FLOODSNew Tool Could Help Florida Homeowners Weather Flood Risks, Lower Insurance Costs
With flood risks increasing from extreme weather events like hurricanes and even routine plumbing issues, researchers are helping Florida homeowners make smarter choices about building materials and interior finishes that better protect their homes and potentially save on their insurance premiums.
With flood risks increasing from extreme weather events like hurricanes and even routine plumbing issues, a team from the University of Florida’s College of Design, Construction and Planning is helping Florida homeowners make smarter choices about building materials and interior finishes that better protect their homes and potentially save on their insurance premiums.
Lisa Platt, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of interior design and a researcher within the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, or FIBER, and Arezoo Zeinali, a graduate research assistant in Platt’s Design Dynamics lab have developed a groundbreaking tool that helps homeowners, builders and policymakers make better, science-informed choices about what materials are used to build and furnish a house.
The system, called SAMPL™ — short for Sustainable Adaptive Material Performance Level — goes beyond checklists and code books. It uses computational modeling to evaluate how building materials respond to real-world risks, especially water-related damage.
“The platform helps people choose building materials that are less likely to be damaged if a disaster strikes,” said Platt, who originally developed it as a teaching tool to guide students in making smarter material choices.
To tailor the SAMPL™ platform for real-world application, Platt, Zeinali and research colleagues at FIBER refined the system specifically to assess flood-related risks. The work was part of a state-funded initiative commissioned by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, which asked UF researchers at FIBER to explore how enhancing the resilience of single-family homes could help lower insurance premiums.
By adjusting SAMPL’s risk formulas to emphasize moisture resistance, material imperviousness and failure likelihood in flood scenarios, the team produced a version of the platform capable of supporting data-driven decisions about which materials are most likely to withstand or recover from the risk water intrusion. The findings contributed to the development of the Resilience Inference Performance Level (RIPL) report, which aims to help insurance regulators, builders and homeowners identify cost-saving, risk-reducing strategies for residential construction.
A Smart System for Resilient Design
SAMPL analyzes materials based on three key characteristics:
· Strength: How durable the material is under pressure from specific environmental conditions and regional risk factors.
· Symbiosis: How the material interacts with environmental conditions, particularly its resistance to moisture.
· Sustainability: How environmentally responsible the material is, factoring in things like embodied carbon and chemical transparency.
