Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety • 2012 • Volume 3

Disaster Safety Review

NAILED IT!

Tackling Hail Losses

IBHS Vinyl Siding Research

IBHS Field Research

PAGE 6

PAGE 4

SANDY BY THE NUMBERS

BACK COVER

I B H S I N N O V AT I O N I N A C T I O NBuilding, creating, moving and testing – the staff at the IBHS Research Center is in constant

motion. With access to the world’s only full-scale disaster testing facility, researchers have the potential to push the boundaries of building science to see how structures really perform in hurricanes, wind-driven rain, hailstorms and wildfires. Sometimes, the initial test of a construction system or product sends IBHS down an unexpected path. This was

the case when engineers set out to test foam sheathing and uncovered an urgent need to improve the test standards for the attachment of vinyl siding, after it detached in the face of

lower than expected wind loads. This issue highlights IBHS innovations, such as sensors on nails that allow researchers to go inside the attachment of siding and a customized device to measure

the force it takes to crush a hailstone. Every day, IBHS and its staff are moving forward with the goal of creating stronger, safer communities. By finding answers

to complex questions and putting product standards to the test, IBHS is where building safety research

leads to real-world solutions.

2 Disaster Safety Review | 2012

When frozen balls of ice rain down from thousands of feet above your head, the result can be damaging and sometimes dangerous. A single hailstorm can cause $1 billion or more in property damage, according to insurance industry estimates.This compressive air cannon, with custom sleeves that allow for the gravity feed hopper system, will enable IBHS researchers to simulate a realistic hailstorm to study the effects on buildings. Researchers can shoot three sizes of hailstones in different directions in three second intervals to simulate an actual hailstorm. In February, researchers will activate 72 gun barrels simultaneously to fire an array of hailstones in a national media event.

HAIL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH DEVICEUsing a stock load cell and custom vices, this IBHS invention will make mush out of hailstones to help researchers learn just how hard hailstones really are, determine how much damage they can cause – and one day how to harden homes against hail.

Move It!

Creating a Fire Storm

In order to test homes and businesses inside the IBHS Research Center, a team of builders and engineers must first construct the test specimens outside and move them into the large test chamber.

A fire breathing dragon model developed by the National Institute for Standards and Technology was the basis for this IBHS engineering feat. IBHS expertise took a small-scale model and scaled it up by using a Weber Grill, some duct work and a fan to prove the concept that eventually led to the world’s first full-scale wildfire ember storm test in a controlled laboratory setting. Savannah River National Laboratory participated in the design, which resulted in a test that has led to development of improved ways to protect homes during wildfires.

3Disaster Safety Review | 2012

Tackling Hail LossesImplications of IBHS Field Research for Product Test Standards and Risk Modeling

RECREATING MOTHER NATURE in a controlled laboratory setting like the IBHS Research Center requires innovation, scientific curiosity and lots of patience. While there are other labs that, on a smaller scale, simulate hurricane conditions, no other research organization has ever attempted to produce an indoor hailstorm. Doing so has propelled IBHS researchers on a journey of discovery to learn all they can about hailstones. Their initial findings indicate that significant improvements are likely in the understanding of hailstorms and their potential to damage buildings and property.

HAIL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH DEVICE

More on page 3

4 Disaster Safety Review | 2012

Lead IBHS hail researchers Dr. Tanya Brown and Dr. Ian Giammanco, both meteorologists, hope one day to be able to look at the weather forecast and, with some certainty, forecast what types of hailstones might fall and their potential for property damage. While that is still a long way off, their first foray into this effort is producing promising early results. Getting to even this early stage has required an all-hands effort by Research Center staff, from machinists to engineers with expertise in software development and programming.

“It makes sense to us that harder hailstones would cause more damage, but we want to explore that,’” says Dr. Brown. “But it’s not as though you can go into a store and say, ‘Hi, I’d like to buy a compressive force device to measure the hardness of a hailstone.’ To do it, we had to make a compressive force device and it had to be portable enough to take into the field, where we could find actual hailstones.”

As is often the case at the Research Center, staff used a combination of off-the-shelf equipment and custom devices – for this project the off-the-shelf equipment included a load cell like those used in bathroom scales to measure your weight, a vice, a balance to measure the mass, and a caliper to measure the dimensions. The vice was customized to include the load cell and was interfaced with a complex computer program to measure the compressive force needed to crush the hailstones, GPS information about the location of where the each hailstone fell was also recorded by the program. “It’s been a long process and on the surface this all may look really simple, but it’s actually pretty sophisticated,” says Dr. Brown.

