Fire Resistant Roofing

Here in Marin County, we know wildfires are an ever-looming threat.

While we can never know how close they will come to our home when they’ll start or spread- we can take every precaution to prepare and adapt for wildfires. This includes your roofing!

Firesafemarin.org is a great resource for wildfire preparedness and gives great tips on how to prepare your family, your home, your yard, and your community for wildfires if and when they come.

Hardening Your Home

Hardening or preparing your home against wildfire is very important, especially in California. Your home can be exposed to direct flames, a neighboring home burning, radiant heat from nearby burning plants, or flying embers.

Embers (also known as firebrands) are known to cause the most home damage and can travel up to a mile. So creating and maintaining a fire-hardened home is necessary for protection against flame contact and radiant exposure.

Fire Resistant Roofing

Your roof is the most vulnerable part of your home.

When considering the main three ways homes ignite (embers, radiant heat, or direct flames) certain roofing materials are more likely to combust than others.

A wood shake roof, untreated, is one of the biggest threats to your home. Homes with wood or shingle roofs are at the highest risk.

You can determine a roof covering’s performance by its class fire ratings. Roofing materials fall under Class A, B, C, or unrated. Class A being the best performing coverings such as asphalt fiberglass shingles, concrete, and flat or barrel-shaped tiles.
It’s important to note that some of these are known as “by assembly” Class A which means they get this rating when used with additional materials(such as sheathing). Coverings like that typically include aluminum, recycled plastic and rubber, and some flame-retardant wood shake products.

Fire Prevention

Once you know the classification of your roof, you can take further steps to ensure it’s level of protection. For flat and barrel shaped tiles, metal, and cement roof covers that have gaps between the roof and it’s sheathing– birds and rodents can build nests with flammable material.

Flames from that debris can bypass the class A roof covering and go straight to structural support if not inspected and maintained regularly. You can also plug these openings between the roof cover and the deck to prevent this extra danger.

Be sure to regularly remove leaves, pine needles, and branches that fall on the roof and into the gutters as well. Dry debris can be ignited by embers blown onto the roof and even expose the adjacent siding to flames.

Your roof covering and the edge have the most potential for fire because of the sheer surface area. This is why it’s important to keep your roof and gutters free of vegetation, reducing the chance of embers catching fire and spreading to the rest of your home.

Find out more on how to harden your roof and the rest of your home at: https://firesafemarin.org/harden-your-home/

Contact us below to find out how McLeran can help you with your fire resistant roofing needs.