Cut the risk of fire in your home

Western Canada has seen some major wildfires recently and hundreds of people have been evacuated; unfortunately, many of them don’t know if they’ll have a home to come back to.

No matter where you live there’s always the risk of fire — whether it’s because of some outside source, like wildfires or combustibles, or from something going on inside the house, like bad electrical.

The good news is that there are many things we can do to homes to make them more resistant to fire.

No. 1 is always hire the right pros to work on your home, especially when it comes to electrical work. That means hiring a licensed electrical contractor to do all electrical work on your home and to take a look at your home’s electrical every four years — parts wear out, including electrical, and sometimes that can lead to some big problems, including fires.

But a lot of it comes down to choosing the right materials and installing them in the appropriate places, like fire-resistant insulation.

Also, making a home fire-resistant doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t burn. All homes have combustible materials — whether it’s drapes, clothing, furniture, or bedding. But what we can do is reduce the risk of a house catching on fire, and also the time it might take for it to catch on fire.

When I went to London the first time, one thing that stood out to me were all the metal roofs. They were everywhere and it makes sense.

Metal roofs are long-lasting — most last at least 50 years. They’re durable — standing up to high winds, hail and flying debris. They’re recyclable, which helps keep tons of material out of our landfills — not to mention most new metal roofs are made from partly recycled material, too. They also help save energy because they don’t attract heat like a regular asphalt shingle does, so they do a better job of regulating and maintaining temperatures below, which helps cut down on energy bills. And because it stays cooler, the risk of ice damming in the winter is minimized, too.

But the big benefit of a metal roof is fire resistance.

Do you know what’s the easiest way for a fire to spread from one house to the next? Flying embers that catch other roofs on fire. But a metal roof will not ignite.

If you want a fire-resistant roof you want a metal roof, and one that’s supported with 2 x 4 strapping, coated with a fireand mould-resistant coating. Fire-resistant coatings that can be applied to your framing and sheathing help slow down the time it takes for a fire to ignite, which means more time to escape a burning building. (And we all know the difference a few seconds can make when it comes to fires.)

Another easy way for fire to spread is through glass.

Glass breaks when it’s exposed to extreme heat, which makes it very easy for a fire to spread from one house to the house next door if all that’s stopping it is glass. That’s why in the building code there is a limit to how much glass a house can have on either side, depending on how close it is to the property line — not necessarily the fence.

All homes should also have firewalls that protect the inside living space from potential fires that might start somewhere, like the garage. But this is especially important when it come to townhomes. Too many fires have spread across an entire section of townhomes because it was lacking a proper firewall.

Watch Mike in his new series, Home Free, airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV. For more information, visit makeitright.ca.