In the face of severe risk of climate-related disasters such as floods or hurricanes, a team from the University of Florida is helping homeowners in the Sunshine State make better choices to defend their homes by recommended building materials and interior finishes that can help save on their insurance premiums while also protecting their homes

Lisa Platt, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the interior design department and a researcher for the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (Fiber) worked with graduate student, Arezoo Zeinali, to develop a new tool that helps homeowners, builders, and policymakers make better informed choices about building materials

The SAMPL™ (Sustainable Adaptive Material Performance Level) system is more than checklists and code books. The new interface uses computational modeling to evaluate how building materials will perform in real-world disasters, especially water-related damage.

“The platform helps people choose building materials that are less likely to be damaged if a disaster strikes,” said Platt in a recent Main St. Daily News article.

Platt and Zeinali refined the FIBER system to specifically assess flood-related risks. The work was entirely state funded through an Office of Insurance Regulation initiative. The office asked the UF researchers at FIBER to explore how enhancing the resilience of single-family homes could lower insurance premiums, a rising problem in the state

The pair adjusted SAMPL’s risk formulas to focus primarily on material impermeability, failure likelihood in flood scenarios, and moisture resistance. The team created an interface that can show data-driven options for materials that are more likely to withstand or recover from the risk of water intrusion. The findings contributed to the development of the Resilience Interference Performance Level (RIPL) report, which has a goal of assisting insurance regulators, builders, and homeowners. RIPL identifies cost-saving, risk-reducing strategies for residential construction

SAMPL doesn’t stop at evaluating structural materials, it can also evaluate common finishings, carpets, wood varieties, porcelain tiles and more. The system doesn’t recommend brands, but instead it allows users to understand how different materials perform under strain.

The project couldn’t come at a more perfect time. Currently, Florida lawmakers are considering implementing tax incentives for buildings with resilient materials. The ultimate goal of SAMPL is to provide homeowners and insurance regulators with the same information which would allow homes that meet certain standards to qualify for lower premiums

Platt says her driving motivation for her extensive research is her personal experience as a Florida homeowner

“I think about protecting my family just like anyone else,” Platt said in a recent Main St. Daily News article. “Our goal as scientists and educators is to help others make better decisions that protect their homes, their health and their financial stability.

“SAMPL isn’t perfect, and it can’t predict everything,” Platt continued in the Main St. Daily News article, “but it’s allowing us to move in the right direction for leveraging data to inform reliable design decisions.”

In the future, Platt hopes that SAMPL will become an open-access resource for everyone.

“This isn’t about telling people how to design their homes,” she said. “It’s about giving them the best information we have, in a usable form, so they can make informed choices that protect what matters most,” Platt said in the Main St. Daily News article.