Florida is famous for many things, but being home to the world's largest outdoor weathering test site probably isn’t one of them.

For those in the know, however, the internationally recognized facility – run by Q-Lab – is a must-visit destination.

One of their most regular visitors is Brad Shreve, our Building and Construction Segment Lead for Coil and Extrusion Coatings in North America. One of his main tasks is to manage the business’ so-called test fence, which is located at Q-Lab’s huge site in Homestead.

In fact, AkzoNobel has the largest installation at the sprawling seven-acre facility. At any given time, around 100,000 metal panels (measuring four inches by eight inches) are being bombarded by everything the baking heat and unforgiving climate can throw at them.

They’re coated with all manner of paint samples in a kaleidoscope of colors and are often left out in the open for decades, so they can be monitored and evaluated. As well as providing vital information for product development, it also helps the business to determine the warranties it offers, which can run for up to 40 years. 

“Florida’s climate is very aggressive,” explains Brad. “There’s a lot of moisture, heat and UV radiation, which are really the drivers for the chemical reactions caused by natural environmental degradation, which we study over time.”

So while Brad can slap on the factor 50, the panels are left completely exposed to the elements. And this extensive testing is critical to the development of products supplied by our Coil and Extrusion Coatings business, ensuring we stay ahead of industry standards.

“The majority of our products are used for roofing, which means their entire service life is spent outdoors, exposed to the elements,” Brad continues. “We really have to understand how they perform in harsh environments before we can feel comfortable either launching new products, or addressing our warranties for current products – an approach that embodies our Paint the Future mindset.”

Using Q-Lab as an independent third-party, the panels are assessed in intervals that can range from every six months to every five years. “All our customers really want to know is how our paint is going to perform over a long period of time, and that’s directly related to the work we’re doing at the test fence,” adds Brad. “It’s even written into a lot of customer specifications that a coating needs to have been successfully tested in South Florida.”

The Homestead test fence is one of several that the Coil and Extrusion Coatings business operates in North America, the others being much smaller than the one in Homestead. They include another facility in Florida, near Daytona Beach (North America’s most corrosive coastal environment) and one in Phoenix, Arizona.

“We need to understand how the metal is going to behave in different environments,” Brad goes on. “For example, Phoenix is very dry and there’s much more UV radiation. That’s why we have to use more than one test fence.

“We even take customers to the sites sometimes, because they often don’t know very much about paint. They’re in construction, so they’re focused on their own craft. My job is to help them understand how our paint is going to perform over a long period of time.

“The way I see it, I’m not just helping individual customers, I’m also educating the metal roofing industry as a whole in terms of what our products can do and how they can bring benefits for years to come.”

Brad’s dedication to his job – and our customers – is a perfect example of how we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of coatings technology to redefine durability, performance and sustainability. By embracing extreme environments as a testing ground for innovation, we aim to ensure that our products meet and exceed customer expectations, helping to shape the future of construction coatings worldwide.