Florida's 25% roof rule used to mean this: if a storm damaged 25% or more of a roof, the whole roof had to be replaced, not just the damaged part. Senate Bill 4-D, passed in 2022, changed that. Under current law, if your roof was built or replaced to the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, an insurer generally only has to repair the damaged section — a full tear-off isn't automatically triggered anymore just because the damage crosses 25%. Roofs built to older code, from before 2007, can still face that full-replacement standard.
That's the whole rule in one paragraph. What it means for your specific roof depends on two things: how old it is, and how much of it a storm actually took.
Before 2022, and after
Before SB 4-D, a lot of roof claims in this state weren't really about whether the roof leaked. They were about square footage. An adjuster or contractor would measure the damaged area against the total roof area, and once that number crossed 25%, the old rule — as most Florida jurisdictions and insurers applied it — pushed toward full replacement, on the reasoning that patching a quarter of a roof with mismatched, aged shingle didn't hold up as sound construction.
Lawmakers changed that in part because the 25% threshold had become something contractors and public adjusters leaned on to justify full replacements, insurance payouts included, even when a targeted repair would have handled the actual damage. SB 4-D asks a different first question: what code was this roof built to? If the answer is 2007 or later, repair-only is now the presumption. Damage percentage still matters for scoping the repair — how much shingle, how much decking, how much flashing needs attention — but it no longer functions as an automatic trigger for tearing off a roof that's otherwise sound.
Northeast Florida isn't in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone; that's Miami-Dade and Broward. But the Florida Building Code still governs everything built here, and we're currently on the 8th Edition, from 2023. Local design wind speeds run roughly 120 to 140 mph depending on the site and its exposure, which is part of why roof-deck attachment and roof-to-wall connections matter as much to code compliance as they do to your wind mitigation credits.
Two St. Augustine roofs, two different answers
"It depends on the code year" doesn't mean much until you put it on an actual house, so here are two.
Say there's a place in an older St. Augustine Shores–era neighborhood with a roof that was replaced back in 2004. That's three years before the 2007 cutoff. A storm tears off shingles across 30% of that roof. Under SB 4-D, the older-code standard is more likely to apply here, and full replacement becomes the probable outcome — not guaranteed, but likely, especially once the old shingles come off and the deck underneath shows its age. Nail patterns, felt versus synthetic underlayment, deck attachment: all of that gets inspected once a roof is opened up, and a 2004 roof frequently reveals problems a partial repair won't solve anyway.
Now take a house near Vilano Beach with a roof replaced in 2016, in the rebuilding that followed Hurricane Matthew. Matthew tore through St. Johns County in October 2016, did serious damage along the coast in Vilano and flooded parts of downtown St. Augustine, and left plenty of roofs in that area needing full replacement that year. A 2016 roof was installed well after the 2007 code cutoff. If that same house takes 30% damage from a later storm, SB 4-D's repair-only presumption applies. The insurer's obligation is generally to fix the damaged section — matching shingles, proper flashing, code-compliant fastening on the repaired area — not replace a roof that still has a decade or more of service life left everywhere else.
Same damage percentage on paper. Different code year. Different likely outcome.
How this plays into an actual claim
None of this happens in a vacuum. It happens during a claim, usually while there's a tarp on your roof and an adjuster's schedule is running two weeks behind.
The first inspection after any damage is the one that matters most, and it's worth treating it that way. Photos of the damage before any tarping or temporary repair, a clear account of which sections were affected, and documentation of the roof's age and permit history all become the record both sides argue from later. If your roof was replaced under permit, St. Johns County's building services department will have that on file — worth pulling before the adjuster shows up, not after. We've been doing roof work in this county since 1995, and it's the kind of documentation our in-house crews know to gather up front, because it's a lot easier to establish code year and damage extent at the first visit than to reconstruct it later from memory.
You have one year from the date of loss to file a hurricane or windstorm claim under Florida's current law, shortened by the 2022 reforms — this isn't something to let sit. And since Assignment of Benefits agreements were eliminated for new property insurance policies starting January 1, 2023, you're dealing with your own insurer directly now, not handing your claim off to whoever shows up first with paperwork to sign. Be cautious of any contractor who wants to take over your claim rather than just document it and let you run it.
Good documentation at that first inspection doesn't guarantee a particular outcome. It just gives your adjuster less room to argue about what actually happened, and less reason to guess wrong.
Where roof age intersects with your policy, not just your claim
Roof age matters even outside of storm season. Florida law generally prohibits insurers from refusing to write or renew a policy solely because a roof is under 15 years old. Once a roof passes that 15-year mark, an insurer can request an inspection, and if that inspection shows at least five more years of expected life left, coverage can still hold. That's a separate question from the 25% rule, but the two conversations tend to happen in the same room — an older roof that's already borderline on remaining life is exactly the kind of roof where storm damage is more likely to tip toward replacement instead of repair.
It's also worth getting a wind mitigation inspection done at some point, storm or no storm. The state's wind mitigation form, OIR-B1-1802, documents things like roof shape, deck attachment, roof-to-wall connections, secondary water resistance, and opening protection, and insurers use those same features to set premium discounts. A lot of what an adjuster looks at after a storm is the same physical detail a wind mitigation inspector already documented beforehand. Getting that paperwork done ahead of time doesn't change which side of the 25% rule your roof falls on, but it means nobody's examining your roof-deck attachment for the first time in the middle of a claim.
Roof situation → what the rule likely means
- Replaced 2007 or later, damage under 25% of the roof: Repair the damaged section; full replacement generally isn't required
- Replaced 2007 or later, damage covers most of one slope or more: Repair-only presumption still applies, though shingle availability and matching sometimes make replacement the more practical route anyway
- Original or pre-2007 roof, significant storm damage: Older-code standard is more likely to apply; full replacement becomes the more probable outcome
- Roof age or code year unknown: Get an inspection and pull the permit history from St. Johns County before assuming either way
Frequently asked questions
Does the 25% roof rule still exist in Florida?
Not in its old form. SB 4-D changed the default for roofs built or replaced to the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, so damage percentage alone no longer automatically triggers a full replacement on newer roofs.
What counts as "25%" on the roofs where it still applies?
It's generally measured as damaged roof area against total roof area, assessed section by section — though the exact accounting can vary by insurer and by how thoroughly the damage gets documented at inspection.
Does this mean my insurer never has to replace my whole roof?
No. If your roof predates the 2007 code, or the damage is extensive enough that a partial repair genuinely can't restore a sound, weatherproof roof, replacement is still very much on the table.
How do I find out what code year my roof was built or replaced to?
Check the permit history through St. Johns County building services, or ask whoever did the last replacement for the paperwork. Without a record, a roofing contractor can often narrow down the era from materials and construction details during an inspection.
This is general information based on current Florida law, not legal or insurance advice — your policy language, your adjuster's findings, and the actual condition of your roof are what govern your claim.
If you've got storm damage and aren't sure which side of this rule your roof lands on, call us at 904-257-3244 and we'll take a look before you talk to the adjuster.
