Seawall caps in Fort Lauderdale

When a new cap is the right fix

A cap replacement suits a wall whose panels are sound but whose cap is cracked, spalled or too low.

• Cracked or spalled cap with rust staining
• Wall a little below the city's new height
• Panels separating at the top

5 ft NAVD88, with a path to 2050

New and substantially repaired tidal barriers in Fort Lauderdale must reach 5 ft NAVD88. A wall permitted before 1 January 2035 may be built at 4 ft NAVD88 if it is designed to be raised to 5 ft by 1 January 2050, which is how many owners spread the cost.

A new cap is often the cheapest way to reach that height, if the old wall can carry the extra weight.[1]

What the City's contractor survey found

When Fort Lauderdale surveyed seawall contractors in 2016, quotes ran from $650 to $2,000 per linear foot depending on waterway depth and where the wall sits, plus $2,000 to $5,000 per job for engineering and permitting. The deep finger isle canals sit at the expensive end because panels and piles are longer.

Cap work is priced per linear foot, so those figures translate directly to your frontage.[2]

Cap repairs and cap additions, priced

The same City material priced cap spall repair at $60 per cubic foot of epoxy mortar and adding a 12 in cap to an existing wall at $75 to $125 per linear foot (2016 figures). Whether an old wall can carry a taller cap is an engineering question, so a marine or structural engineer checks it first.

A cap replacement can count as substantial work, so we check the trigger before design.[2]

River tide and inlet tide

NOAA's South Port Everglades gauge shows a 2.79 ft great diurnal range, while the Andrews Avenue bridge gauge up the New River shows 2.28 ft, with mean higher high water about 0.45 to 0.57 ft above NAVD 88 (1983 to 2001 epoch). Lifts and floating docks near the inlet need more travel than those up the river.

Caps are formed and poured above the water, but the tide decides how high the new cap must sit to give real freeboard.[3][4]

What makes Fort Lauderdale different

The City treats seawalls as tidal barriers. It presumes a wall is in disrepair if it lets upland soil erode, lets material pass through it, or lets tidal water flow unimpeded onto neighbours or the street, and gives owners 60 days to show progress and 365 days to finish. The City also spends $1.5 million a year on its own seawalls.[1][5]

The county layer

Broward County requires a license before any work in, on, over or under its waters, including repairing or replacing a dock or seawall. Broward's regional policy is a consistent top elevation of 5 ft NAVD for seawalls, banks and berms.[6][1]

Permits in Fort Lauderdale

• Broward County environmental licensing: A county license before any work in, on, over or under Broward County waters, including dock and seawall repair.
• City of Fort Lauderdale: Building permits; waivers of the dock and lift projection limit go to the City Commission with a Marine Advisory Board recommendation.
• Florida DEP or South Florida Water Management District: State permit or exemption for docks and walls on the New River and the Intracoastal, on top of the Broward County license.
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District: Federal authorisation for work in the Intracoastal Waterway and other navigable waters.

Can the wall take a new cap?

Not always. Whether a cap can be added depends on whether the existing wall can bear the weight, which a marine or structural engineer must assess. A wall that cannot take it needs replacing instead.[2]

Permits for cap work

Miami-Dade DERM gives cap repair or replacement an expedited administrative authorisation when the building department has approved the structural plans. At the state level, seawall caps, batter piles and king piles used only to stabilise and repair seawalls fall under an exemption in rule 62-330.051(12)(d).[10][11]

Caps and city height rules

In Miami Beach a wall may be built to 4 ft NAVD if it is designed to support a future 5.7 ft NAVD, so the cap and footing need to be designed for that later raise. In Boca Raton the city must approve a location survey before the cap is poured, and a final engineer report confirms the cap elevation.[12][13]

Frequently asked questions