Treasure Coast specifics · The 2004 Rebuild
Two Landfalls, Three Weeks Apart, on the Same Stretch of Coast
Frances and Jeanne came ashore at almost the same point on this coast three weeks apart in September 2004. The rebuilding that followed happened at speed, during a shortage, and it left a distinctive housing stock behind.
Tell us the address and whether the house is occupied year round. On this coast the second answer changes the recommendation more than the first.
2004
Two landfalls, three weeks apart, on the same stretch of coast
Empty
Glass protects a house when nobody is there to close a shutter
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
A file that does not match the wall
The repair work of 2005 and 2006 was done under conditions nobody would choose. Materials were scarce, skilled labor was scarcer, and every building department in the region was processing a volume it had never seen. A great deal of that work was done properly. Some of it was done fast, some of it was documented thinly, and some of it was never permitted at all. Twenty years later the practical consequence is that what a survey finds behind the stucco is not reliably what the file describes.
What we look for on a house of this vintage
- Whether openings were altered or infilled during the repair.
- What the jamb substrate actually is, as opposed to what it was originally.
- Whether previous fixings were set into sound material.
- Evidence of water tracking that was covered rather than corrected.
- Whether the permit history matches what is physically there.
Why this coast specifically
Florida takes hurricanes everywhere. What happened here in September 2004 was unusual in a particular way: two separate landfalls at nearly the same location within three weeks, so buildings that were damaged by the first were often still open, tarped or partly repaired when the second arrived.
That sequence produced a repair wave with a distinct character. It was urgent, it was simultaneous across three counties, and it was carried out by a workforce drawn in from everywhere. The building code tightened statewide in the years afterwards, partly in response to that season, which means the work done immediately after 2004 sits on the older side of a boundary.
How we handle it
- 01Survey and open up where the wall construction is uncertain.
- 02Establish the real substrate before specifying anchoring.
- 03Flag anything found that belongs to a different trade.
- 04Price the discovered condition rather than the assumed one.
We would rather find this at survey than on the first morning of installation, which is why we open up where there is doubt instead of quoting from the outside. On a house of this cohort the difference between a clean job and an expensive surprise is almost always decided in the first visit.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We cannot tell you from the street what is behind your walls, and we will not pretend a fixed price covers a condition nobody has looked at. Where we find something structural, that is a separate conversation and sometimes a separate trade.
FAQ
Common questions
- My house was repaired in 2005. Is that a problem?
- Not automatically, and plenty of that work was done well. It is a reason to look rather than assume, particularly around openings, because that is where fast repair work and window replacement intersect twenty years later.
- How do I find out what was permitted?
- The county building department holds the permit history and it is generally obtainable. It is worth pulling before you commit to a scope, because it tells you what should be there. What is actually there is a separate question that only opening up answers.
- Does unpermitted past work stop you replacing windows?
- Not usually in itself, but it can complicate the permit for the new work if what is there does not match the record. Better to know at survey than at inspection, which is the reason we ask.
What we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and on this coast the argument for it is different from the one made further south. Here the deciding factor is usually not cost or code — it is whether anyone will be at the house when a storm is named.
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Sliding Glass Doors
Sliders here are large, they face water, and they have usually been sitting in salt air for decades. All three of those change what has to be checked before anything is ordered.
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Impact Entry Doors
An approved entry door is an assembly — slab, frame, hinges, lock, threshold and glazing approved together. On a seasonal property it is also the one opening that gets used all year by somebody who does not live there.
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Impact Garage Doors
A double garage door is usually the largest single opening in the envelope. On a seasonal property it is also the one that sits shut and untouched in salt air for months, which ages it differently from one in daily use.
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French & Specialty Shapes
Arched heads, radius tops, oversized fixed glass and French pairs are fabricated for one opening in one house. They set the finish date, and on a seasonal property the finish date is the whole negotiation.
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Glazing Into Existing Frames
Where the existing frames are sound and an approval exists for glazing into them, changing only the glass is cheaper, faster and far less disruptive. On this coast the deciding factor is almost always corrosion rather than age.
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More treasure coast specifics
A House Nobody Is In
Approved shutters meet the requirement and cost less. They also need somebody at the house to deploy them. On a coast where a large share of properties are empty through hurricane season, that single fact decides most of these jobs.
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Island & Lagoon
The barrier islands here are narrow, with ocean on one side and the Indian River Lagoon on the other. There is very little distance from water in any direction, and that shows up in the fixings long before it shows up in the frames.
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Three Counties, Three Rules
The Treasure Coast is one market to a buyer and three jurisdictions to a permit. Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River each run their own building department, and several municipalities inside them run their own on top of that.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.