Video: The Insurance Industry's New Disaster Lab Destroys A House
IBHS's New Disaster Lab On a rural spread of acreage in South Carolina, insurance companies are looking to cover themselves against losses by knocking down houses. That might sound counterintuitive, but from an engineering standpoint it makes perfect sense. The industry-funded Institute for Business & Home Safety yesterday opened a $40 million, 2,300-square-foot disaster lab yesterday that is among the best in the world, with the ability to subject entire homes to tornado-strength winds or Category 3 hurricanes. The idea is to put standard construction practices and building codes to the test, creating real-world catastrophes within the confines of the facility. One wall contains 105 giant fans that can simulate extreme winds (they cranked gusts up to 96 miles per hour yesterday), and a 750,000-gallon water tank can introduce water to that mix, simulating tropical storm and hurricane conditions. For such a large, powerful scientific instrument, the science that will take...