Storm Damage Roofing in Melbourne, FL

The wind dropped an hour ago. There are shingle tabs in the pool, a sheet of the neighbor's screen enclosure in the yard, and a wet spot spreading on the ceiling of the back bedroom. The next band is due after dark. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who handles storm damage in south Brevard County.

Tarp first, then photograph every slope

Keeping rain out of the house comes before everything else. That means a tarp or a temporary dry-in over the open area, fastened so the next gust does not take it, which is a real concern on the beachside where the wind keeps blowing for a day after the storm passes. The contractor photographs the open roof from above, and from inside the attic when there is access, before any tarp covers it. That set of photos becomes the proof of what the wind actually did to a Melbourne roof.

Then the contractor walks the whole roof. Wind lifts shingles and reseals them crooked. It works exposed-fastener metal panels loose at the screw line. It bends drip edge and pulls at flashing. Damage you cannot see from the driveway shows up as a leak in November, so the walk covers every slope and the scope lists everything found.

Stay off the roof and off the doorstep contract

Do not climb onto the roof, and keep clear of any power line lying in the yard. Take pictures of whatever is visible without risk: standing in the driveway, looking out an upstairs window, or leaning through the attic hatch. Then turn the camera indoors, on ceiling stains, active drips, and insulation that is soaked. Get all of it on record before a tarp goes over the hole or furniture gets shifted.

Hold onto the receipt for every tarp, bucket, and roll of plastic you pick up to protect the house. A contract pushed at you on the front step is one to walk away from. After Irma in 2017 and again after Ian and Nicole in 2022, out-of-area operators worked Palm Bay street by street, and some took deposits and left. Check a contractor's license with the state before putting your name on anything, and refuse any paper that hands your insurance benefits over to another party.

A slope of lifted shingle, or a roof stripped across three

Localized damage, a slope of lifted shingles, a dozen loose panel screws, a torn section of a flat porch roof, is repaired. Where a match to the existing shingle or panel exists, the contractor uses it, and the underlayment under the torn-up section gets replaced. In practice that is roof repair where a storm, not age, caused the damage.

Widespread loss, meaning shingle stripped across several slopes, metal panels peeled back, or decking soaked through, is a roof replacement. On a roof that was already 18 years old, an insurer often reaches the same conclusion. Repair or replacement, the adjuster builds the file from the same two things: the contractor's photographs and the written scope.

Matthew, Irma, Ian, Nicole, Milton: how storms reach south Brevard roofs

Brevard's storms have mostly been brushes and bands rather than direct hits, and roofs fail in bands too. Matthew ran up the coast just offshore on October 7, 2016, with 100 mph gusts at the Cape and lesser winds in Melbourne. Irma on September 10 and 11, 2017, damaged more than 7,000 homes in the county and put an EF-1 tornado through a beachfront condo roof in Indialantic. Ian on September 28 and 29, 2022, was a rain and flooding event here, with four to six inches in Palm Bay and culverts washed out. Nicole's eye passed over Brevard on November 10, 2022, and the surf took dunes and seawalls from Melbourne Beach north. Milton on October 9, 2024, spun up 46 tornadoes statewide, with one confirmed in Cocoa Beach and gusts to 80 mph on the beachside.

Every summer afternoon brings a small version of the same thing. A sea-breeze storm with a 60 mph gust front lifts shingle edges and drops branches on porch roofs. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and the National Weather Service office in Melbourne issues the warnings and the post-storm damage surveys for the county.

A Florida homeowner policy puts a duty on you to take reasonable steps that keep the damage from growing. A tarp is exactly that. Waiting is the expensive part: let rain soak decking and drywall in a Palm Bay house for a few weeks and the carrier stops talking about wind and starts talking about neglect. Get the roof covered, then read the insurance claims page for the steps that follow.

When you call with shingle tabs in the pool

Give the address and tell the contractor if rain is actively dripping inside at this moment. Say what came off, shingle, metal panels, or a porch roof, and roughly how much. Mention if there is sky showing through from the attic or a room below, and let them know if you already have photos of the damage. Call (321) 490-1097.