Insurance and Code Changes Could Cost Florida Homeowners Big!

by Chris Salzar / Published October 2024

This document provides critical information for Florida homeowners regarding recent legislative  and insurance requirement changes that significantly impact your finances.

1. Overview of revisions to the Florida Building
   Code and insurance rules
2. Changes in insurance coverage requirements
3. Negative consequences of changes
4. Guidance for making informed roof decisions
5. An exploration of the environmental and financial benefits of cool roofs and roof coatings

Root of the Problem

     Due largely to fraudulent claims for “free roofs,” many insurance companies in Florida have gone into receivership or exited the state entirely. This situation has led to significant changes that affect all homeowners.

1. Insurance companies exodus in 2002 prompted Florida’s legislature to establish the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to help residents obtain coverage.
2. Instead of directly addressing fraudulent claims, Florida lawmakers, in collaboration with Citizens and other insurers, have imposed rules forcing many homeowners to bear the high costs of replacing—rather than restoring—their roofs. This has eliminated economic options like roof restoration, which can extend a roof’s life for about a third of the cost of full replacement.
   • The 2023 Florida Statutes Chapter 627.7011 (“Insurance Rates and Contracts”) permits insurance companies to deny coverage for roofs older than 15 years unless homeowners, at their own expense, hire a qualified inspector to certify that the roof has more than five years of useful life remaining.
   • Even when homeowners provide this certification, insurance companies reserve the right to deny coverage or increase premiums, leaving homeowners no choice but to replace rather than restore their roofs.
   • Condominium associations that have invested in warranted roof restoration systems are sometimes required to replace roofs that have just been restored due to these rule changes.
3. Below is an excerpt from Citizens Insurance “guidelines for establishing coverage eligibility,” highlighting the restrictions on using coatings and coating systems:
   • “When a roof replacement is required, and a coating or sealant is used in place of replacement, the risk remains ineligible for coverage with Citizens. Use of such materials does not constitute a roof replacement.”
   • Roof coatings—including acrylic, silicone, urethane, soy, elastomeric, or similar products—do not meet Citizens’ requirements as proof of roof replacement.
   • Even though roof coating manufacturers agree that coatings alone are not a roof replacement, they do believe that coating restoration systems can fully restore a mildly deteriorated roof and extend its life for many years and even decades with proper maintenance.
   • Citizens’ enforcement should exclude low slope, multi-family residential roofing.  The reason for the State of Florida and Citizens’ financial issues are due to steep slope, single-family residential roofing claims.  Low slope multi-family residential roofs are designed and built to strict commercial building code standards and are required to receive annual maintenance per manufacturer warranties, making these roofs last longer than 15 years.
   • These legislative statute revisions can force the unnecessary removal of roof systems with long warranties and proven life expectancies, placing a heavy financial burden on homeowners and unfairly limiting trade within the roof coatings industry in Florida and potentially beyond.

The Harmful Impact of Legislative and Insurance Requirement Changes

1. This has unfairly included low-slope, multi-family residential roofing.
2. Homeowners are now required to absorb the high costs of removing and replacing roofs, along with disposal fees, instead of having the option to restore them.
3. These changes will impose exorbitant and unnecessary expenses, particularly on seniors living on fixed incomes. Roof replacements can cost up to three times more than repairing and restoring a roof with a cool roof coating system.
4. Despite providing the required documentation proving a roof has over five years of useful life left, many homeowners are either denied coverage or face dramatic premium increases.
5. Florida’s landfills, already near capacity, will be overwhelmed by the waste generated from unnecessary roof replacements. The roofing waste generated could more than double due to these regulations.
6. Businesses in residential buildings may be forced to close temporarily during roof replacements.
7. Manufacturers who have invested millions developing products to meet stringent Florida Building Code and Dade County requirements will see their investments drastically devalued.

Benefits of Roof Coating Restoration Systems

1. Waste Reduction: Coating restoration systems allow 60 percent or more of a roof to remain in place while repairing and restoring damaged sections, reducing landfill waste.
2. Cost-Effective Solution: Roof coating systems can save homeowners 50-65 percent compared to full roof replacements.
3. Sustainable Option: These systems are renewable, maintaining reflective surfaces for cooler buildings.
4. Quality Assurance: Products and systems are rigorously tested to meet Florida Building Code, Dade County, and international standards.
5. Temperature Control: Cool roof coatings reduce roof surface temperatures and offer UV stability.
6. Thermal Shock Reduction: Coatings protect against damage from extreme temperature swings.
7. Lower Costs: Even a partial roof replacement combined with a coating system is more affordable than a full re-roofing.
8. Wind Resistance: Coatings do not affect the original roof’s wind-uplift resistance.
9. Warranties: These systems are backed by third-party testing and manufacturer warranties.
10. Heat Island Reduction: Cool roof coatings lower roof temperatures, reducing smog and cooling energy use.

