Roof Aging Farm Research
Understanding How Everyday Weather Affects Roof Performance in Severe Weather
IBHS established the Roof Aging Farm program in 2013 to understand how everyday weather changes roofing materials, long-term roof performance, and their ability to perform against wind, hail, and wildfire over time.
Like most building materials, roofing products are typically tested as new materials. Yet, roofs often face severe weather after years of exposure to sunlight, rain, temperature fluctuations, and other everyday environmental conditions.
Research
Across the Roof Aging Farms, IBHS collects environmental data and monitors roofing materials for signs of aging and weathering. Roof huts are instrumented with temperature sensors connected to a custom data acquisition system developed by IBHS, while weather stations continuously measure air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation.
At defined intervals, roof specimens are harvested from the aging farms and tested in the laboratory. By connecting everyday weather exposure, observed roof distresses, and laboratory performance, IBHS is developing an understanding of how roofing materials change throughout their service life and identify factors that influence long-term resilience.
10-Year Roof Aging Research
After a decade of everyday weather exposure, IBHS harvested asphalt shingle test specimen from the farms for laboratory performance testing against each hazard.
10-Year Wind Performance of Asphalt Shingles – Explore how laboratory testing of uplift resistance shows wind performance changes with age and how performance patterns differ across products and climates.
Explore the Research: 10-Year Wind Performance of Asphalt Shingles
Early Roof Aging Research
Measuring Data, Climate & Roof Condition
Early Roof Aging Farm research focused on understanding the conditions asphalt shingles experience as they naturally weather. Explore early research documenting the environmental exposure, roof condition, and the progression of roofing performance over time.
- View Report (PDF): Roof Aging Asphalt Shingles: Data, Climate & Roof Condition Summary (2014)
- View Report (PDF): Roof Aging Asphalt Shingles: Data, Climate & Roof Condition Summary (2015)
- View Report (PDF): Roof Aging Asphalt Shingles: Data, Climate & Roof Condition Summary (2016)
- View Report (PDF): Roof Aging Asphalt Shingles: Data, Climate & Roof Condition Summary (2017)
Early Roof Aging Farm research focused on understanding the conditions asphalt shingles experience as they naturally weather. Roof huts are instrumented with temperature sensors connected to a custom data acquisition system developed by IBHS, while weather stations continuously measure air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. Explore early research documenting the environmental exposure, roof condition, and the progression of roofing performance over time.
- Hail Impact-Resistant Shingle Ratings (2025)
- Impact Resistance Test Protocol for Asphalt Shingles (2025)
- Performance of Asphalt Shingles in Extreme Severe Convective Storm Winds (2023)
- Observations Of Building Performance in Southwest Florida During Hurricane Ian (2022): PART I: Roof Cover Damage Assessment on Residential and Light Commercial Structures (2023)
- Public (2025) & Members Only (2021): Impact Testing of High Concentrations of Small Hail
