Roofing in Highland Beach: built for the beachfront

Highland Beach runs along A1A between the Atlantic and the Intracoastal, and there is no part of 33487 the salt does not reach. On the single-family homes at Bel Lido, Byrd Beach, Ocean Cove, Highland Beach Isles, Delray By the Sea and Camino Cove, tile and standing-seam metal are the systems, and both handle the coast when the metal around them is right.

That metal is what fails: valley flashing, drip edge, hip and ridge fasteners under tile; clips, screws and cut edges under metal panels. A roof can look flawless from A1A while its fasteners rust to lace.

Our coastal installs use corrosion-resistant flashing, stainless or coated fasteners and sealed edges as the standard, and our inspection starts by probing the metal rather than admiring the surface.

Many Highland Beach residences are condominiums and townhomes governed by associations, including the Edgewater Townhomes and the buildings along the ocean and the Intracoastal, and we work with boards and property managers on inspection reports, milestone documentation and phased re-roofing that keeps residents dry while work proceeds. Those roofs are mostly flat or low-slope, and they fail at drainage and edge metal first: corroded drains and scuppers, split seams where water has ponded, failed pitch pockets around rooftop equipment.

Older three-story-plus buildings facing the state's milestone inspections receive a roof condition survey with photographs and a remaining-life opinion for the board file, and a re-roof is phased so the association can budget it across years.

Repair is most of what we do, and here it is usually a metal repair. Rusted valley flashing is cut out and relined in stainless or copper, drip edge renewed along the eave, corroded hip and ridge fasteners pulled and the caps re-bedded and screwed with stainless, and the tile lifted, saved and relaid so the fix disappears.

On a metal roof, rusted screws are replaced with stainless, open edges hemmed and sealed, boots and caps renewed. On association roofs, drains and scuppers are rebuilt in stainless and seams repaired with the membrane's own system.

The stain inside is rarely under the entry point, so we trace the water from the roof, photograph the source and price the repair in writing before starting. After a storm a secured tarp comes first.

1. When a Highland Beach roof is past repair, the replacement is tile or standing-seam metal built for the coast. A tile re-roof strips to the deck, replaces soft plywood and salt-eaten fascia, lays new self-adhered underlayment with valleys in stainless or copper, and sets the tile to the county's wind-code attachment with stainless fasteners and caps.
2. A metal re-roof uses aluminum or coastal-rated coated steel panels on stainless concealed clips, hemmed and sealed edges, and matching metal at every flashing. Association flat roofs get rebuilt drainage, stainless edge metal, tapered insulation where ponding has been the problem, and TPO or modified bitumen on top.
3. The Town of Highland Beach inspects at dry-in and final. Both tile and metal sit at the top rung of a full roof in this county; we measure yours and write every line down.

Molsbee Roofing is a family business since 1975, licensed CCC1327429, based in Lake Worth Beach and working Palm Beach County, Jupiter to Boca Raton; Highland Beach is about twenty-five minutes down the coast. We know what salt does to a fastener on this island, we know what a board needs in its file, and we are still here next season when the roof needs looking at again.

Every job is permitted through the Town of Highland Beach and inspected. Every price is itemized and in writing before work starts.

Free roof inspections for homeowners and associations. Call 561-318-8624, phone answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Highland Beach is a three-mile barrier strip between Delray Beach and Boca Raton, mostly condominium buildings along A1A with single-family pockets like Bel Lido and Byrd Beach behind them. In Palm Beach County a shingle roof generally lasts 13 to 18 years, tile 15 to 20, metal 20 to 25, and a flat roof 15 to 20.

Two local things shift that timing. On an adhesive-set concrete or clay tile roof the town requires field uplift testing on the permit, so a replacement here is planned with a testing agency in the schedule rather than added at the end, and that is a reason to decide early rather than in August.

On a condominium the roof is the association's, and a low-slope roof rarely fails all at once, so boards are usually choosing between a staged repair programme and a full replacement. Either way the finding that decides it is the state of the metal, not the state of the covering, and that means opening the roof at a few points and photographing what is underneath.