S.C. disaster research facility to improve homes

RICHBURG — A facility that’s being built in South Carolina is likely to change the way future homes worldwide are built to make them stronger and safer.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) gave the media a tour Friday of the facility that’s being built in Chester County near the town of Richburg. It’s the first facility of its kind in the world.

The six-story building has a panel of 105 fans on one end, making it basically a giant wind tunnel.

“We are putting Mother Nature in a big box,” IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman said. “We’re going to be doing testing unlike anything else that’s ever been done in the world, looking at full-scale homes and commercial structures.”

They’ll build one- and two-story houses up to 2,000 square feet and then move them into the research building, putting them on a giant turntable built into the floor. That allows the house to be rotated 360 degrees so the wind can hit it from every angle.

The 105 fans, each nearly 6 feet in diameter, can generate wind speeds up to 140 mph — equal to a Category 4 hurricane.

“When the winds blow, when a hurricane forms, when a thunderstorm occurs, when a wildfire approaches, we shouldn’t lose as many homes and businesses as we do today,” Rochman said. “They shouldn’t be as destroyed as they are today. Families shouldn’t be inconvenienced. The cost shouldn’t be as high. The local, state and federal disaster budgets ought not be as drained as they are. We can do better and this lab is going to help us do better.”

She said it’s important to test on full-size homes because the physical properties of some construction materials change when they’re shrunk.

The lab’s first research will be on roof structures, since they’re involved in most disaster losses. The first research will begin this fall.

“What can you do to keep water out? Let’s assume the shingles or the metal roof or whatever does rip off the top. How can you prevent water from then pouring in that’ll soak your insulation and your ceiling and cause your ceilings to collapse?” Dr. Tim Reinhold, IBHS senior vice president of research and chief engineer, asked. “Because if we can eliminate that additional damage and disruption, people can stay in their houses while they’re re-roofing.”

The fans that will be used are so powerful, and there are so many of them, they’ll draw 30 Megawatts of electricity —enough to power 9,000 homes. The facility is being paid for entirely by the insurance industry.

“It is very similar to what we’ve done on the auto safety side through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. We have changed the way that autos are manufactured and the way that people shop for autos in this country,” Rochman said. “We’re going to settle for nothing less than that on the property side. We want to change the way that people look at the built environment. We want them to demand better. We want them to get better construction than we have right now.”