Who enforces it
City of Boca Raton, Development Services, Building Department, 200 NW 2nd Avenue, Boca Raton, FL 33432. Phone (561) 393-7930. The counter is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Wednesday, when it closes at 3 p.m. The city's page is Building Permits.
The code in force is the 2023 Florida Building Code, Eighth Edition. The Residential volume took effect December 31, 2023. Energy Conservation is a separate volume of the same edition. Palm Beach County is climate zone 1A. Boca Raton is not in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone. That zone is Miami-Dade and Broward.
The ceiling
Table R402.1.2 of the 2023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, sets the climate zone 1 ceiling minimum at R-30. Zone 2 is R-38. Boca is zone 1. Cardinal installs R-38 on a vented attic floor and checks the depth. R-49 and R-60 are colder-climate numbers. They are not the Boca prescriptive ceiling.
Four inches of settled fiberglass is about R-9, figured near R-2.2 per inch. New blown fiberglass is about R-2.5 per inch. New cellulose is about R-3.6. From a bare deck, R-38 is about 15 inches of fiberglass or about 10.5 inches of cellulose. The code floor is R-30. The install is R-38.
The air seal
Table R402.4.1.1 says air-permeable insulation shall not be used as the air seal. Blown fiberglass and cellulose are air-permeable. The top plates, the wire holes, the cans, the bath fan, and the hatch are closed first. Then the hose runs.
Section R402.4.1.2 limits a new house in climate zones 1 and 2 to 7 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, tested to ANSI/RESNET/ICC 380. That test is a blower door. An insulation price is not that test. The number is reported only when the door is run.
R806 vent area
Section R806.2 of the 2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, sets the minimum net free ventilating area at 1/150 of the area of the vented space. Net free area is the opening that is actually open, after the screen and the louvers. It is the number stamped on the vent, not the size of the hole in the soffit.
The Florida exception allows 1/300 when both of these are true. Not less than 40 percent and not more than 50 percent of the required ventilating area is in the upper portion of the attic. Those upper vents sit not more than 3 feet below the ridge, measured vertically. The balance of the required area is in the bottom third of the attic. Where a rafter blocks that upper spot, the code allows the upper vent lower than 3 feet. The text is on R806.2. The longer note is attic ventilation.
A common Boca attic on this site's planner is 1,800 square feet. At 1/150 that is 12 square feet of net free area. At 1/300 it is 6 square feet, and only if 2.4 to 3.0 square feet of that 6 is at the ridge and the rest is in the bottom third. A turbine with the soffits painted shut does not meet either number.
Section R806.3 says insulation shall not block the free flow of air where eave vents are installed. Not less than a 1-inch space is required between the insulation and the roof sheathing at the vent. That is why the blow stops at a baffle. Stuffing the soffit to gain depth closes the intake the code just required.
How Cardinal builds to it
On a vented Boca attic, this is the job. The ceiling goes to R-38, past the R-30 code floor, and the depth is checked before the crew leaves. The holes are sealed first, because Table R402.4.1.1 says the blow is not the air seal. The soffit stays open, with a baffle and at least the 1 inch R806.3 requires. A fan is not sold in place of that intake. Foam closes the vents only when that roof is supposed to be inside the house.
That is the standard on the work, not a claim that another company skips the code. Following R806 and Table R402.1.2 is the minimum. The difference you can check is the depth, the baffle, and whether the hatch was sealed.
What the city inspects
On the city's private-provider inspection list, the insulation lines are 200, Insulation, and 2050, Insulation Certificate. Energy is 222, Energy Compliance Check. Those are for permitted work. A dry top-up in an existing house is not automatically the same inspection as a new ceiling. The Building Department answers that for the permit. This company does not.
The shop is Cardinal Insulation, 4263 NW 1st Ave, Boca Raton, FL 33431. Call (561) 654-7698. The Building Department is 200 NW 2nd Avenue, a different address, at (561) 393-7930. The job itself is on blown-in insulation in Boca Raton.
Questions
Does Boca Raton have its own insulation R-value?
No. The City of Boca Raton enforces the Florida Building Code. It does not publish a separate attic R-value. Palm Beach County is climate zone 1. Table R402.1.2 of the 2023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, sets the zone 1 ceiling minimum at R-30.
What vent area does R806.2 require?
The minimum net free ventilating area is 1/150 of the attic area. The Florida exception allows 1/300 when 40 to 50 percent of that required area is in the upper portion of the attic, no more than 3 feet below the ridge, and the balance is in the bottom third of the attic.
Is an attic top-up the same as a new-construction insulation inspection?
No. Boca's inspection list includes Insulation (200), an Insulation Certificate (2050), and an Energy Compliance Check (222) for permitted work. Whether a particular existing-house top-up needs a permit is a question for the Building Department at (561) 393-7930. This page does not answer that for a specific house.