The first real-world test of this new technology came in summer 2012, when a two-week project took IBHS field teams to Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. There, they successfully collected 12 significant datasets on hailstones from nine separate storms in seven days. This field work was extremely beneficial to IBHS. Prior to this project, no data was available about the hardness of real hailstones. Therefore, IBHS had no basis for comparison to determine if the

laboratory-produced hailstones were realistic in terms of hardness.

Initial findings from compressive force comparisons of the artificial and real hailstones are promising, Dr. Brown says, “We are happy with what we are starting to see, but we still need to do a lot more testing, try more experiments and definitely gather more data.” Read more about how the IBHS-produced hailstones, made from distilled water, tap water, seltzer water ratios, and crushed ice, are stacking up against the hardness of real hailstones.

Another exciting finding from the field research project could hold benefits for risk modelers, Dr. Brown says. The initial research shows hailstone characteristics seem to be clustered by storm, which means atmospheric conditions could be controlling the types of hailstones produced.

“This can be valuable in a risk modeling sense,” says Dr. Brown, “because if we can understand which types of hailstones produce the most damage, then forecast or model the characteristics of a storm and the kind of hailstones you can expect, you may be able to understand how much property damage could result from certain types of storms. This is very much in its infancy, but it seems to have broad implications.”

Improvements to radar used by the National Weather Service will also aid in this research, says Dr. Giammanco, “With the upgrade to Dual-Polarization Radar there is the ability to sense the type of precipitation, such as rain, snow, or hail, in order to improve radar hail size estimates.” This improvement is

significant because the systems prior to the upgrade were relatively poor.

“Field validation is needed and our field work can offer a partnership in developing these relationships based on observations we collect,” says Dr. Giammanco. “The continuation of this type of field study is vital for our own engineering objectives but reaches into the realm of maximizing the capability of Dual Polarization Radar. It also improves our understanding of the environment that may produce hail of a certain character.”

Getting to that point will require more extensive research, which is why it’s worth mentioning that while the compressive force device was being developed, the field research was in process, and the quest continued to try to produce more realistic hailstones, another effort was underway. IBHS was developing a delivery system in the Research Center’s catwalk that could take the artificial hailstones and launch them in a way that replicates storm conditions.

Why go to all of this trouble to study hail? By evaluating the current test standards for impact-rated roofing products, IBHS researchers hope to help improve product performance. IBHS also will be developing improvements to the test standards, if warranted, and will be expanding testing to include other kinds of building materials, such as siding and fenestration. Additionally, the IBHS research program also seeks to understand modes and severity of damage caused by hail impacts of stones with varying size, density, and hardness; to evaluate how aging and maintenance affect potential damage from hailstorms; and to develop and test repair and replace methodologies.

“The hail problem is a long-term one,” says Dr. Brown, “and one of the things we have wanted to do is evaluate the test standards that are now used for products, like roofing. Products that are rated to a certain test standard may not always perform the way they’re rated. In order to really understand what these standards mean, we have to make the testing more realistic.”

5

…if we can understand which types of hailstones

produce the most damage, then forecast or model the characteristics of a storm and the kind of hailstones you can expect, you may

be able to understand how much property damage

could result from certain types of storms. - Dr. Tanya Brown

5Disaster Safety Review | 2012

6 Disaster Safety Review | 2012

NAILED IT!Vinyl siding damage is a leading loss driver for property insurers, according to IBHS members. IBHS engineers are tackling this issue in innovative ways through full-scale testing. This testing is possible only at the IBHS Research Center, where engineers also have developed a way to measure wind loads on nails that attach the siding. The findings from this research will eventually impact the vinyl siding industry’s test standards and ultimately improve product performance during high winds. Some IBHS findings are already making their way into the International Building Code.

“Now that the lab is open and operating, we are able to look at things in a way that we never have before,” said Dr. Anne Cope, IBHS vice president for research. “The Vinyl Siding Institute has been working alongside us throughout this research project because they believe in the product and are as interested as we are in discovering Mother Nature’s impact.”

IBHS began its vinyl siding testing in fall 2011, and in addition to the Vinyl Siding Institute, has been working on this project with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center, American Chemistry Council’s Foam Sheathing Committee and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. Some initial start-up funding for the research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, as a result of interests in the foam sheathing portion of the project. The early findings from this first round of research were published in the paper, “Wind Loads on Components of Multi-Layer Wall Systems with Air-Permeable Exterior Cladding,” presented during the ATC-SEI Advances in Hurricane Engineering Conference

in October. Read more about the published research.