Benefits of Cool Roofs
(Source: U.S. EPA, Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Heat Islands)

     “Cool roofs provide a number of benefits beyond urban heat island mitigation, including the following:

     Reduced Energy Use: A cool roof lowers the amount of heat transferred to the building, which allows it to stay cooler and use less energy for air conditioning. In air-conditioned residential buildings, solar reflectance from a cool roof can reduce peak cooling demand by 11–27%.¹

     Reduced Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: By lowering energy use, cool roofs decrease the associated air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. When applied at a scale large enough to affect ambient temperatures, cool roofs could reduce the formation of ground-level ozone (which is heat-dependent)6 and reduce cooling energy use across a city.⁷

     Improved Human Health and Comfort: Cool roofs can help reduce the adverse health impacts of heat islands, such as heat exhaustion, respiratory difficulties, dizziness and cramps, and heat-induced death. One United Kingdom study showed that cool roofs, when implemented across a city, could offset 18% of heat-related mortality associated with the heat island effect.⁸

     Equity: The current body of scientific evidence shows that low-income individuals and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to heat islands. Cool roofs can help to mitigate the resulting health hazards and energy cost burden experienced by these groups by reducing the heat island effect in neighborhoods where they live.  Roof coatings are an effective and economical approach to achieve a Cool Roof.”

Actual Florida Resident Stories

1. A Lakeland couple invested $56,000 in roof and electrical upgrades but still had their coverage canceled by Citizen’s Insurance. Read more here.
2. At Tropic Bay Condominiums in Delray Beach, a complex with 17 roofs was denied renewal by Citizen’s because the roofs were over 15 years old, despite documentation from professionals stating they had more than five years of life remaining.
3. Water’s Edge Condominiums applied a silicone roof coating restoration system in 2020, but in 2024, Citizen’s refused to renew coverage due to the original roof’s age, forcing a $600,000 replacement.  https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/new-roof-or-roof-coating-insurance-companies-enact-new-restrictions-on-roof-coverings

What You Can Do

1. Contact your legislators and express your concerns.
2. Demand the exclusion of low slope, multi-family residential roofing from enforcement.  The focus should be solely on steep slope, single-family residential roofing.
3. Demand the removal of the 15-year roof requirement.
4. Advocate for certified professional roof experts to determine roof conditions and necessary repair or replacement options
5. Demand that proven and State Approved solutions like roof coatings remain a viable option for financially burdened homeowners and associations

Additional Resources

Florida Legislation Website: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0600-0699/0627/Sections/0627.7011.html

Citizens Insurance Website: https://www.citizensfla.com/-/20221215-roof-coatings-clarification

Contact your Florida Legislator: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/contentViewer.aspx?Category=website&File=contact%20us.htm#:~:text=To%20locate%20and%20contact%20your,and%20then%20click%20Contact%20Member.

Footnotes

¹ Synnefa, A., M. Santamouris, and H. Akbari. 2007.Estimating the effect of using cool coating on energy loads and thermal comfort in residential buildings in various climatic conditions. Energy and Buildings 39, 1167_1174.

⁶ Epstein S.A., Lee S.M., Katzenstein A.S., Carreras-Sospedra M., ZhangX., Farina S.C., Vahmani P., Fine P.M., Ban-Weiss G. 2017. Air-quality implications of widespread adoption of cool roofs on ozone and particulate matter in southern California. Proceedings of the NationaI Academy of Sciences 22; 114(34), 8991-8996.

⁷ Yang J., Bou-Zeid E. 2019. Scale dependence of the benefits and efficiency of green and cool roofs. Landscape and Urban Planning 185,127-140.

⁸ Macintyre, H.L. and C. Heaviside. 2009.Potentiat benefits of cootroofs in reducing heat-related mortality during heatwaves in a European city, 2019. Environment International 127, 430-441. 

Chris Salazar

Chief Operating Officer, KARNAK

Mr. Salazar joined KARNAK in 1979 and has held various positions including chemist and technical sales manager. He assumed his present role of chief operating officer in May 2011. Educated at Rutgers and Kean Universities, he has conducted various presentations on the “Sustainability of Roofing Systems” for RCMA, NRCA, and ARMA. He served as president of the Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association from 2005–2007and helped create and co-chair the RCMA Sustainability Committee. He served on the NRCA Roofing Alliance Board of Trustees 2018–2020 and continues to serve on the NRCA’s Roofing Alliance Industry Advisory and Sustainability Committees. Along with other industry contributions, he has published numerous articles throughout the years. For more information about KARNAK, visit karnakcorp.com or call 800-526-4236.