Aging roofs on condo and HOA buildings do not always need a full tear-off, and roof coatings have become a practical way to extend their service life while keeping costs under control. We recently hosted a continuing education course featuring Brendan Conway and Fabie Verona of Advanced Roofing, who walked Florida community association managers through when a coating makes sense and when it does not.
This informational webinar examined the full picture, from the coating systems available and the roofs that qualify to budgeting, code requirements, and the surface preparation that separates a lasting result from an early failure. Attendees gained a clear framework for evaluating coating proposals for their communities.
Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only. You will not receive credits for watching the recording. Credits were issued only to those that attended the course.
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A coating is a fluid-applied layer that cures into a seamless, monolithic membrane over an existing roof. Applied at the right point in a roof's life, it can meaningfully extend the time before a costly replacement is needed, and because roughly 95 percent of coatings are white, it also reflects sunlight and can lower the temperature the roof transfers into the building below.
For the boards and property managers of homeowners' associations across Florida, the appeal is straightforward. A coating is far less disruptive than a full replacement, which matters for buildings that cannot pause operations, and it carries a lower price than tearing off and rebuilding a roof. The high solar reflectivity can reduce energy costs, extended warranties are often available, and there are federal tax advantages tied to the installation.
Coatings are not a universal fix. Some higher-end products carry a strong odor during application, and not every roof type is a candidate. In the multifamily residential world, insurers sometimes push back on coatings because the original roof stays in place, and a carrier's decision not to renew is usually driven by that existing roof rather than the layer on top of it. Since the condition of a roof can directly affect whether a carrier keeps a policy in force, boards should confirm how their insurer views a coating before committing to one.
The roofs on the buildings that condominium associations oversee typically fall into a handful of categories, and most can be coated. The three strongest candidates are single ply membranes, metal roofs, and modified bitumen systems, all of which respond well to a coating when they are still structurally sound.
Single ply roofs such as TPO, PVC, KEE, and EPDM all have a coating solution, as do commercial and industrial metal roofs, where steeper slopes bring added fire-rating considerations. Modified bitumen, an asphalt-based multi-ply system, is an excellent candidate because ultraviolet exposure is the primary force that breaks these roofs down, and a coating shields the asphalt so it can keep performing.
An asphalt and gravel roof cannot be coated because the coating will not bond to the rock surface. More broadly, a roof in poor condition or near the end of its useful life is not a candidate at all; in those cases, a recover or a full replacement is the sounder investment.
Before recommending a coating, a qualified contractor weighs the roof's current condition and age, its slope and drainage, any ponding water, chemical exhaust reaching the surface, and heat and UV exposure. Above all, the assembly must be dry, because trapped moisture will undermine any coating placed over it.
"Coatings are not for every roof. If your roof is in poor condition or near the end of its useful life, it's best to recover or fully replace." - Brendan Conway, Advanced Roofing
Four coating families dominate the market, each with a different balance of cost, durability, and tolerance for standing water. Two factors cut across all of them: the percentage of volume solids in the product and whether it is water or solvent based, with higher-solid products outperforming the low-solids versions sold on retail shelves.
Acrylic is a water-based, highly reflective, and economical option that installs quickly and resists UV well. Its weakness is water: it loses mil thickness as it weathers, must cure fully before any rainfall, and performs very poorly where water ponds, which makes it best suited to roofs with strong positive drainage.
Silicone has become the predominant choice in the current market. It weathers with limited erosion, handles ponding water well, and can sometimes be applied in a single pass, with humidity even helping it cure. The trade-off is that it loses reflectivity faster than other products and attracts dirt, though light pressure washing restores much of its original reflectivity.
Polyurethane is the most impact-resistant coating and handles foot traffic better than any other, which makes it a common choice for balcony decks and waterproofing beneath tile and mortar. It stays clean and works well as a cool roof, but it is more expensive than acrylic, fairly rigid, carries a distinct smell, and demands experienced installers.
PMMA is a two-part resin that cures rapidly once catalyzed and is extraordinarily durable, with no ponding water limitations and the ability to be built into a full roof or flashing system. It is the most expensive and most odorous option, and it is highly technical to install, but it is also likely the longest lasting of all the coatings.
The product on the label matters far less than the work that happens before it goes down. Surface preparation is the single most important step in a coating project and cutting it short is the most reliable way to end up with an early failure.
