If you are in the industry and or you are a homeowner that has had a claim for your roof, then you are probably aware of the 25 percent rule for roofs. Regardless of where you heard about this rule, if you were to ask 5 people what this rule means, you would probably get 5 different answers. The rule originates from Florida’s Building Code. This is the verbiage from the code itself under Chapter 7, Section 706.1.1, Existing Roofing:
Florida Building Code – Existing Building §706.1.1:
“Not more than 25 percent of the total roof area or roof section of any existing building or structure shall be repaired, replaced or recovered in any 12-month period unless the entire existing roofing system or roof section is replaced to conform to requirements of this code.”
What does the code mean?
The most basic interpretation of the 25 percent rule for roofs is “if 25 percent or more of your roof needs to be replaced, then the entire roof needs to be replaced.” Or the more accurate way of interpreting this is “you cannot just replace 25 percent or more of your roof, you must replace the entire roof.” These two interpretations are accurate, however, there are some conditions that go along with them.
The code uses the terms “roofing system” or “roof section.” The Florida Building Code goes on to further define what a “roof section” is”
Florida Building Code – Existing Building §202:
“ROOF SECTION. A separating or division of a roof area by existing expansion joints, parapet walls, flashing (excluding valley), difference of elevation (excluding hips and ridges), roof type or legal description; not including the roof area required for a proper tie-off with an existing system.”
For example, having separate roofing systems would be having architectural shingles on the main roof but having a modified bitumen roof over a patio. The shingles and modified bitumen roofs are separate roofing systems. An example of separate roofing sections would be roofs that are separated by a wall.
How does this relate to insurance claims?
The simple of this is if the damage to your roof covers 25 percent or more then it will need to be replaced. However many insurance companies and their staff members will invoke this rule in order to not pay for a roof replacement. They do so by stating that the damage does not cover 25 percent or more of the roof. They will state that the damages can be repaired without a replacement of the roof. The fact that the damage may not cover 25 percent or more of the roof may be true, however, the 25 percent rule is not the only factor to consider when determining if a roof needs to be replaced or not.
Other factors
If the damage to your roof doesn’t cover 25 percent or more then there are other factors to consider when attempting to make the determination of whether the roof should be replaced. These include the age of the roof, general condition, and type of roof. These all boil down to the repairability factor of the roof. When repairing a roof you generally need to replace a small section around the damaged shingle(s), these are done by lifting the surrounding shingles. If those surrounding shingles are brittle or will get damaged in the process the damage would start to cascade and the roof is not effectively repairable.
The other thing to consider is if a contractor will warrantee a repair. Many contractors will not warranty repairs to roofs as the repair would tie into the surrounding shingles and other people’s work. This means the contractor doing the repairs would have warrantee someone else’s work that they cannot verify was done properly.
Lastly, it is the insurance companies responsibility to return you to a pre-loss condition. If the insurance company states that the damage can be repaired, however doing those repairs creates more damage as described previously then they are not returning the roof to a pre-loss condition.
If you have a situation where the insurance company is not providing you with a favorable coverage decision with our claim, give us a call or email us and we will be happy to do a free claim assessment.
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