Roofing in Atlantis

The City of Atlantis issues its own permits from the building department on Orange Tree Drive, and it wants one for every exterior change, down to painting and pressure cleaning. A roof application goes in with the signed contract and its value, two surveys, two sets of photographs, two sets of product approvals and the association's approval where there is one, and an incomplete file is refused rather than held.

Every contractor holds a city business tax receipt, work runs Monday through Saturday until early evening, and debris leaves only with Waste Pro. The city's guidelines send exterior work to the Architectural Review Committee before a permit is approved and list roof repairs as exempt.

A full re-roof is not on that list, so we confirm the route with the building department and plan for a committee date before booking a tear-off week.

Atlantis is inland, a small gated city between the canal, Lantana Road, Military Trail and Congress Avenue, laid out around the country club and its first golf course at the start of the sixties. The typical house dates from the late seventies, so the roof on it may be an original or a later replacement, and its permit history matters more than the age of the house.

The whole city sits in the county's mainland wind band and inside the wind-borne debris region, which sets how a new roof is fastened. The city says none of its properties lie in a high-risk flood zone, but that finding rests on older maps and the county's maps have since changed, so we look up the parcel before filing.

In the last year our Atlantis work has been repair calls on Muirfield Drive, and we would rather leave the count off the page than round it up. Our nearest run of re-roofs is one road south in Lantana, on Terrace Road, Thatcher Avenue and East Lantana Road, where a different permit desk applies.

What Atlantis teaches is that the paperwork is the job: two of everything, the tax receipt on file, the committee question settled early and the right hauler on the driveway. With that in place, re-roofing a late-seventies house here is plain, careful roofing.

1. When the old covering comes off an Atlantis house, we specify a self-adhered secondary water barrier over the deck and fasten to the mainland wind band; the Florida Building Code sets its own secondary water barrier requirements on re-roofs and allows more than one compliant method. On a house of any real value, the roof-to-wall connections are also brought up to code, within a cap on what that retrofit may add.
2. If you want a different material or colour from the one on the house now, that is an exterior change the city reviews, so bring the sample and product approval forward early. We photograph the deck and connections at the free inspection, so these items appear in the written price rather than halfway through the job.

Atlantis has its own pages for roof leak repair, which covers finding and fixing where water gets in, and for roof replacement cost, which explains what sets the price of a new roof inside the city. Each one shows what changes here.

Read the one that fits, or call and we will send a roofer to look.

No. The city lists roof repairs as exempt from the Architectural Review Committee, so a leak or storm repair goes straight to the permit stage.

It still needs that city permit, because Atlantis permits every exterior alteration, and the contractor must hold a city business tax receipt. A full re-roof is a different case, so we raise the committee question with the building department before we set dates.

Fixing small problems early keeps the paperwork small too.

It depends on the house, so the price follows a free inspection rather than a rule of thumb. Roof area and pitch, the material, how much of the deck needs replacing, the secondary water barrier, any roof-to-wall work the code requires, the city application and the Waste Pro disposal all move the number.

You get it in writing, line by line, before any work, and financing is available on approved credit. Our Atlantis roof replacement cost page explains each factor in more detail.

It can. If repairs, replacements or roof recovering cover more than a quarter of a roof system or section in any 12-month period, the code generally requires replacing or recovering the roof covering across that entire system or section to meet current code requirements.

If that system or section was built, repaired or replaced in compliance with the 2007 Florida Building Code or a later edition, only the portion being worked on must meet applicable current code requirements. Our inspection helps determine which applies to your roof.

We check the roof's permit history and measure the damaged area before recommending another repair.

Choose one that knows the city's process and puts everything in writing. Ask whether the contractor holds the Atlantis business tax receipt, will file a complete application the first time, and knows how the review committee and Waste Pro fit the schedule.

Check the state licence, and ask for photographs of what the price is based on. Get the workmanship warranty on the installation and the manufacturer's warranty on the materials, both in writing; ours covers workmanship for life.

Atlantis is a gated city of about 1,200 homes, 1978-median, inland and in the lower wind band, with the city stating that none of it lies in a high-risk flood zone. A 1978 roof is on its second or third covering.

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. The city's rule that matters for timing is the Architectural Review Committee: a roof repair skips it, but a full re-roof does not, and the committee meets on the first and third Wednesdays, so the tear-off week is booked around that date.

Every contractor holds a city tax receipt, the application comes with two surveys and two photo sets, and debris leaves only with the city's hauler. We have repair calls on Muirfield Drive behind us, and the Lantana work one road south.