Looking for ideas for fire resitant construction

[gtojohn]

Once again we have wild fires popping up in our region. Slowly building my own cabin in the woods its becoming more of a consideration on my build. Currently I'm almost dried in minus a few windows. Looking for any input and suggestions before I pass up any easy fireproofing opportunities before I get siding on.

Currently I have osb sheathing with house wrap. The next step would be 3/4" polyiso panels with foil on both sides. The foil helps the fire rating, rmax and dow both have fire rated poly iso panels for extra $$. Siding will be 4x8 hardie cement panels, the fewer joints the better the fire resistance. After that the paint will have a fire resistant primer. Wall insulation will be 6" rock wool roxul. And eventually 5/8 sheet rock

Some quick research has found an easy recipe fore flame resistant coating, water, borax and boric acid. You can treat paper, wood, clothing with it. I wish I'd thought of that before house wrap. I might treat the exposed interior walls before I go to far. Wooden deck and porch will be treated with borax and fire resistant paint.

[MN Renovator]

It sounds like you've got siding well thought out. Here's a big question. Is your attic equipped with soffit vents and/or venting at the ridge or turtle vents? What type of roofing do you have?

[philb]

I remember back in the mid 70's that houses in southern California had to have the eaves covered with sheet metal of some sort. The area fire chief told me it had saved "thousands" of houses. Metal shingles or clay tile roof wouldn't hurt either.

[gtojohn]

Roof is galv-alum standing seam. Eaves I'm not sure if I'll vent. There's just a minimal attic space, I might go spray foam. Soffits will be covered by more cement board. On a lot of commercial buildings they now require x-sheetrock or densegold beneath the siding before the sheathing. This would give another 30 min fire wall. I haven't seen it done residential and I'm not super keen on the additional cost.

[philb]

You said spray foam. Home Depot or Lowes has cans of fire resistant foam. It's in the red cans.

[gtojohn]

The fire block foam is mostly for sealing penetrations between floors. Not a bad idea for the floor to crawl space too since I'm a minimum of 2' off the ground. Once I get the skirting on that should prevent most risk from underneath. If i do spray foam for attic insulation it will be with the dow froth pak, way more coverage for the price.
It seems the fire risk should be over for this year. The region is getting drenched by torrential rains from hurricane Patricia. Cabin area has received over 4" rain in the past 24hrs with lots more on the radar. The wildfires served as an important reminder to me about where I'm building and what to prepare for. My 1 acre is half savanna and half forest. I've mostly been interested in keeping things wild and self sustaining. With lots of potential fire fuel, some thoughtful building and landscaping will be important to keep my risks low.

[stevehull]

I am in central Oklahoma and we too have severe fire risks. Our bad time is late winter (March), before the rainy season and when there is a lot of wind.

First is removing ALL combustible materials and vegetation around house. The wood deck had to go and I used aluminum "planks".

All soffit wood went and replaced with non combustible planking. Oh and the metal roof was a must also.

We also renovated and expanded a pond which is a reservoir for fire engine pumper water.

We also put in a perimeter sprinkler system about 200 feet from house that we can turn on. Yes, the obvious issue is what do we do when we are out of power. For that we have generators (always plugged in and ready to go with a flip of the transfer switch).

We cut down all those nasty invasive eastern cedar trees that burn like a bomb as well.

Having seen both, I fear fire FAR more than tornadoes.

The bonus is that my home owners insurance went down by almost 40% doing the above. The big reduction was the metal roof.

Steve

[randen]

A few years back I had seen some news coverage about a hill side fire that had complete destroyed a neighborhood of beautiful (expensive) homes in California. All of the up-scaled homes where leveled and nothing more than smoldering ash around concrete foundations. The news caster had mentioned that this was a repeat of a all consuming wild fire that had ravaged the area 16yrs prior. I'm guessing insurance companies and home owners had rebuilt and forgot about the lesson that could have been learned.

With the exception of one man. As the inhabitants were allowed back to the area to asses their losses they had witnessed one man that learned and adjusted his methods of re-construction. The aerial video panned around the total burned out neighborhood with this lone man cooling his fully intact home with a garden hose. Steam was still rising from the water landing on his clay tile covered roof as his neighbors homes all around where just ashes. It was a very odd and sobering sight.

The mans home looked very traditional for the style of homes that would have been there. From the video one could see clay roof tiles and stone and stucco cover exterior walls. I would imagine that likely all building materials he used were non combustible. If we think, yes a lot of materials are commercially available such as steel studs, concrete board, tile roofing and rock-wool insulation.

Smart Man!!

Randen

[philb]

You might also check electrical wiring and other causes of possible fire within the structure too. I dislike GFCI anything because it can be difficult to troubleshoot when there is a problem but I still think they are well worth the money.

Another thought, lightning can cause havoc especially with solar and wind charge controllers and inverters. You may consider adding those during the building phase. Midnite solar has some of the best lightning arresters on the planet, IMHO. I don't sell or have an interest in that company, BTW. Even if you are using grid power, lightning can come in through the lines and cause fires or distroy electronics and appliances.

Don't you want to use shipping container? It's fireproof.