Prior to construction of the Research Center, evaluating wind loads on wall systems was conducted using pressure chambers, where the same pressure is applied over the entire surface of the test specimen. More recently, pressure chamber testing has involved the application of dynamic loads, where the pressure in the chamber is varied with time and reproduces the time history of wall pressure fluctuations measured using wind tunnel models. The model pressures are scaled in magnitude and time, so that appropriate full-scale pressures corresponding to a specific target windstorm are reproduced. Nevertheless, the pressures at any point in time are still basically uniform across the entire surface of the test wall.

The IBHS research approach is different, said IBHS Chief Engineer Dr. Tim Reinhold, because we can actually engulf a full-scale building in a realistic wind environment. The studies conducted at the Research Center, and published in the ATC-SEI paper, are the first where pressures between various wall layers are measured in a realistic wind environment. This environment reproduces the temporal and spatial variations of wind pressures on the wall surface and simultaneously applies the wind flow around the building.

The results of this first-of-its-kind realistic testing conducted at the Research Center were surprising.

“After we did Phase 1 testing, we saw that the peak wind pressures being felt by the vinyl siding were between 75% and 80% of the peak wind pressure applied to the wall as a whole, which

was much more than anyone previously thought,” said Dr. Reinhold, IBHS senior vice president for research. “The pressure box tests indicated the maximum peak wind pressure on the vinyl was only about 16% of the peak pressure applied to the wall as a whole. Consequently, the vinyl industry thought they were being conservative by using 36% of the wind load on the wall in their current test standard.”

A second round of testing was recently completed and the results will be published by IBHS during the first quarter of 2013. The goal of the Phase 2 testing was to provide further evidence, in the form of loads measured on the nails that fasten the siding, to substantiate the findings in Phase 1. The analogy is similar to the difference between holding one’s hand over a candle and getting burned versus running a finger quickly through the flame and avoiding injury. The question asked by our partners was, “can the wind travel over the vinyl siding so quickly that the nails do not experience the full loading as the wind tries to rip off the vinyl,” Dr. Cope explained.

“That was why we did the Phase 2 work. Now, we can show people the trace of the wind pressure at every second in time and the trace of the load on the nail at every second in time – to prove that the forces on the vinyl are actually being applied to the nail and the nail hem of the siding,” added Dr. Cope.

“We are seeing a very real problem of higher than previously expected wind loads on this product and we need to adjust the test standards and product ratings accordingly,” Dr. Reinhold said.

IBHS VINYL SIDING RESEARCH

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The next steps are to continue collaborating with the stakeholders to find a way to translate what has

been learned into meaningful and coordinated changes in the standardized test method and building codes. The first action

has already been taken in the form of draft building code changes by the International Code Council (ICC).

“The requirements for vinyl siding installed over foam sheathing have been increased in the draft changes in ICC 600, which is the standard for design of buildings for high winds, to reflect the IBHS research results,” Dr. Reinhold said. “In late October, at the ICC Final Action Hearings for the International Building Code, the provisions were approved that will lead to increases in the load requirements for vinyl siding installed over foam sheathing.”

Keeping vinyl siding attached during high winds will result in improved performance for the millions of properties that use this product. “We have to find ways to engineer changes to the existing test method so that it matches the conditions Mother Nature will deliver,” Dr. Cope said.

NAILED IT!“We are seeing a very real problem of higher than

previously expected wind loads on this product and we need to

adjust the test standards and product ratings accordingly.”

- Dr. Tim Reinhold

7Disaster Safety Review | 2012

By connecting off-the-shelf load cells to nails, IBHS researchers were able to record and measure the wind forces exerted on individual nails to investigate how wind loads affect vinyl siding. The result, IBHS is working with its partners to change vinyl siding test standards and building codes, both of which should improve real-world performance for homes and businesses.

IBHS INNOVATION AT WORK

12,000+ commercial

�ights grounded

SANDYNearly 1,000 miles wide

states impacted15$300

Federal �nancial assistance approved in individual assistance twoweeks after storm.

million

Find these and more recovery resources at DisasterSafety.org

REDUCE THE RISK

Reduce the risk of future damage by making your

home FORTIFIED. The disaster-resistant construction

options in IBHS’ FORTIFIED programs could offer your

new or existing home increased protection against

future damage. Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org/

fortified.

WORK WITH YOUR INSURER

Homeowners insurance policies typically provide

coverage for the dwelling, personal property and

other expenses related to the loss, such as temporary

housing. Your insurance company representatives

have training and experience in helping homeowners

recover from disasters and good advice to help the

recovery process go smoothly. Most of the advice

given here is aimed at helping to start that process.

