Wind resistance is an important consideration for any pole barn owner in the Midwest.

When it comes to your pole barn roof, make sure it meets a high standard for safety. But, you shouldn’t just take a builder’s word for it.

UL Solutions, an independent third-party safety company, tests roofing systems and provides several classes of certification. We’ll dive into the significance of this certification for building buyers.

But first, let’s start with some wind resistance fundamentals.

How does wind resistance affect a roof?

Wind is always looking for somewhere to go. So when it hits an object like a pole barn and can’t push through it, that wind will move in different directions. As illustrated below, one of those directions is up, which creates wind uplift.

Note that the more surface area there is—i.e., the wider the building—the greater the upward force. In addition, the size of the overhang can also influence wind uplift.

A 36-inch overhang, presents more surface area and thus catches more wind as opposed to a 12-inch overhang, which provides less shade and protection from the elements but also catches less wind.

When a roof can’t withstand a strong wind force, it can loosen or blow off. And when the latter occurs, three immediate problems emerge:

If you’re thinking about purchasing a pole barn, be sure you ask if the roofing system in question has undergone UL 580 safety testing—and then find out what the results were.

What Is UL 580 Safety Testing?

Let’s start with the “UL” in UL 580 testing. This stands for Underwriters Laboratory, an independent third-party safety company founded in 1893 that today goes by the name UL Solutions. One major role of UL Solutions is to certify the safety performance of materials and systems in a variety of industries, including construction, electrical, and healthcare.

“We are the safety science company,” says Rob Woelfle, field engineering business supervisor at UL Solutions, adding that the company also develops and publishes global safety standards. “The last time I checked, we’ve written over 2,000 safety standards.”

As for UL 580 specifically, this is the safety test that measures a roof system’s ability to withstand wind uplift resistance. It involves subjecting a 10-foot by 10-foot roof system sample to various static and oscillating air pressures to measure its performance.

Wick Buildings’ Justin Sommerfeld, a research & development product assistant, has witnessed several UL 58O tests at the UL headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. “They try to simulate intense wind in all its various manifestations and are as aggressive as possible to cause a failure in the roof system,” he says.

How did Wick’s roofing system perform in UL 580 testing?

UL 580 testing has four classes of certification: 15, 30, 60, and 90. Each level of certification represents that a roof system has performed sufficiently to a specific set of test standards.

Wick’s steel roof panels and overall system met the safety performance standards for Class 90 certification, the highest certification possible.

This means Wick’s roof system withstood the following environmental conditions. Note that MPH = wind velocities applied for each test phase:

For more information and explanations of two additional UL safety certifications, you can read more at https://www.wickbuildings.com/blog/wind-resistance-pole-barn-roof/.