2026 Hurricane Season: A Building Envelope Checklist for Central Florida Commercial Properties

Ahead of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, Lamphier & Company has issued building envelope preparedness guidance for commercial property managers across Central Florida. The announcement, picked up by WFLA NBC 8 in Tampa and distributed through the USA TODAY Network and AP News, points to FEMA findings that commercial buildings constructed before 1980 average roughly 3.4 times higher hurricane claim severity than buildings built after 2010.

The short version: most of that gap comes down to the building envelope, not the structural frame. Roof attachment, sealant joints, flashing, and waterproofing all degrade with age, and a worn envelope stops performing to the wind and water standards the building was designed for. June and July are the realistic window to fix that before the season peaks.

What “building envelope” actually means

The envelope is everything that separates the inside of a building from the weather outside. The roof system, exterior walls, windows and doors, sealant joints, and below-grade waterproofing. When a storm arrives, these are the surfaces taking the wind pressure and the driving rain. A building’s frame can be perfectly sound while the envelope is the thing that fails first.

FEMA’s Mitigation Assessment Team studied commercial losses after Hurricane Ian and found that age of construction was the single strongest predictor of claim severity. Pre-1980 buildings averaged about $164,891 in claims. Post-2010 buildings averaged closer to $48,091. The difference traces back to envelope details: roof deck attachment, continuous sealants, proper flashing, and impact-rated openings.

Why older Volusia and Seminole County buildings are exposed

A lot of Central Florida’s commercial stock predates the stricter envelope provisions added in later editions of the Florida Building Code. Under the current code and ASCE 7-22, commercial buildings in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Volusia counties must be designed for three-second wind gusts of 130 to 140 mph. Here’s the catch, though. A building can meet that standard the day it opens and quietly fall short twenty years on.

Coatings and sealants have service lives. A silicone roof coating runs roughly 15 to 20 years. A polyurethane sealant joint has its own clock. Once those expire and nobody renews them, the building is no longer performing to spec, regardless of what the original drawings called for. Water is usually where it gets expensive. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety reports that roof damage shows up in 70 to 90 percent of storm-related claims, and water intrusion drives the largest share of total claim value once you add up soaked insulation, ruined drywall, electrical damage, and the business interruption that follows.

What waterproofing and envelope sealing actually address

This is the part a property manager can control. Commercial waterproofing systems, fresh roof coatings, and resealed expansion joints restore the continuous barrier the envelope is supposed to be. Sealant continuity matters more than most people expect, since a single failed caulking joint can let wind-driven rain track behind a wall and spread far from where it entered. Renewing these systems before they reach the end of their service life keeps the building behaving the way it was designed to behave when the wind picks up.

A pre-season envelope checklist

Run through these before June 1, or have a contractor do it with you:

• Inspect parapet walls and roof-to-wall transitions for cracking or separation
• Reseal failed, shrinking, or split expansion and control joints
• Check below-grade and at-grade waterproofing wherever water tends to pool
• Look over flashing, copings, and penetrations around HVAC curbs and roof drains
• Confirm drains and scuppers are clear so water leaves the roof fast
• Renew roof coatings that are near or past their service life

One timing note that catches people out: liquid-applied waterproofing and coatings need to fully cure under dry conditions before they will hold up in a storm. Since only about 11 percent of named storms form before August 1, June and July are realistically the window to get this work scheduled, completed, and cured. If your portfolio includes older buildings in Orlando, Sanford. Daytona Beach or elsewhere across Volusia, Orange, and Seminole counties, a pre-season envelope inspection is the simplest place to start.

The full announcement is available on EIN Presswire and AP News.