Preparation means pressure cleaning the substrate, addressing seams and fastener heads, priming rust on metal roofs, and repairing flashing details before any coating is applied. The right primer depends on the surface, from rust inhibitors on metal to adhesive primers on single ply membranes, where chemicals can leach from the sheet over time and interfere with bonding.
A coating should always be installed by a licensed roofing contractor, not a painter or an in-house maintenance crew, because manufacturers will only honor a warranty when a certified installer performs the work. The choice of contractor ultimately outweighs the choice of manufacturer, since every major manufacturer already ships quality-controlled products and the installation is where projects succeed or fail.
"You could have the very best product made in the world and have an average to below average contractor install it, and you're going to have an average to below average roof, regardless of the quality of the product." - Brendan Conway, Advanced Roofing
Quality control continues throughout the job. Crews grid the roof to confirm the correct number of gallons per square, then use wet and dry mil gauges to verify the coating reaches the thickness a given warranty requires. Moisture is confirmed through field cuts, drone thermal imaging that reads heat differences across a wet roof, and 360-degree roof walks that give board members a clear visual record of their assets.
The financial case is often what moves a board toward a coating. A coating generally runs from about five dollars per square foot for acrylic to ten dollars or more for a premium resin, which places a 20,000 square foot roof somewhere between roughly 100,000 and 200,000 dollars.
A full re-roof tells a very different story. Tearing a roof down to the structural deck and rebuilding it runs from about twelve to twenty-five dollars per square foot, pushing that same 20,000 square foot project into the quarter-million to half-million dollar range, with roughly six months from contract to closeout. A coating sits well below half that cost and time, which is why so many boards want to explore it once the numbers are clear. For the reserve planning behind a decision this size, understanding how a community structures its long-term funding for major repairs helps a board weigh a coating against a replacement realistically.
The clearest financial incentive comes at the federal level through tax advantages tied to the installation. Some utilities also offer rebates in the form of bill credits, including JEA in Jacksonville, OUC in Orlando, and Duke Energy on the state's west coast, which can further improve the math for communities in those service areas.
State rules shape what a board can do with an aging roof, and they have shifted recently. Florida's code sets firm limits that boards must respect once a roof takes on water or reaches a certain age.
Under the older 25 percent rule, a roof needed replacement only when more than a quarter of it tested wet. That threshold has since been removed, so today any wet section must be taken out regardless of size and rebuilt with like materials before a coating or recover goes on. The roof assembly must also have been installed in 2007 or later to qualify.
A coating warranty behaves like any other roof warranty in one important respect: it depends on documented upkeep. Manufacturers require ongoing maintenance and will decline a claim years later if there is no record that the roof was cared for, much the way an automaker would refuse an engine claim when no oil changes were ever performed.
The economics reward staying ahead of problems. Reactive repairs run around fifteen cents per square foot, while a preventive maintenance program averages closer to four cents, and industry data shows that regularly maintained roofs last an average of 21 years compared with just 13 for neglected ones. Inspecting at least once a year, and ideally twice, keeps both the roof and its warranty intact.
"The most important thing is moisture in the system. You've got to make sure that there's no moisture in there." - Brendan Conway, Advanced Roofing
A roof coating is neither a cure-all nor a gimmick; it is a targeted tool that rewards good timing and honest assessment. When a sound roof is coated before it begins to fail, prepared properly, and maintained on a regular schedule, it becomes one of the most cost-effective ways a community can protect a major asset and defer a large capital expense. The boards that benefit most are the ones that treat the decision as a long-term investment in the building rather than a quick fix, matching the right system to the roof they actually have and keeping the paperwork that protects it for years to come.
It is generally not the right solution, because on a tile roof the waterproofing sits beneath the tile and the tile itself keeps out only about 75 percent of the water. Coating the tile is largely an aesthetic change, and in most cases replacing the roof costs less than applying a premium coating over it.
No. Florida treats a coating as a thin maintenance layer, so removing a coated roof later costs about the same as removing an uncoated one, aside from minor grinding around certain flashings and wall details.
Moving from silicone to a PMMA can raise the price roughly 75 to 100 percent, while polyurethane runs about 40 to 60 percent more. Acrylic is the only option that costs less, generally 10 to 20 percent below silicone, but it should be avoided anywhere water can pond.
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Ashley Dietz is the VP of Marketing at Campbell Property Management and has led the company’s educational and marketing initiatives since 2013. A Florida Atlantic University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Ashley specializes in community association education, digital outreach, and industry engagement for Florida HOAs and condominiums.