Delray Beach requires new and substantially repaired seawalls to reach at least 4.2 feet NAVD88, so a repair here should be planned with that height in mind.
866-398-9323Licensed seawall specialists — FL · GA · SC
Seawall Repairs by Solid Foundations provides seawall repair in Delray Beach, FL for Intracoastal homeowners, HOAs, and waterfront condo owners. Typical projects include sealing joints on canal walls that are losing soil, rebuilding cracked caps, and reinforcing walls that need to be raised toward the city's minimum height. Call 866-398-9323 or use the quote form to book a free on-site inspection.
Delray Beach did something its neighbors hadn't. In January 2022 it became the first city in southern Palm Beach County to set a minimum seawall height. A 2018 city survey of about 20 miles of private seawall and 1 mile of public wall found roughly 70% below the new minimum, and only about a quarter in good or satisfactory condition. That's a lot of aging wall on one stretch of the Intracoastal. Delray work is scheduled through our West Palm Beach seawall repair team, which handles engineering and the city permit.
At their January 11, 2022 meeting, city commissioners adopted seawall rules that:
Walls that aren't in those categories aren't forced to comply.
A city official put a seawall's life expectancy at about 30 years, and the 2018 survey found most of Delray's walls already below the new minimum. Public Works also pointed out that the rules cover more than overtopping. A wall damaged badly enough to lose material through it into the Intracoastal is a problem too. Common findings:
Structural seawall work in the city goes through Delray Beach's building permit process, and major repairs fall under the 2022 height rules. Florida law separately exempts restoring a wall at its old location, or within 18 inches waterward, from a Chapter 403 state environmental permit. That simplifies the state side of a straight rebuild, but the city still reviews it. We prepare the drawings and coordinate the engineer.
If the wall is plumb and the panels are sound, polyurethane injection fills voids and seals joints from behind. Cap rebuilds, crack repair, and new weep holes are part of our West Palm Beach bulkhead repair service. If you're raising a cap toward 4.2 feet, the wall has to carry the extra load, so we often add anchors first. See seawall reinforcement through our West Palm Beach crews.
Delray's 4.2-foot minimum is lower than Broward County's 5-foot standard. That's the rule just south of seawall repair in Deerfield Beach. Boca Raton seawall repair sits between the two, in Palm Beach County but without Delray's height ordinance. To the north, Boynton Beach seawall repair covers the south end of the Lake Worth Lagoon and the Boynton Inlet.
Seawall Repairs by Solid Foundations has served Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina since 1996, is an NCFI-certified polyurethane installer, and holds Florida license CBC1267322. Ask for a free inspection or call 866-398-9323.
Not automatically. The rules apply to new walls, major renovations, major repairs, and walls that let water flow onto neighbors or streets. If none of those applies, a routine repair doesn't force a raise.
So the wall can be raised as seas rise without being replaced. A city engineer described it as adding a cap for extra protection instead of rebuilding the whole wall.
In affected areas, the contract must state in capital letters that the property is in a tidally influenced area, and that the buyer may have to meet seawall standards during construction or substantial repair.
About 20 miles of privately owned seawall and 1 mile of public wall, in a 2018 survey.
In addition to Delray Beach, our licensed seawall repair team serves these nearby Florida communities:
Service Area: Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Ida
We serve all waterfront properties on Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Ida and surrounding canals, lakes, and waterways.
Seawall Repairs by Solid Foundations also serves these waterfront communities near Delray Beach:
Licensed, insured, NCFI-certified. Serving Florida, Georgia & South Carolina since 1996.
866-398-9323