“That’s why she’s made fire resistance a key focus of her architecture and construction practice, SweisKloss. She designs homes that set out, from the start, to do away with many of the physical features that make older homes susceptible to fire, from combustible materials to tinderbox landscaping to building forms that practically lure in flying embers. ‘We need to stop building like it’s 1970,’ she says.”

Fire resistant design and construction

• The envelope

  The envelope is the entire exterior of your home - including doors, windows, walls, and the roof. Openings in the envelope diminish the home’s fire-resistant integrity by allowing smoke and flames to enter the home. Tightly sealing the envelope’s primary openings and intersections improves a home’s fire-resistance. Homes built with the right materials and smart detailing have a far better chance of remaining standing after a flashover event. Some of the ways to ensure a tightly sealed envelope include: read more

  1. Roofs - install a “Class A”, fire-rated material roof, such as standing seam metal, tile, slate, or cementitious composite roofing.
  2. Walls - cover walls in cement board underlayment and/or stucco, stone veneer, aluminum siding or other non-combustible finish.
  3. Doors and windows - use aluminum, steel, or clad products with tempered glazing.
  4. Vents and Openings - avoid roof and wall vents or minimize those penetrations if they are otherwise required by code. Install pet doors that are rated for fire.
  5. Eaves - enclose eaves with stucco or use DensGlass®, but if exposed wood rafters are still desired, use heavy timber instead of 2x lumber.
  6. Seal the envelope - quite literally. Where materials come together, seal all joints with a non-combustible material.

Defensible space

Location, location, location

No strings attached

Material to the issue

Going above and beyond