My wife wants a little shack on the beach. At one time, it was doable. Not anymore. Stuff that was $190K before COVID is $359K now for lousy flips.
I have heard that metal roofing has had a substantial increase in price since I did ours in 2017. It's the cost of the metal itself, but you get a break on fire insurance and the metal roof will outlast Asphalt shingles here in SW Florida by a factor of two or more. The sun beats the hell out of Asphalt shingles here. The shingles usually last about 85% or less of their life rating here; especially if you purchase a darker color. As to Greg's post, You don't really want a little shack on the beach here in Florida. It's not a question of whether a storm is going to get it, it's a question of when.
Tornado 4-5 years ago tore off a third of my roof.....i got a metal roof to replace it and i love it......we have had some high wind events the last couple months that have tore off shingles on some houses but the metal roofs around here are just fine Peace WildBill
What kind/style did you get? I didn't think they held up to wind that well - is there a strap system or brace they spec?
Florida has what is called "wind mitigation" codes. When you do anything major to your house you must bring whatever you had worked on up to the latest wind mitigation standards. The standards go deep. The roofing company had to have a building inspector verify that the nails that secured the plywood to the joists (here usually trusses) were of the correct type and spacing, that the plywood entire roof was anchored to the rest of the structure with what I call secondary securement, and generally that the roof met the same codes as a new house would have to. I have survived two hurricanes here and other then my Dodge Magnum getting a broken taillight and a handful of minor dents, there has ben no damage except to trees. I'm still picking away at three fallen trees due to Ian.
Standing ridge....i will post a picture........they used a ton of screws into the 5/8" plywood decking....it would take another EF3 or higher tornado to lift my roof off again. Peace WildBill
Central Florida here, just replaced my roof last month 10 year old 3300 sf one story house due to pool solar leak. The Solar company's insurance covered half the coast so I priced metal, 65K and ended up going with what was there asphalt shingle, exactly half the price. 32K which seems absurd but that is what it is costing here +/- 3k with 5 estimates. I called my insurance agent to report my new roof and was surprised to hear that I would save a whopping $40 off of my premium. I asked what the difference would have been if I went metal and he said, not much more and that most companies are wanting those replaced within 20-25 years now, I thought those were 50 year roofs, he responded, "you live in Florida, there really are no rules anymore".
You got to be shitting??!! 32k for a damn roof? No wonder roofing companies are huge corporations now.....but it's only worth the bare absolute minimum in labor cost for me to weld your car back together that carries people at 80mph down interstates.....makes perfect sense
I didn't pay anything like $32 grand for my metal roof - it was about half that, but it was about six years ago. The metal roof was finished just in time for Hurricane Irma. I later had the "Barn" (16' X 24' with a Gambrel roof) done for about $5,000 with a fair amount of plywood replacement.
I've gotten a couple est. recently. Not a large house (rancher) & very simple roof lines. 1st was $40k & 2nd $20k. Last one I had done was 25 years ago. Much bigger house & much higher, & more complicated job for less than $6k.
I would have zero desire to live in an area where they have man eating lizards. I'm all set with that.
Between the bugs, heat, & alligators I agree. I'll add the left lane lingerers too, which even up here a real % of 'em have FL plates! My wife & I hate the heat & have come to the conclusion that in a successful marriage it's far more important to hate/diskike the same things than to like the same things.
Two comments: As far as vermin go, the damn Mosquitoes are worse - far worse - then anything else. I was shocked to find that here in Florida the left lane is not specifically a passing lane. I learned to drive in Massachusetts, and thought all states were like MA where the left lane is specifically for passing, but I found recently that only eight or ten states have the left lane is for passing only rule. It should be.
Forgot about the mosquitoes. When I was a very little kid ('72-73 maybe) we were on vacation in FL & I remember seeing a truck (looked kinda like a old school tow truck) w/a boom & was just driving down the street spraying for mosquitoes. I thought that was law in FL - I saw a video where FL troopers were pulling ppl over for driving in the left lane.
Timing is everything. The Florida Senate passed a bill that would make the left lane of any highway with a speed limit of 65 mph or higher for passing only. As of now, the current law allows travel in the left lane but a vehicle in the left lane must move over to the right if he/she can "reasonably" see that an overtaking car wants to pass. DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law.
This requires checking rear view mirrors more frequently then every 5-10 minutes. Once trained a new truck driver who stared through the windshield without moving his head or eyes for 3+ minutes. He missed all sorts of vital information as a result.
Wow on the roof prices! The last roof that I had replaced (in SC) about ten years ago was $2000. This was on a 1600sf ranch with a simple gable roof. And since we had hail damage, the insurance company paid for it.
Looks like they are trying to fix it. The legislation, HB 317, says drivers cannot operate in the “furthermost left-hand lane” of any road, street or highway with a speed limit of at least 65 miles per hour unless they are passing another vehicle or preparing to exit the roadway. It got final approval from lawmakers on Thursday.Feb 22, 2024
Alabama passed a law a few years ago making it illegal to drive in the left lane of the interstate for more than 1 1/2 miles without passing another vehicle.
I admire roofers a lot I replaced roofs on all 3 houses we have owned. It’s rediculously hard work in the heat, especially the tear off and clean up. The last one was 2020 at 60 yrs old with calling in favors from family that I had helped with their home repair. Had all 3 daughters and there significant others up on the roof to lend a hand at one time or another. I belong to a not for profit group up in Cleveland and we own a hall built in 1890 I have helped patch that leaking roof many times, but we finally raised the funds and convinced membership to purchase a tear off and replacement of the shingles last year. The shingles were about 35 years old and toasted. It took a crane just to get the shingles up that high. Price $56,000 including wood replacement as needed and flashing. When I asked about metal was told ballpark $120,000 to $160,000. That made our decision for us.
