Farmers Insurance has announced the grand opening of a roof farm in Olathe, a research project designed to help determine how different roofing materials are impacted by weather and aging in real-world conditions. Farmers is collaborating with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a nonprofit industry research and communications association on the local project, and will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, Nov. 3, in Olathe.
“This research project is an opportunity for Farmers and IBHS to gather additional information about roofing materials that may help homeowners save money on roof repairs and replacements,” says Tim Felks, head of property claims for Farmers Insurance. “By investing in this project, we hope to help our customers understand benefits of choosing upgraded construction materials by testing different materials exposed to real-world conditions.”
The roof farm is comprised of five 15-by-15-foot roof structures. Four will be suited with multiple panels that will be evaluated over time to determine which roofing materials are equipped to resist weather damage and how they are impacted by climate. The fifth roof will be used for various training and drone testing. Weather conditions are monitored by an on-site weather station which collects data on wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and incoming solar radiation.
The roof-aging research will be conducted over the next few decades, with roof sets being analyzed at four, eight, 12 and 16 year intervals for wind, hail and wildfire performance. Roof farms in other geographic areas will allow for expanded climate exposure data collection.
The Farmers roof farm project is part of a larger initiative to study the performance of aging roofs when subjected to varying climates over extended periods of time. Farmers is the fourth organization to install a roof farm in collaboration with IBHS.
“We know that roofing is impacted by aging, but this is the first comprehensive multi-peril, research project that addresses the long-term effects of aging on roof performance,” says Murray Morrison, Ph.D., vice president, Research for IBHS. “Many roofing products are known to degrade over time, depending on the local environment. Controlled aging of roofs in various climates along with systematic testing of wind and impact resistance at four-year intervals will provide us with the data needed to improve vulnerability assessments.”