Bushfire Prone Areas Home – How to Build Homes that Resist Bushfire?
Constructing a new home can be challenging but exciting, but the difficulty level can increase when you are trying to build a home in an area that is prone to bushfires. In bushfire prone areas home construction needs to consider the fireproof design and fire-resistant design is the first aspect that homeowners should take care of. Homeowners, as well as contractors, have to consider a few guidelines and measures to construct homes that are strong and fire-resistant.
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| Bushfire Prone Areas Home |
#1. Opt for non-combustible internal frames
You can use steel, stone, brick or fiber cement for the construction of outer walls. These types of materials are lower in cost when compared to traditional ones and are convenient to assemble and procure. These materials have excellent fire-resistant properties, which come in handy during bushfires. It is suggested to avoid using woods and timber materials to build a home in bushfire prone area because timber can easily catch the flame of fire and you cannot rescue your home from this situation.
#2. Go for a simple design
A house or its roof with a complicated design offers a lot of places to admit embers to enter and stay within. You should opt for a simple design that reduces all those areas over the rood where embers are likely to build up. You can set up non-combustible gutter guards or seal the eaves.
#3. Seal doors and windows
When you seal the frames of the windows and doors, you lower the risks of entry of embers into your house during a fire. Houses that are sealed properly are very effectual as far as resisting fire is concerned. Try using fire shutters constructed from fireproof materials such as steel, bronze, aluminium etc on all doors and windows. In this case, you can contact a reputed building or construction company to build your fireproof home and they will sketch down the layout of your home with some fire-resistant materials.
#4. Use fireproof paint to paint decking and pergolas
Decking and pergolas are frequently made out of materials such as traditional timber, which are very inflammable in form. These types of structures can be colored with a fireproof paint, which can significantly lower the risks of them catching fire in case of a bushfire. It can be also useful to position these structures slightly away from your bushfire prone areas home.
#5. Choose fire-resistant plants for your garden
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| Bushfire Prone Areas Home |
It is recommended that you do not choose plants for your garden that are dry or tend to dry too fast. These can be a disaster in areas that are bushfire-prone. Opt for plants that bear a lot of water and are fireproof in form. As these types of plants have higher water content, these are able to prevent the fast spreading of fire. You can set up a good sprinkler system so that it can keep your garden space damp and lower the risks of fire.
#6. Keep the gutter clean
The wind carries branches, seeds and dry leaves that fall into the gutter. These are naturally inflammable and having them in your gutter can be disastrous when they come in contact with wildfire. You would do better to install a fireproof mesh made of a non-inflammable material on your gutter. Apart from that, you must clean your garden space and remove all dry leaves, tree branches and gutters from your garden place. These natural things can easily catch the fire and spread toward your home or building. So, do not deposit any kind of garbage in your nearby areas.
Even with everything covered and ensuring routine maintenance, it is possible to have something going awry. Thus, it makes sense to build a fire-resistant bunker somewhere inside or close to your home where you can take refuge in case of a devastating fire.
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