If your area is prone to wildfires, how can you better protect your house from catching on fire? Most people think that it’s just because the flames are so hot that their houses catch on fire. That’s not necessarily the case.
During wildfires, you have not only flames catching nearby things on fire but also hot embers floating around. That’s how the fire spreads long distances fast and that’s how your house can catch on fire even though the fire is still hundreds of feet away.
And, it’s these floating embers that catches your house on fire from the inside. From the inside? Not outside? Yes, the inside.
Stucco and roofing material doesn’t catch on fire easily from hot embers. The way houses usually catch on fire is from flames and embers entering vents into the house. The worst culprit is the vent to the attic.
Once embers enter the attic, you have a lot of dry materials such as exposed wood beams and insulation material that easily catch on fire.
The best way to prevent this is by making sure you have Ember Resistant Vents. These vents have a way of trapping flames and embers, preventing them from entering the house. See the video below.
All houses have a number of vents. For the attic, kitchen, garage and roof vents for laundry and bathrooms.
Unfortunately, these type of ember resistant vents may not be available at your local hardware supply stores such as Home Depot or Lowes. You’ll need to contact specialty companies that provide this type of service or product such as Brandguard in the video above.
You may need to contact a contractor to come out and evaluate your vents. They can suggest which ones to replace and how much it’ll cost depending on your situation.
Either way, changing out these vents is not something most DIYer’s can handle on their own since it involves working on the roof of their house. If done wrong and not sealed properly, flames and hot embers may still be able to get in so it’s best to have this professionally done.
If you live in a wildfire prone area, this investment can save your home.