Best fire protection strategies for your home with wood fiber insulation

Most fires that happen at home are the result of open flames such as candles, smoldering cigarettes, electrical arcs or faulty appliances. Domestic heat sources and exhausts, including chimneys, are another large contributor.  

It’s important to install smoke detectors on every floor of a buildings and test them monthly. It is good to have a plan for escape and review annually. Research shows that while homes today are less likely to burn, thanks to improved fire safety codes driving better methods and practices, they burn faster and hotter than they did 40 years ago, leaving less time to get out safely.  These faster and hotter fires result from the number of synthetic materials we have added to our homes over the years.  Furniture and finishes are a big contributor, as are building materials. 

Building and fire codes exist to make sure our houses are as safe as they can be and to provide critical time to escape. When a fire is beyond control in your home, the most important thing to do is to get to safety as fast as possible.  Believe it or not, the insulation materials in your walls play a key role in determining how slowly or quickly a fire escalates. 

Our TimberFill and TimberBatt products are treated with borates, giving them Class A fire ratingsThese materials not only insulate well but also allow walls to withstand fire for one or even two hours.

TimberBoard, our continuous insulation, achieves a Class B fire rating on its own, without any treatment. It resists flame like a superhero’s shield, charring on the surface and reducing temperature rise to other non-treated parts of the building like the framing.  Wood is a strong, sustainable part of many of the homes we build today. TimberHP’s vapor open, moisture resistant, fire rated assemblies deliver well insulated walls and the peace of mind and safety needed for modern, or not so modern, homes brought up to code.