REPORT THE LOSS

Contact your insurance agent or broker or insurance

company as soon as you can to report how, when

and where the damage occurred. Provide a general

description of the damage, and, if possible, have your

policy number available. Make a note of the claim

adjuster’s name, telephone number and schedule as

soon as you have them.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

AMERICAN RED CROSS

www.redcross.org

Contact your local Red Cross chapter for publications on disaster

planning for homeowners. The Red Cross also offers disaster relief

assistance and emergency training.

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

www.fema.gov

(800) 480-2520 FEMA produces many publications that can be help-

ful to homeowners. You may obtain a catalog at the above number.

Most of the publications are free.

INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE

www.iii.org

(212) 346-5500 I.I.I. is a primary source of information, analysis and

referral on insurance. The I.I.I. has various publications on homeown-

ers insurance and tips on how to work with insurers and minimize

damage and personal injury from disasters.

IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and

educational organization supported by the property

insurance industry. The organization works to reduce

the social and economic effects of natural disasters

and other risks to residential and commercial property

by conducting research and advocating improved

construction, maintenance and preparation practices.

For more information about hurricane preparedness

and recovery, please visit DisasterSafety.org

REPAIRING AND

REBUILDING

As you make plans to rebuild or repair

your home, ask your contractor, your

insurance adjuster or your local home

improvement store about features you

might include that would help make

your home better able to resist natural

disasters common in your area.

Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety

4775 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617

(813) 286-3400

DisasterSafety.org

You Can Go

Home Again

GUIDANCE FOR RECOVERING

FROM A DISASTER

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RESIDENTIAL

RETURNING TO BUSINESS

The time it takes to return your business to normal

operating levels depends much on the decisions you

and your insurance representative make together. The

key decisions may involve these considerations:

• Overall damage assessment.

• Repairs to current location while conducting

business.

• Current location use vs. a new location to conduct

business.

• Amount of modifications to current or new location.

• Reordering inventory, supplies and other materials.

• Communications with customers, suppliers and

employees.

• Insurance coverage review.

PREPARE FOR FUTURE

INTERUPTIONS

An emergency preparedness plan, at a minimum,

should include the following elements:

• Pre-disaster actions to protect people, facilities and

contents.

• Emergency evacuation procedures and

assignments.

• Essential facility operations (or shut down)

procedures.

• Off-site storage (back-up) of information.

You should discuss your emergency plan with your

employees, and provide training and

periodic testing of the plan. Employees

should be notified any time changes are

made to the plan. A current copy of the

plan should be kept where employees

can refer to it easily.

The Open for Business® Disaster

Protection and Recovery Planning

Guide is designed for small and mid-

sized businesses. Download a free copy

at www.DisasterSafety.org/open-for-

business.

STEPS TO RECOVERY

Following disaster, it is anything but business as usual.

The faster you can return to some level of normal

operations the quicker you can restore income, jobs,

and the goods and services your community has come

to depend on.

There are many resources available to help in this

process (See “Additional Resources”). This brochure’s

focus is on how to work with your insurance company’s

representatives.

These professionals are experienced in helping

businesses recover from disasters and will have

specific advice pertaining to your losses, coverage and

recovery. Most of the suggestions and tips offered here

are meant to help start that process.

REPORTNG THE LOSS

Call your insurance agent, broker or insurance

company immediately to report how, when and

where the loss or damage occurred. Have your policy

number handy, and give them a general description of

damages.

PUTTING SAFETY FIRST

The safety of people and property is a key

consideration following a disaster. Buildings must be

safe for occupancy before anyone re-enters.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

American Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org

Association of Contingency Planners

http://www.acp-international.com

Federal Emergency Management Agency

http://www.fema.gov

Insurance Information Institute

http:www.iii.org

National Emergency Management Association

http://www.nemaweb.media3.net/index.cfm

U.S. Small Business Administration

http://www.sba.gov

Report any property damage to your insurance agent

or company representative immediately after a natural

disaster and make temporary repairs to prevent further

damage. For information about filing an insurance

claim after a natural disaster, contact:

Your insurance agent or insurance company

Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety

4775 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617

(813) 286-3400

DisasterSafety.org

GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS

Emergencies can include

natural and man-made

disasters. You will have

a better chance of minimizing

employee deaths, injuries and

illnesses, reducing property

damage and accelerating business

recovery if you plan ahead.

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Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety

4775 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617

(813) 286-3400

DisasterSafety.org

REDUCINGTREE DAMAGE

Falling trees and limbs cause

millions of dollars in damage

each year damaging homes and

cars and downing power lines.

