its own NOA like any other panel.

Aluminum or steel near salt water

Most residential metal roofing is steel coated with an aluminum-zinc alloy. Salt air attacks that coating, and many makers limit or void their coating warranty within a set distance of salt water. On the barrier islands, along the bay and near the canals that open to it, aluminum panels are the usual answer because aluminum does not rust. Ask for the coating warranty in writing, with its coastal terms, before you choose.

Mixing metals causes its own corrosion: steel screws in aluminum panels, or copper flashing against steel, eat each other where they touch. Fasteners and flashing should match the panel, and the quote should say so.

What the inspector checks

• A permit from your city or Miami-Dade, with the NOA numbers for the panel and the underlayment attached.
• The underlayment: a high-temperature self-adhered membrane rated for use under metal, because the space under a metal roof gets hotter than under tile.
• Attachment: the clip or screw spacing the NOA requires, with tighter spacing at the edges and corners, where wind loads are highest.
• The roof deck: on a re-roof, the inspector looks at the deck nailing before the new roof covers it. That nailing is also what the wind-mitigation inspector records.

Metal and the wind-mitigation report

Insurers credit what the wind-mitigation report records, and the report records how the roof is built, not the brand of the covering: whether the covering meets the current code, how the deck is attached, how the roof is tied to the walls, and the shape of the roof. A metal roof installed to the current code helps on the first line. Ask the roofer to leave you the permit card and the NOA numbers; the inspector will ask for them.

Repairing a metal roof

Most metal roof leaks are at the screws, the seams and the penetrations: a 5V screw whose washer has cracked, a vent boot that has split, a seam that has opened at a valley. Those are repairs, done with matching metal and fasteners. Rust through the panel, a roof past the coating warranty near the water, or widespread fastener failure point toward replacement.

We do not set or quote prices. The contractor’s number depends on the panel, aluminum or steel, the roof’s size and shape, whether the old roof and any rotten decking come off, and the permit.