Roofing contractor in Longwood, FL

The tornado that crossed Longwood in March 2025

On March 10, 2025, a tornado moved from Wekiwa Springs through Longwood and on toward Lake Mary. The National Weather Service rated it EF-2, with peak winds estimated at up to 120 mph along a path about four miles long. Its survey traced the damage through Wingfield Reserve and into Whispering Winds, where homes lost sections of roof. A two-story wood-framed house on Blue Iris Place collapsed.

Most Longwood roofs outside that track show nothing from the street. Shingles near a tornado's edge can still lose their seal and lift in the next thunderstorm. If you live a few streets from the path and have a new ceiling stain, a free photo inspection will show whether the roof took wind damage. Our storm damage page explains how we document it for an insurer.

SmartGov, Church Avenue or the county

Longwood runs its own Building Division within Community Development at 174 W Church Ave, and roof permits are filed in the city's SmartGov portal. The re-roof submittal guidelines hold the permit until the owner's authorization arrives, as a notarized signature or a copy of a recorded Notice of Commencement or the contract.

The city also wants its own product approval form listing the underlayment, the roofing, any skylights and the vents. For flat sections such as TPO, peel-and-stick or torch-down, the submittal has to name the substrate, the fastening, the underlayment, the primer, the base layer and the cap sheet. Inspection requests must be called in by 3:30 p.m. on the business day before.

A Longwood mailing address doesn't settle which office you need. Parts of 32779 west toward the Wekiva River, where Sweetwater Oaks and Wingfield Reserve sit, are outside city limits. For those, the county permit office in Sanford takes over, and it runs its own re-roof process and inspection calendar. We look up every parcel before filing.

Three checkpoints on a Longwood re-roof

Longwood's re-roof guidelines, updated in December 2023, set out what the inspector looks for on a house.

1. In-progress inspection. The old roof is off, the deck is re-nailed, and the underlayment, flashing and drip edge are on, with no more than a quarter of the shingles down. Because that visit is hard to time, the city also wants photos of the deck nailing, the underlayment, the flashing and the drip edge, each showing the permit number or the street address.
2. Nail-off affidavit. The completed affidavit has to be on site by the final inspection.
3. Roof final. The inspector looks for finished work, a cleared site, the affidavit and the photo set. Any discrepancy in the photos fails the inspection.

We shoot the photo set as each layer goes down, so the record exists before anyone asks for it. The guidelines also repeat the state limit on replacing more than 25 percent of a roof in 12 months, which our 25 percent rule guide explains.

A 1983 median and what it means on the roof

Longwood's houses are older than much of Seminole County. Longwood has 6,757 homes in the 2020 to 2024 Census estimates, and half were built in 1983 or earlier. About 42 percent predate 1980. The 1970s were the busiest decade, with 2,098 units, and the 1980s added 1,574.

A 1970s ranch in Sky Lark or Columbus Harbor has usually worn out two or three shingle roofs. Before we price one, we check three things:

• Decking. Board decking or early plywood often needs spot replacement once the shingles are off.
• Buried layers. Some houses were re-covered over the old roof instead of torn off, which adds labor and disposal.
• Attic airflow. Many houses from that era have few roof vents, and adding ridge or off-ridge vents during the re-roof helps the new shingles last.

The 1980s subdivisions, Tiberon Cove among them, often have a newer deck but their original flashing at walls and chimneys. We replace that flashing with the roof instead of reusing it.

Shared walls and fire-retardant sheathing

The Census counts 817 single-family attached homes in Longwood, the category that covers townhomes, and the city gives their re-roofs a condition sheet of their own. Townhomes share walls at zero lot lines, and Longwood treats any re-roof as a Level 1 alteration under the Florida Existing Building Code. Defects in the work area, roof sheathing included, must be fixed to code.

Where no parapet wall separates two units, the sheathing must be fire-retardant-treated for 4 feet from the property line. The inspector checks it at the in-progress inspection. A missing strip has to be installed, damaged or deteriorated treated sheathing has to be replaced, and no access to check it means a failed inspection.

That changes a townhome estimate. We open the deck along each shared line during the tear-off and list fire-retardant panels as a separate price in case the strip is missing. When the unit next door is re-roofed the same week, we follow the association's schedule.

The old town center's historic district

Longwood's historic district covers roughly 190 acres around the old town center and was listed on the National Register in October 1990. The city counts 37 contributing structures, among them the 1880s Bradlee-McIntyre House, the Inside-Outside House built in New England and shipped south by schooner in 1873, and the old Longwood Hotel, later renamed the Longwood Village Inn.

We have not found a published roof rule for the district. Before we order materials for a house there, we ask the Building Division what it needs for that address and keep the answer with the permit.

Fix the leak or replace the roof

The age of the house usually points the way. Longwood has 2,831 homes built from 1950 through 1979, another 1,574 from the 1980s and only 1,734 since 2000. On the older group, one leak at a pipe boot or a lifted ridge cap is worth a roof repair, usually $350 to $1,500. Once the shingles turn brittle, several slopes leak or the attic shows soft boards in more than one spot, a roof replacement is the better use of the money. Rotten decking or valley work runs $1,500 to $5,000, and spending that on a worn-out roof rarely pays back.

The 1,296 homes built since 2010 are another story. Most of their roofs are under 15 years old, so a storm leak usually calls for roof leak repair, not a new roof. The roof cost calculator gives a range from your roof size and material before we visit.

What a Longwood insurer will ask for

With half its homes built in 1983 or earlier, Longwood has a lot of houses over 40 years old, and every one of them is past the 20-year age at which Citizens wants a 4-point inspection for new coverage. The roof section of that form records the covering, its age, the last permit date and its condition. Florida law counts roof age from the last full replacement, so the date on your most recent Longwood or Seminole County re-roof permit matters. Our roof age guide covers the 15-year line in the statute.

A new roof also changes your wind mitigation form. The form grades deck nailing from staples or 6d nails at the low end up to 8d nails at 6 inches, and it asks whether the deck has a secondary water barrier. A re-roof to current code answers both, and those answers can trim the wind portion of your premium.

Ian and the Little Wekiva

Hurricane Ian stalled over Central Florida in 2022 and flooded the Little Wekiva River. A volunteer gauge 2.8 miles northwest of Longwood recorded 13.21 inches of rain, and the National Hurricane Center estimates Ian damaged about 1,656 structures in Seminole County. Rain that lasts that long finds every weak pipe boot and valley, so Longwood owners often call about a roof leak days after the storm has gone.

Longwood is about 32 minutes from us by SR 417 and SR 434, and the crew on your roof works for Assure-U, as it has since we opened on Scallion Court in 2004. Book a free roof inspection or call (407) 970-9746.