Project profile: University of Louisville Bettie Johnson Hall

By Emma Peterson. 

200 HVAC units and counting! Learn how this team navigated unique challenges when restoring this dormitory roof.  

Every year the Spray Polyeurathane Foam Alliance (SPFA) hosts the National Industry Excellence Awards. These awards honor SPFA contractor members for their innovative projects from the year prior. Divided into seven different categories, projects are judged on “exceptional quality work, the uniqueness of their project, speed of application, ability to solve special problems and challenges and special safety considerations.” Since the announcement of the winners, The Coffee Shops have shared an inside look into each category winner, showcasing the hard work and talent that went into each project. Let’s take a closer look at the 2025 Elastomeric Roof Coatings category, Spray-Tec, Inc. 

Spray-Tec has been serving Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio since the 1990s. They specialize in spray-applied systems for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. For their 2025 award-winning project, Spray-Tec sent out a 6-person team (Mariano Perez, Javier Herrera, Edwin Morales, Melvin Lutin, Gilberto Morales and Pedro Morales) to the University of Louisville’s Bettie Johnson Hall. When assessing the 58,000 square foot roof, the team faced a few challenges, including working around 200+ HVAC units. While it was a challenge, they embraced this obstacle and found ways to work around it. The team would lift each individual unit, spray around it and set it back down on slip sheets. They then utilized GacoFlex SF2036 WalkPad to mark out walkways for their contractors to navigate.  

In addition to their challenges navigating the roof, the hall, which is a student dormitory, needed to stay open for the college students who lived there over the course of the project. This was a unique challenge, but by the end of the 48 days that the team spent on site, they had become friends with the students (to the point that we heard tale of some light-hearted pranking!). In the end, the team was able to cut out the original EPDM on the roof, tear out the damaged materials, replace the EPDM and seal it all while the dorm stayed open and operational.  

Now, the hall has a fresh Gaco coating that not only seals it from weather intrusions but also gives it a “cool roof status” that makes it far more energy efficient. And the university isn’t only saving money on energy in the long run; they also saved tens-of-thousands of dollars because the Spray-Tec team was able to restore the roof instead of simply replacing it.  

See the full list of 2025 SPFA Industry Award winners online!