What Is Built Up Roofing? The South Florida Homeowner's Complete Guide

Built up roofing in South Florida must comply with the Florida Building Code (FBC) High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) standards in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which require Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA) approved materials and assemblies — meaning every BUR system installed in the region must be independently tested and documented to resist the wind uplift forces generated by major hurricanes.

At its core, BUR is exactly what its name suggests: a roof membrane built up from multiple alternating layers of bitumen (either hot asphalt or cold-applied adhesive) and reinforcing ply sheets, typically fiberglass or organic felt. The more plies in the assembly, the thicker and more resilient the finished membrane. A standard residential or light commercial BUR installation in South Florida typically involves three to four plies, though some high-demand applications use five or more.

The finished surface is then protected by a flood coat of bitumen topped with either gravel ballast, a reflective mineral cap sheet, or an aluminum coating. That ballast layer does double duty: it shields the bitumen from South Florida's punishing UV exposure and adds significant wind uplift resistance — a critical factor when you consider that storm damage claims spike dramatically every hurricane season across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.