Home Hardening to increase Safety & Reduce Fire Loss

Wildfires are destructive to homes, belongings, and people’s lives. In addition to the risk caused by wildfires, insurance companies in certain cities in the East Bay, are becoming harder to work with to secure coverage. Home hardening can help you protect you home, and make it more insurable to to carriers. 

PART 1

Enhance the Safety of Your Property with Fire Resistant Paint Coatings

Fire resistant coatings help protect against fires and reduce the damage they cause. They may also help your ability to secure an insurance policy. Our Home Hardening Custom Home Painting Package starts with selecting the right paint. Paint from Firefree Coatings are fully tested and LEED v4-compliant, providing effective fire protection for a wide range of commercial, governmental, & residential projects. 

Firefree Wildfires System

Firefree Wildfires System is a special coating that protects against wildfires in areas where cities meet wildlands, very common to the East Bay, including Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Piedmont, Danville and more. It’s the first and only system that meets the ASTM fire & weatherization standards. It has been tested to make sure it works well in different conditions.

Two Part Paint System

This system comes in two parts: Firefree Class A (“FfA”) and Firefree Exterior Topcoat (“FfE”). FfA makes surfaces resistant to catching fire, while FfE protects FfA from weather damage. You can use the Firefree System on walls, eaves, and other parts of buildings to make them more resistant to wildfires. Besides being fire-resistant, this coating also helps protect against heat and embers carried by the wind. The Firefree Wildfire System has been tested and meets the standards set by the International Code Council (ICC) and the California Building Standards Code. It’s proven to resist fire ignition and withstand weathering, making buildings safer in wildfire-prone areas.

PART 2

Install Fire-Resistant Vents That Help Your Home Protect Itself.

The smallest spaces on a home can be the most vulnerable. Wind-blown embers fly for miles ahead of the actual flames, entering the home through attic vents or crawlspace vents. Combustible materials have the potential to ignite, essentially burning the home from the inside out.

Approved and recommended by the ones that matter most.

Vulcan Vents are California Building Code Chapter 7A- compliant and approved by the State Fire Marshal (SFM). In fact, new homes built in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) in California are required to include ember-resistant vents under Ch. 7A. Vulcan Vents have met the standard requirements under the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E2886 and sufficiently passed the ASTM E119 one-hour fire test to effectively block ember entry. Vulcan Vents are used and trusted by construction and insurance companies nationwide for good reason.

Retrofit Vents

Vulcan Vent retrofit kits are available to easily install mesh screening and honeycomb intumescent coating on any vent on the house providing the ultimate protection from dangerous embers and flames. These are the most common vents we install on existing homes. 

Eave Vents

Eave vents are meant to provide airflow into the attic space underneath the roof. To effectively cool the attic, outside air must provide proper circulation. In the evening, when excess heat is stored up inside the attic’s insulation, it’s critical to quickly release that heat for the night to consequently save on cooling and venting costs.

Eaves, the undersides of your roof, extend beyond the walls of the home, an area that commonly hangs directly over decorative plants, vegetation, and other combustible material, creating high fire danger from wind-blown embers. We replace the Eave Vents after your home and eaves have been coated to further harden your home and attic from fire. 

Gable Vents

Gable vents are the vents on the exterior walls of a home’s attic to allow for proper airflow. In the summer, the home may be cooled with air conditioning but heat rises, getting caught under the roof. The same can be said of the winter, however, extreme temperature shifts are even harder on an attic’s open space. Gable vents provide necessary ventilation to deter condensation which can lead to mold and mildew. 

Foundation Vents

Foundation vents sit at the base of the home just above the ground, providing critical ventilation leading to moisture evaporation in the crawlspace, cellar, or basement. Dangerous embers that travel before a fire can get blown against the home and enter through the vents, potentially causing the home to burn from the inside out. We install these vents frequently to protect. 

Balcony Inspection Vents

Balcony Inspection Vents were developed in response to SB-721 and SB-326, which were enacted to address significant concerns with “Exterior Elevated Elements” and the need for repairs in 19% of such structures. As per the new laws and the California Building Code, one of the mandatory requirements is the installation of vents on balconies and similar structures. These vents enable easy access for inspectors to assess the structural integrity of the extended elevated element. 

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