When building or renovating a home, we want what’s best and safest for us and our family. Unfortunately, fire hazards are all around us and there’s no way to prevent them 100%.
What we can do is make sure we know how many potential risks there are and minimize them. That means that you have to know what your house is comprised of and how flammable those materials are.
Insulation, including the spray foam kind, is one of the components you should know about. So, is spray foam flammable?
Insulation is flammable, but some precautions can be taken to minimize the risks and ensure the most safety for the entire household.
To know more about whether spray foam insulation is flammable as well and how it can be treated to lessen the fire hazard, read on.
Let’s get into it!
What Makes Insulation Flammable?
Insulation is traditionally made of cellulose, fiberglass, and mineral wool. Spray foam insulation is made of polyurethane.
All of these materials are flammable, rendering the insulation they’re made of to be flammable as well.
Degrees of Fire Resistance
Just because something is flammable, doesn’t mean it’s going to burn down to the ground in a second.
In fact, depending on the material in question, it can take hours and even days for some to completely perish.
This is the reason why a certain rating system has been introduced to classify materials depending on how long they can resist fire and isolate it.
How Fire-Resistant Is Spray Foam Insulation?
Depending on the manufacturer, spray foam insulation has between a 30-minute to a 1-hour fire rating.
That means that it can hold off and resist fire for anywhere between thirty minutes to one hour without the fire causing serious damage and risk of collapse to the building or house.
What Makes Spray Foam Insulation More Fire-Resistant
- Fire retardant chemicals. Mixing spray foam with fire retardant chemicals prolongs the time it takes for a fire to burn through the insulation, giving additional time to residents to escape the building.
- Thermal barrier. Thermal barriers work by being positioned between a layer of spray foam insulation and the living space, preventing the fire from reaching the spray foam. This barrier is made from a non-combustible material, which allows it to act as a safe layer.
- Ignition barrier. If you want to make sure that you’ve done everything in your power to minimize the risks to your home and loved ones that come with fire, installing an ignition barrier is the perfect choice. They are required to be put into crawl spaces, attics, and similar spaces. Since they are designed for egress, they can give anyone within a burning building an extra five minutes to get out.
Do You Need Spray Foam Insulation for Your Home?
If you are looking for a trustworthy, competent, and skilled company to ensure your house is properly insulated, with the insulation being as fire-resistant as possible, look no further than Spray Foam Insulation USA.
Contact us and book our services now!
