Pre-Hurricane Season Roof Checklist for Palm Beach County Homeowners

Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and the roofs that come through it cleanest are almost never the newest roofs — they're the ones that got a real inspection and a few small fixes in the weeks beforehand. Every spring across Palm Beach County, we see the same pattern: minor issues that existed all year, a lifted tile, a cracked pipe boot, a clogged gutter, turn into major leaks the first time sustained tropical winds and driving rain hit the roof at once.

The checklist: what to do before June 1

• Schedule a full roof inspection in April or May, before the pre-season rush. A visual check from the ground misses most of the problems that actually cause leaks.
• Check for lifted, cracked, or slipped tiles and shingles, especially near ridges, hips, and valleys where wind uplift concentrates first.
• Inspect flashing and sealant around chimneys, skylights, vent stacks, and wall transitions — these are the most common leak points in a wind-driven rain event, not the field of the roof itself.
• Clean gutters and downspouts so heavy rain has somewhere to go instead of backing up under the roof edge.
• Trim overhanging tree limbs that could break and strike the roof, and remove dead fronds from nearby palms.
• Check the attic for daylight, staining, or musty odor, which often reveals a slow leak before it shows up as a ceiling stain inside the home.
• Secure or store loose yard items that could become wind-borne debris and puncture the roof covering.
• Pull your wind mitigation inspection report and confirm it still reflects your roof's current condition, especially if you've had any repairs since it was last completed.
• Photograph your roof's current condition from the ground and, ideally, from the air, so you have a dated baseline if you ever need to file an insurance claim.

Why a drone inspection beats a visual check from the ground

Most roof problems that matter, a lifted tile row, a hairline crack near a vent boot, wear at a ridge cap, are invisible from a ladder-eye view at the eave and impossible to spot from the driveway. Our free drone roof inspection flies the entire roof plane and delivers a photo report showing exactly what needs attention before storm season, without anyone walking a tile roof and risking cracked tiles in the process. For more on why this matters specifically on tile, see our guide comparing drone inspections to ladder inspections on tile roofs.

Documentation matters as much as repairs

If a storm does cause damage, the strength of your insurance claim often depends on being able to show the roof's condition before the storm, not just after. Photos and an inspection report dated in the spring give your adjuster a clear before-and-after comparison and make disputes over pre-existing damage far less likely. Our full walkthrough of the claims process is in how a roof insurance claim works in Florida.

Boynton Beach: a mix of aging tile and newer shingle roofs

In Boynton Beach, we see a wide mix of roof ages and types — established communities west of I-95 with original 1980s and 90s tile approaching or past typical service life, alongside newer shingle roofs in developments closer to Congress Avenue. The pre-season checklist matters most for the older tile roofs, where individual cracked or slipped tiles are easy and inexpensive to fix in April but can lead to a soaked underlayment and interior leak once a named storm's rain bands arrive.

What a licensed roofer flags during a pre-season inspection that homeowners miss

Some of the most storm-relevant issues are the least visible from the ground. We check the rubber collar at every pipe boot for UV cracking, since that seal degrades faster than the surrounding roof covering and is a common source of leaks once wind-driven rain starts hitting it sideways. On tile roofs, we check ridge cap mortar or adhesive for hairline separation, and on shingle roofs, we check valley metal for granule washout that thins the metal's protective coating years before it would otherwise need attention.

Several of the fixes that come out of a pre-season inspection, re-securing a loose ridge cap or resealing a pipe boot, are minor enough to stay well under the threshold where Florida's 25% roof rule would require bringing a whole section up to current code. Addressing them early also protects the wind mitigation features already documented on your policy: loose straps or connections found and corrected in April, through our wind mitigation team, keep those credits intact instead of risking a lower score if an insurer re-inspects after storm season.

Attic ventilation gets a quick check during the same visit, since blocked soffit vents or a failing exhaust vent can trap heat and moisture that accelerate underlayment wear from underneath, a problem that has nothing to do with the roof covering itself but shortens its effective life all the same. It is a five-minute check during a full inspection and an easy one to skip if you are only looking at the roof from the ground. We note any ventilation issue on the same inspection report as the roof covering findings, since the two are worth addressing together rather than as separate, unrelated line items.

If your inspection turns up bigger problems

Finding widespread cracked tile, soft decking, or failed underlayment during a pre-season inspection is disappointing, but far better in April than in the middle of an active storm. It gives you time to plan a replacement on your schedule, at typical lead times, rather than as an emergency tarp-and-scramble job after damage has already occurred.