Tampa and St. Petersburg have stretches of architecture from the 1910s and 1920s — Bungalow, Mediterranean Revival, Craftsman, Spanish Eclectic — that pre-date the modern Florida Building Code by half a century. Restoring one of these roofs is a craft that we approach less as roofers and more as building historians who happen to know how to keep water out.
The two questions every restoration asks
What was originally there? The original roof specification is rarely the same as the roof currently in place. Most of these homes have been re-roofed three to five times since construction, with various levels of fidelity to the original material. The first task is reading the building — looking at flashing patterns, original sheathing, fastener evidence in the deck — to understand what was intended.
What can we do today that meets current code? The original material is sometimes available; sometimes not. The original installation methods are almost never code-compliant by 2026 standards. The work is reconciling those two facts.
Four common scenarios
Original Ludowici clay tile, intact field
The most fortunate case. We salvage every tile we can, replace what is broken with matching profile (Ludowici still makes most of the 1920s profiles), re-roof to current code on new underlayment and decking, and reset the original tile. The visible roof from the street is unchanged. The assembly beneath is twenty-first century.
Original cedar shake, long since replaced
The honest answer is that cedar shake on a Tampa Bungalow is not coming back in 2026. The code does not allow it; the climate makes it a maintenance commitment most owners are not interested in. The right move is a heavy designer asphalt (Grand Manor in Weathered Wood, typically) or a synthetic shake that reads close enough to the original at the street.
Original tile profile, no longer manufactured
Verea makes a number of profiles that approximate the discontinued 1920s tiles. Ludowici will custom-fire profiles for restoration projects with sufficient quantity. We have specified both on Tampa restorations; the custom-fire route adds twelve to eighteen months of lead time but produces an exact match.
Original is metal, has been asphalt since 1950
Period metal — galvanized standing-seam, terne plate — was common in the 1920s. Most of these roofs were converted to asphalt mid-century. Returning to metal on these homes is often the right move if the budget supports it and the architecture warrants. Modern standing-seam in a soft warm gray reads correctly on most of these structures.
The dialogue with historic district review
Both Tampa and St. Petersburg have historic district guidelines. Hyde Park, Tampa Heights, Old Northeast, and others have boards that review exterior work. We submit a written specification with material samples and a written narrative before work begins, and we treat the board as a partner. Done well, the conversation is collaborative rather than adversarial.
What we will not do
Specify a roof that is wrong for the architecture because it is faster or cheaper. The reason these homes have lasted a hundred years is that the original builders cared about whether the roof matched the house. The owner who hires us to restore is, by definition, asking us to honor that. The right answer is sometimes more expensive than the wrong one, and the right answer is the only one we will write a specification for.
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