Roof inspections in The Hammocks, FL

Once a roof reaches 15 years, Florida law gives you a right: you may hire an authorized inspector, at your own cost, before your insurer demands a replacement. A report showing 5 or more years of useful life stops the insurer from dropping or non-renewing you for roof age alone. With 17.3 percent of residents 65 or older, a renewal letter that mentions roof age is a likely reason to order this check.

The roof section of the 4-point form lists the covering material, roof age, remaining useful life, last permit date, and whether the roof was replaced in full or in part. Citizens wants that form on properties past 20 years of age, and documented remaining life for shingle roofs past 25. Your insurer or agent can tell you what applies to your own policy.

Wind mitigation is a separate form, OIR-B1-1802, valid for up to five years if nothing material changes. Because Miami-Dade is in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, the form sorts your home into that zone. It also records attic items you cannot see from the ground, such as roof-deck attachment and roof-to-wall connectors.

• Curling or cupping shingles, heavy granule loss, bare asphalt or felt
• Missing, loose or cracked tabs or tiles
• Soft spots in the decking
• Stains from water showing up in your attic or on the ceilings beneath the roof
• Roof age, remaining useful life and last permit date

Book one before a sale or purchase, after an insurer letter about roof age, or following a storm. Irma in 2017 brought a 74-kt gust at Opa-locka Airport and heavily damaged about 1,000 Miami-Dade homes. The median home in The Hammocks, built in 1991, was already more than 25 years old when Irma arrived.

Florida law bars roofers from offering anything of value for an inspection or from advising you on coverage. Your insurer or agent is the one to ask about what your policy pays. If the inspection leads to repair work, the county's Regulatory and Economic Resources office issues roof permits here. Confirm requirements with them.