Roofs we work on · Metal Roofs
The Normal Answer Here, and It Still Comes Down to Fasteners
Metal leads this list because in Monroe County it is the ordinary choice rather than the expensive one. What separates a twenty-five year metal roof from a twelve year one is almost never the panel.
Give us the mile marker, tell us what is on the roof now, and say whether the property is rented out. Those three shape the job.
Metal
Down here it is the normal answer, not the upsell
Load path
At these wind speeds the covering is not the real question
Out too
The old roof has to travel the whole chain to leave
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
Choosing the profile and inheriting the fastener system
Metal gets sold on what you can see — profile, color, the warranty printed on the coating. Those are real and they are the parts least likely to end the roof. What ends it here is fasteners corroding, dissimilar metals left in contact, sealant at penetrations reaching the end of its life, and edge details that were adequate rather than right. Every one of those is settled quietly during installation, and none of them are in the brochure the homeowner was handed.
The decisions that actually set the service life
- Standing seam against exposed fastener, and what each commits you to.
- Fastener metallurgy, and whether it will corrode against the panel.
- Whether dissimilar metals are being kept apart or sealed over.
- The coating system, specified for genuine open-water exposure.
- Detailing at ridge, valley, hip and every penetration.
Why it is the default in this county specifically
Monroe County carries the highest design wind speeds in Florida, and a properly fastened metal system deals with uplift in a way that a covering made of individually sealed pieces does not. It is also light, which matters on structures where weight is a live consideration.
That combination is why so much of the Keys is under metal already. On the mainland a roofer works up to metal from shingle. Here it is the sensible starting point, and a contractor steering you away from it is worth asking why.
How we handle it
- 01Specify the fastener system as carefully as the panel itself.
- 02Separate dissimilar metals rather than relying on a bead of sealant.
- 03Build the edge and penetration details instead of sealing them.
- 04Confirm the deck will hold the fastening before any panel is set.
An exposed-fastener system is cheaper on day one and puts several hundred deliberate holes through the waterproofing plane, each one depending on a rubber washer that ages. That is a legitimate trade and it should be a decision you made rather than one that arrived with the price. We will put both in front of you and explain what each asks of you later.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Metal is not maintenance free and we will not describe it that way. Exposed fasteners want checking periodically, sealant at penetrations has a finite life, and this county shortens both. A roof that gets looked at every few years lasts considerably longer than one that never does.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is metal really standard in the Keys?
- It is very common here in a way it is not further north, because it suits high uplift and heavy salt exposure. That does not make it automatic for every building, and it does make it the sensible thing to price first.
- Will it be noisy in the rain?
- Much less than people expect on a decked roof with underlayment beneath it. The reputation comes from panels fixed straight onto battens over open framing, which is not how a house roof is built.
- Standing seam or exposed fastener?
- Standing seam costs more and puts no fasteners through the weather plane. Exposed fastener is cheaper and asks you to maintain several hundred small sealed penetrations. Both are defensible; only one of them should be a default.
Florida Keys specifics
Metal Is the Default
In most of Florida a roofer works up from shingle to metal and metal is the premium option. In the Keys that ordering is reversed, and shingle is the specification that ought to arrive with an explanation.
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The Load Path
Monroe County carries the highest design wind speeds in Florida. What decides how a roof performs is not principally the material on top — it is whether the whole assembly stays connected to the building.
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Tear-Off Has to Leave
Roofing is the heaviest trade in construction. A re-roof brings tons of material in and sends tons of tear-off out, and on an island chain the outbound leg is a genuine cost rather than a short trip.
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Roofs Over Rentals
A large share of Keys property is rented out. On an earning building a roofing job is scheduled around a booking calendar, and a leak is a refund and a review rather than an inconvenience.
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How We Work Here
We are Fort Lauderdale based and work Monroe County in scheduled blocks with crews lodged locally. On a chain where a lot of unfamiliar companies work, being plain about that matters.
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More roofs we work on
Flat & Low Slope
A great deal of Keys building stock is concrete with a flat or very low slope roof. Those roofs fail at drainage and at edges rather than across the field, and coating is the answer offered far more often than it is the right one.
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Tile Roofs
Tile appears throughout the Keys and it asks more of a building here than it does further north. Fastening is the whole conversation, and the underlayment beneath decides when the roof needs doing.
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Shingle Roofs
Shingle exists throughout the Keys and it works when it is chosen and installed deliberately. In the county with Florida's highest design wind speeds, it is the specification that ought to be explained rather than assumed.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.