Roofing in Palm Beach

Palm Beach is a barrier island, never wider than a short walk from the Atlantic to Lake Worth Lagoon, with groins and beach nourishment holding the ocean in front of the houses. Every roof carries the county's highest wind rating, sits inside the wind-borne debris region and is never far from salt.

The island's signature is Mediterranean Revival tile, set by Mizner's houses of the twenties. In the Estate Section and Midtown, matching the profile and colour of the original clay barrel tile is the job, not an option.

From the North End through the Royal Poinciana Way district and the streets off Worth Avenue you see clay barrel, flat concrete tile and, on some houses, standing-seam copper; the Palm Beach Biltmore and the other condominiums run to the same review and calendar. Many houses are seasonal, empty half the year, which changes how a job is scheduled and signed for.

We have done a handful of roofs on the island in the last year, and they were some of the biggest jobs we take on anywhere. A re-roof on Royal Poinciana Way this summer, one on Everglade Avenue, one on Orange Grove Road over the winter and a repair on North Lake Way, most of them for people we had worked for before.

What the island taught us is that the job is won or lost in the sequence: the board date, then the town permit, then the tear-off timed so the dry-in is done before the season hours close in. We have learned what ARCOM wants to see on tile before it says yes, so we bring the samples and the profile drawings to the meeting.

And we plan every delivery and dumpster around the ordinance clock, because a roof opened in the wrong week sits under tarps.

1. A Palm Beach re-roof is planned backwards from the calendar, so ask early: the board meeting, the town permit and the season hours have to line up. If the house is landmarked, the Landmarks commission decides what goes back on, and it will be tile for tile.
2. A repair in the same material is simpler and usually needs no board. Repair against replacement is decided by the underlayment and the metal, not the tile; clay barrel tile from the Mizner era can often be lifted, saved and reset over new underlayment, which the board prefers too, while flat concrete tile is priced as new.
3. What moves the price is the tile, reset or bought new, the copper or aluminium at the valleys and edges, roof area and pitch, and what the deck needs. Every price carries our lifetime workmanship warranty on the install and the manufacturer's warranty on the materials, in writing.
4. Away for the summer? We run the job on photographs.
5. The inspection is free.

Each service has its own Palm Beach page, with the island's wrinkles and a job to show where we have one: tile roof replacement, roof leak repair, flat roof repair and replacement, roof inspection, metal roof replacement, commercial roofing, storm damage roof repair, shingle roof replacement, roof replacement cost and roof maintenance. On a Mizner-era house in the Estate Section or Midtown start with tile roof replacement or roof leak repair; for a condominium building or the shops off Worth Avenue, flat roof repair and replacement or commercial roofing.

Start with the one that fits, or call and we will point you to it.

If the material or the look changes, yes, and if the house is landmarked it goes to the Landmarks Preservation Commission instead. A like-for-like re-roof in the same tile is simpler and often stays at the permit desk.

The permit form asks the question on its first page and records the material coming off and going on, so we settle the answer with you before filing and bring the tile samples if a hearing is needed.

Weekday business hours in season, December through April, with no Saturday, Sunday or holiday work and nothing loud early in the morning. Longer days the rest of the year, still no Sundays.

The town pauses construction from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day. Those hours are ordinance, not custom, so a tear-off in season is timed to reach dry-in inside the week, and we schedule deliveries and the dumpster around the same clock.

Tile, nearly always, and the board will usually say so. Clay barrel tile on the Mediterranean Revival houses of the Estate Section and Midtown, flat concrete tile on others, standing-seam copper on some.

A change to another material goes to ARCOM and needs a good reason. Where the existing clay barrel tile is sound we would rather lift it, put down new underlayment and reset it than buy new, because matching the old profile and colour is the whole point on this island.

Longer than on the mainland, because the board comes first and the town reviews the application after, and the season calendar then decides when the work can start. Start early, before the season if you can.

We are registered with the town in the EPL portal, we file the day the board says yes, and we keep you posted at each step so nobody is surprised by the date.

June through November, and the island takes the wind first, off the ocean on one side and across the lagoon on the other. Have the roof walked in the spring, especially the ridge tile, the hip mortar and the edge metal on the ocean side, where salt works on everything.

Loose tile fixed before the season is a repair; the same tile after a storm can be a replacement. The inspection costs nothing, and the photographs give you a dated record of the roof before the wind.

On the island the roof is a design decision before it is a building permit. The Architectural Commission, or the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a landmarked house, rules on tile profile and material, and Mediterranean tile is the town's signature.

Every part of the island sits in the county's highest wind band with salt on both sides, so flashings, fasteners and copper age on their own clock. 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 work calendar is law: weekdays only in season, no Saturdays from late November to the end of April, and nothing between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. A Palm Beach re-roof is therefore scheduled backwards from the calendar, with the board date first, the permit second, and the tear-off timed so the roof is dried in before the window closes.