Seawall inspections
in Port St. Lucie.

The essentials before you start

• Start with the records ↗

  Find the original permit and past repairs before choosing a treatment.

• Ask what can be measured ↗

  Photos document change; an inspection must explain movement and hidden unknowns.

• Leave with a useful report ↗

  Agree on the findings, limitations and decisions the inspection will deliver.

Start with the wall’s permit history

Port St. Lucie tracks seawalls as their own permit type (SWL – Sea wall/Retaining Wall), separate from docks (DK) and boat lifts (BL). Use the city’s Search Permits on a Property tool on its online services portal to see what was permitted at your address before the inspector arrives.

Inspection records can also hint at how the wall was built. The city’s inspection list includes a PILE inspection and a RETAINING WALL/DEADMAN inspection. A deadman is a buried anchor behind the wall; tie-backs connect the wall to it. An old final inspection tells you work was approved then; it does not tell you the anchors are sound today.

Permit Type Codes (permittypebytypecode.pdf) · Building Online Services · Inspection Type Codes

Record the location and pattern of damage

Separate cap cracks from panel cracks and open joints. Note rust staining, exposed reinforcing steel, spalled concrete, gaps where the cap meets a dock and the date you first noticed each change. Photograph the same spots from stable ground at low and high water.

Ask the inspector to name the affected component, the likely cause and the investigation needed before a repair method is chosen. A photo cannot tell whether reinforcement or a tie-back is still carrying load.

EM 1110-2-3506, Grouting Technology

Trace soil loss and drainage together

Mark settled pavers, growing lawn depressions and places where water seeps behind or through the wall. Soil escaping through joints or under the toe is the most common reason a seawall yard sinks.

Port St. Lucie’s tidal “ocean access waterways” were built to carry stormwater, and the city inspects storm structures, pipes and slopes along them. If a storm pipe or swale outfall discharges next to your wall, ask the inspector to check whether that outlet is part of the soil-loss path and tell the city’s Public Works Department at 772-871-5100 about public drainage defects.

Ocean Access Waterways – Public Works Department · Public Works

Ask how movement will be measured

For a leaning or bowed wall, ask for a measured baseline (string line or survey points along the cap) so later readings can be compared. Keep vehicles, boat trailers, heavy planters and new pools away from the suspect area until a professional advises on safe loads.

Leaning usually points to anchor, tie-rod or toe problems rather than surface cracking. Ask whether the anchors will be exposed, located or tested, and what the report can and cannot confirm without excavation or a dive inspection.

Inspection Type Codes

Know what kind of water your wall holds back

Port St. Lucie has two very different waterfronts. The tidal ones are the North Fork of the St. Lucie River and the city’s ocean access waterways connected to it. The freshwater ones are roughly 200 miles of city drainage canals plus the SFWMD’s C-23, C-25 and upper C-24, where control structures manage water levels; the lower C-24 is listed as tidal.

NOAA’s North Fork tide station shows a mean tidal range of only about 1 foot, compared with about 2 feet at the Fort Pierce Inlet. Small tides mean a wall can look healthy at mid-tide while the toe is undermined. Ask for an inspection at low water, or a probe along the toe.

Drainage, Roadway, Mowing & Landscape Maintenance · Works of the District Subject to Chapter 40E-6, F.A.C. (Right of Way Occupancy Permits) · Datums for 8722334, North Fork (St. Lucie River) FL · Datums for 8722213, Fort Pierce Inlet, Binney Dock FL

Put elevations in the same datum

If the project could change the cap height, ask for a survey that labels the top-of-cap elevation and its vertical datum. A datum is the reference level used to measure height. NAVD88 and NGVD29 use different reference levels, so their numbers are not interchangeable.

At NOAA’s North Fork station, mean high water sits about 0.43 foot below 0 ft NAVD88; at the Fort Pierce Inlet it is about 0.14 foot below. Use the surveyed elevation, not the height above today’s water, when comparing walls or designs.

NOAA National Geodetic Survey datum FAQ · Datums for 8722334, North Fork (St. Lucie River) FL · Datums for 8722213, Fort Pierce Inlet, Binney Dock FL

Record changes after storms and king tides

Keep post-storm photos beside older ones and the permit file. Note when water crossed the cap, came through joints or ponded behind the wall. The storm checklist covers emergency orders, insurance notice and what to photograph first.

Amended Emergency Final Order: Emergency Authorization for Repairs, Replacement, Restoration... Made Necessary by Tropical Storm Nicole (OGC No. 22-2816)

What the written report should let you decide

• Which components can be kept, and what evidence supports keeping them?
• What still has to be investigated before a fixed price is possible?
• Is the work a repair, a partial rebuild or a full replacement, and does it change the wall’s location or height?
• How will drainage, neighboring walls, the dock and the boat lift be handled?
• Which permits (city or county, FDEP, Army Corps, SFWMD) the scope will need.

Then compare repair and replacement scopes and use the budget planner with the written prices you receive.

Building Department Checklist for Miscellaneous Permits

Agree on what the inspection will deliver

• Map the wall: number the segments, joints and returns so each photo and finding can be traced to one location.
• Name the unknowns: list concealed areas (toe, anchors, underwater face) and the investigation needed to resolve them.
• Separate the services: a visual condition opinion, an elevation survey, a structural design and a construction estimate are different products. Ask which ones the fee includes.
• Set the handoff: agree the report date, who may rely on it and whether it can be shared with a buyer, an association or an insurer.