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TWIA insures wind and hail in fourteen first-tier coastal counties — Galveston and Brazoria among them — and in “parts of Harris County east of Highway 146,” in the association’s own words.
To qualify, a property has to be certified, by TDI (a WPI-8 or WPI-8-E) or earlier by TWIA (a WPI-8-C), as built to the applicable code. TWIA says a property without the right certificate may be “uninsurable and ineligible for coverage with TWIA.”
Among the work TWIA says needs a certificate: “replacing a roof or repairing a significant portion of a roof” and “re-siding a significant portion of an exterior wall.” Gutters and temporary repairs after a storm do not.
Since June 1, 2020, the Texas Department of Insurance has issued every certificate of compliance itself.
| Place | County | Windstorm certificate for a re-roof? |
|---|---|---|
| League City (most of it) | Galveston | Yes |
| League City north of Clear Creek | Harris | No — a small residential and commercial strip; confirm the county on the appraisal district record |
| Friendswood south of Clear Creek | Galveston | Yes |
| Friendswood north of Clear Creek | Harris | No |
| Dickinson, Kemah, Clear Lake Shores, Santa Fe | Galveston | Yes |
| Bacliff, San Leon | Galveston (unincorporated) | Yes |
| Seabrook | Harris, east of SH 146 | Yes — TDI names Seabrook as inside the program |
| Clear Lake City (Houston), Nassau Bay, Webster, El Lago, Taylor Lake Village | Harris, west of SH 146 | No |
TDI’s program page is more specific than TWIA’s. It lists the first-tier counties and then “certain cities east of State Highway 146 in Harris County (La Porte, Morgan’s Point, Pasadena, Seabrook, Shoreacres).” Of the places around Clear Lake, only Seabrook is on that list.
That leaves Nassau Bay, Webster, El Lago, Taylor Lake Village and Houston’s Clear Lake City outside the program, even though some of them are closer to the water than parts of League City. Proximity is not the test; the list is. A Seabrook address west of the highway is the one case worth a phone call to TDI before anyone orders materials.
Clear Creek is the county line through Friendswood: the Galveston County side lies south of the creek and the Harris County side north of it, the same line that decides whether a Friendswood child attends Friendswood ISD or Clear Creek ISD. It also puts a small part of League City, north of the creek, in Harris County.
So two houses on opposite banks, in the same city, answer the certificate question differently. The Galveston County Appraisal District or the Harris County Appraisal District record for the parcel settles it in a minute, and it is worth checking before a contractor quotes a windstorm build that is not needed, or skips one that is.
What does not need an inspection, per TDI: roof repairs of less than 100 square feet that do not involve decking, and gutter work.
TDI’s downloads page lists its Texas revisions to the 2006 International Residential Code as effective January 1, 2008, and the 2003 edition before that from January 1, 2005. A League City roof certified in 2008 was built to that edition. The one a re-roof is certified to today is the 2024 code.
That is not a defect in the old roof; it passed the rule of its day. It does mean the replacement will not simply copy what came off, and a contractor who quotes “same as before” on a Galveston County house has not read the current code.
Give the address when you call. The contractor who calls back works both sides of the line and will say which rule the job is built to.
Call (832) 905-8893 Book a Wind Inspection
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