Windstorms, such as hurricanes, are a leading

cause of such damage and injury.

Homeowners represent the first line of defense,

but often neglect taking their surroundings

into consideration when trying to protect or

prepare their property from storms.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety

(IBHS) developed several ways to help prevent

damage before a storm strikes and how to

clean up the aftermath. It is important to

regularly examine trees and check for damage

or other trouble signs. Good pruning can

prevent many problems, but over-pruning can

significantly weaken a tree.

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RESIDENTIAL

Report any property damage to your insurance

agent or company representative immediately after

a severe weather event or other natural disaster and

make temporary repairs to prevent further damage.

For information about filing an insurance claim after

a natural disaster, contact your insurance agent or

insurance company.

8. WHY INSTALL HIGH-WIND

RATED ROOF VENTS?

Vents must stay in place to help keep water

and wind out of your attic. Vents that have

passed Florida Building Code Test Standard

TAS 100 (A) are tested for both wind and

water intrusion.

Take the Next StepNow that you know the steps needed to Fortify your

roof, visit www.disastersafety.org/fortified to start

the process of gaining a FORTIFIEDTM designation.

The application is free and could save you thousands

of dollars in damage when a hurricane strikes.

6. WHY INSTALL FLASHING?

Flashing is necessary to help

prevent leaks. It should

be installed anywhere

the roof changes slope,

intersects with vertical

surfaces, in roof valleys,

around openings, and at

eaves and gable rakes.

Valley areas without flashing

are especially vulnerable to

leakage.

7. WHY INSTALL

HIGH-WIND RATED ROOF COVER?

Shingle roof covers in high-

wind areas should

meet the ASTM

testing standards

and classifications

appropriate for the

design wind speed

in your area. The ASTM

standard, not the advertised

warranty or warranted wind speed on the

shingles, will determine which roof covering is best

for your area. See ASTM Table below.

Below are some simple

explanations why these roofing

improvements are important.

Detailed guidance for completing

these steps is available in the IBHS

guide, “Roofing the Right Way,” at

DisasterSafety.org.

1. WHY REMOVE THE ROOF COVER?

Exposing the roof deck allows for a good

inspection and provides an opportunity to

strengthen connections between roof deck and

roof structure. Multiple layers of finished roofing

are not permitted under the FORTIFIEDTM program.

2. WHY INSPECT FOR DAMAGE?

A damaged roof deck will weaken your roof

and expose your home to wind and wind-

driven rain. Have damaged sections replaced

with materials of the same thickness.

3. WHY RE-NAIL THE ROOF DECK?

Keeping the roof deck in place will

help keep wind and water out.

The decking should be secured

with 8d ring shank nails,

spaced 6 inches on center,

along all framing members.

IBHS research shows use of staples

and the minimum size smooth

nails allowed in older building

codes (no matter the spacing)

are inadequate to keep a

roof deck on in hurricane-

force winds.

4775 E. Fowler Avenue

Tampa, FL 33617

(813) 286-3400

DisasterSafety.org

4. WHY ANCHOR GABLE

END OUTLOOKERS?

Outlookers are roof framing

members often used to

support the roof overhang

at the gable end of a house.

They are a frequent source

of damage in a hurricane.

5. WHY SEAL THE ROOF DECK?

This will help keep water out of the house if the

roof cover blows off. Large amounts of wind-driven

water can pour into the attic through unsealed gaps

between pieces of roof sheathing.

IBHS defines a properly sealed roof deck as one

where seams or gaps between pieces of decking

are sealed.

FORTIFIEDTM standards require one

of these methods to seal the roof

deck and keep water out:

Install 4”-6” wide “peel

and stick” tape installed

over all the wood roof

panel seams, covered by

a 30# felt underlayment

over the entire roof;

Install a “peel and stick”

membrane over the

entire roof deck;

Install a high tear strength

synthetic underlayment

with all vertical and

horizontal seams taped

Provide these guidelines to your roofing contractor to

ensure proper product selection and installation.

Many roofing manufacturers now make roof

vents (ridge vents, static vents, turbines or

powered vents) that have passed high wind

and wind-driven water tests.

Is your roof

FORTIFIED?™HurricaneBRONZE

✗ © IB

HS

2012

Wind Speed Shingle Testing Standard/

Classification

110 mph ASTM D3161 (Class F)

or ASTM D7158 Class

G or H

120 mph ASTM Class G

130 mph & greater

ASTM Class H

Sources: NASA, U.S. Department of Energy,

Federal Emergency Management Agency and

National Weather Service