Hurricane season in Florida runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with September typically being the most active month for tropical storms. By this time, seasoned homeowners may be looking shipshape, with shutters up or impact windows installed, canned goods stocked up high in the pantry, enough bottled water and toilet paper to last a lifetime, and a confirmation of insurance that is hopefully just as much peace of mind as it is a burden on one’s wallet.
Indeed, by the time September rolls around, even those living on the coast may feel confident in their ability to weather the storm should one find its way to this corner of the state. But before they get comfortable, pump up the generator and roll out some DVDs for a “rainy” movie night, those who own a seawall might want to take one last step outside.
Seawalls can last a lifetime, especially nowadays, meaning it’s easy to forget all about them. However, according to Andrew Paul-Hus, that’s probably the last thing you should do.
(LinkedIn@Andrew Paul-Hus)
Andrew Paul-Hus, APH Marine Construction
“We always say that seawalls fail at a glacier’s pace, for the most part,” said Paul-Hus, owner and president of APH Marine Construction. “Every seawall requires some form of maintenance. To completely neglect it would be problematic.”
Shawn Maher, regional sales manager of the hybrid sheet piling system known as Truline, recommends routine monitoring. At least once a year, he said, property owners should take a good look at their seawalls, checking for leakage and cracking.
The issue, Maher explains, is that most seawalls in Miami-Dade County were originally built in the 1960s or 1970s and were only ever meant to last around 50 years. So, if you currently own or are planning to buy a waterfront home that still has its original seawall in place, it may be time to invest in a new one altogether.
(Florida Seawall Solutions)
This cracked seawall in St. Petersburg is the result of storm damage.
“If the wall was only meant to last 50 years and it’s 50 years old, what are you going to do? You need to put a new wall in,” said Maher.
If a property owner’s seawall does start to fail, that individual is now facing a plethora of concerns: higher risks of flooding, lower property values and erosion, both on the surface of the lot and within the foundation underneath. A compromised foundation could further undermine the integrity of structures above the soil, including the pool or outdoor patio of a home or the parking lot of a commercial business.
With so much at stake, it’s important to take the appropriate measures to protect your property from the detriments of a failing seawall, and with a price tag that is in some instances in the hundreds of thousands, you want to make sure you’re doing it right.
(Truline.US)
This Truline seawall was installed at a corner home in Miami, where rocky sea bottoms and deep waterways determine the quality and quantity of material needed.
Making the Right First Call
Maher says one of the most important factors to be wary of is a contractor who suggests patchwork on a 50 or 60-year-old seawall in Miami-Dade County.
“We’ve got some wonderful contractors, but there’s a group of them that will go out and put a coating on the outside of the wall,” he said. “It’s cosmetic and makes it look good for a year, but it does nothing and they overcharge for that.”
Alternatively, Maher explained, there may be a contractor who suggests adding piles to raise the elevation of the seawall, essentially pouring wet concrete of about 300-700 pounds on a “structure that was never meant to carry a vertical load to begin with.”
As a result, Maher recommends reaching out to a licensed engineer to determine whether repair or replacement is the way to go.
(Facebook@Florida Seawall Repair)
It is recommended that homeowners check their seawalls annually for cracks like this one.
Aaron Anton, an engineer and project manager with Terragone Engineering, explained more about making that first call as a guest speaker of the Nauti Buoys Boat Show podcast in June.
“It’s always a good idea to contact an engineer before you go for a contractor because we’ll essentially get you through the state permitting process and structural design … then our stuff will go out to bid. Contractors will bid on it and they’ll build essentially what we design,” said Anton.
“If you go with a contractor first, a lot of times what they’re going to do is they’re going to try to either just get somebody to seal a set of plans that may or may not have been engineered or they’ll try to get somebody involved to do the engineering for them … [but the engineer is] going to design what the contractor wants to build, rather than what you want to build,” he added.
Bearing the Cost
Jeffrey Anton, Aaron’s father and owner of Terragone Engineering, said a typical 80-foot-long seawall in Miami could cost anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000. Corner lots, on the other hand, may require around 250 feet of seawall, raising the cost to about $250,000.
Jeffrey estimates that those costs were probably 30-50% less pre-pandemic. The rising cost of oil has directly affected that of seawall materials, which are either made from petroleum or require significant energy to produce.
The worst part is, almost nobody will shoulder the cost except for the property owner. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may at times make funds available for repairs during the aftermath of a hurricane and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) could help finance the cost, but the expense of a seawall is otherwise the owner’s burden to bear.
(Truline.US)
A 250-foot-long seawalls for a corner lot can cost about $250,000.
Plus, Jeffrey notes, seawalls can’t be insured.
“That’s why it’s absolutely dumbfounding to me why people will spend that amount of money and then just kind of find someone who will seal the drawing,” he told Biscayne Times. “You don’t do that with a Mercedes.”
While on Nauti Buoys, Jeffrey offered one final piece of advice for the moment that a property owner does get matched with a contractor: Make sure they’re covered under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Marine contracting is “no safe sport,” he noted, and it can be a huge liability for the client if a worker gets injured on the job without insurance.
“Oh, You Live in Miami?”
(Truline.US)
Seawalls protect homes from flooding and property erosion and can prevent a compromised foundation underneath pools and outdoor patios.
Miami itself raises additional factors to consider just based on its location and environment. The county’s abnormally deep waterways and severe flood risks call for taller walls, for instance, and its natural sea bottom requires stronger materials that can pierce through limerock.
“Contractors are putting in walls for much less north of us, mostly due to access,” Jeffrey explained. “Lots are bigger, it’s easier to get around, they’re shorter walls, they’re putting them in sand. As you move south, you’re getting more and more rock. You’re getting different conditions due to geographic differences.”
All of these factors could jack up material and labor costs, without even taking into consideration the factor of time and bureaucracy. No matter what kind of design is settled upon, it’s going to be put through a more rigorous set of guidelines than even its neighbors in Broward County and it isn’t without reason.
(Truline.US)
It's advised to perform consistent monitoring of one's seawalls to make sure it has not developed cracks or leakage.
Before any work is performed in or upon tidal waters and coastal wetlands in Miami-Dade County, seawall or otherwise, the Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) must issue a Class I permit. That permit requires certain environmental criteria to be met which exceed the structural considerations of a building permit.
“The process that we have in place for the Class I permit is to ensure that not only do structures that are placed in the water meet the code criteria, but that they’re also consistent with the county’s master plan, that they’re consistent with the Biscayne Bay Management Plan, that they’re consistent with the Manatee Protection Plan,” said DERM Director Lisa Spadafina. “We’ve had a very long-standing program on coastal construction because of the nature of the environment.”
Maher said DERM’s review may add anywhere from six months to one year to the permitting process. In other words, plan accordingly and be patient.