New Facility Will Test What the Elements Can Do to a House

Property and casualty insurers are hoping a new facility coming to South Carolina will do for home building what a similar testing facility in Virginia has done for car safety.

The Institute for Business and Home Safety this week said that it plans to build a $27 million research facility in Chester County, in northern South Carolina, that will allow scientists to see exactly what winds from a Category 3 hurricane do to an 1,800-square-foot, two-story home.

Researchers also will look at the effect of hail and wind-blown fire on home construction.

"This is going to be the controlled experiment that we've been looking for for quite some time," said Scott Schiff, director of Clemson University's Wind and Structural Engineering Research Facility, which tests construction materials. "They will be able to do full-scale destructive testing."

The lab will be big enough to hold a complete house. Researchers also will be able to let houses sit in the elements to see how aging affects their ability to withstand different weather issues.

The goal, said Julie Rochman, president and chief executive of the institute, is to minimize damage.

Rochman previously worked for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the auto insurance industry. The group puts out a "top safety pick" for each model year and researches other issues, such as child safety seats and teen drivers.

The Institute for Business and Home Safety is funded by property and casualty insurers, who also will be paying for the research facility in South Carolina.

Rochman said the research will attempt to use "that same science-based approach to loss prevention on the property side that we've taken on the auto side."

"We've told people what to do," she said, "but we haven't had the ability to be scientifically based and tell them why it's important that they do these things."

Improvements in building standards depend on such research, said Jennifer Gibson, spokeswoman for the International Code Council, whose members vote on changes to building codes that cities and states often use as models for local construction safety laws.

"A lot of our suggested changes come from these groups," Gibson said.