How To Mitigate The Risk Of Fire Damage To The Roof

The roof is a fundamental unit of the home as it shields the home from several risks, including the risk of fire. However, you must take the following preventive measures if you don’t want any fire outbursts to damage your roof for good. 


Use Class “A” Roofing Materials


Your roofing material may be unclassified or belong to any of the three main fire resistance ratings. Unclassified roofing materials are often the riskiest when it comes to fire damage risk. When it comes to the classification of materials, Class A offers the highest protection while Class C offers the least.
Thus, if you don’t want to expose your roof to potential damage from fire, stay away from unrated roofing materials. Go for the highest-rated roofing materials that your pocket can tolerate. Consult an expert roofer to help you choose the ideal material for your roof.


Seal Gaps On The Roof’s Surface


Even if you have a fire-resistant material, your roof may still be exposed to fire outbursts if some spots on the roof are already damaged. Fallen out shingles or cracked flashing may let the fire get into the exposed interior links of the roof and expand. Any hole on the roof that is exposed to water leaks can also let fire come through and expand, so seal those holes. 


Clean Your Roof Regularly


Fire-proof roofing materials may catch flames and burn if they are exposed to elevated temperatures on repeat. For instance, if your roof is jammed with debris, this may ignite a fire and burn so long that the roofing material catches fire too. Make sure to clean your roof regularly to prevent debris build-up and mitigate the risk of fire. 


Clean The Region Around Your Home


Fire needs some fueling source to ignite such as leaves, wood, grass, plastic, and flammable debris. The more these flammable things pile up on your roof, the higher the likelihood your roof will catch fire during an outburst. We give some tips on how to minimize the existing fuel sources for fire during an outburst

Keep the trees around your house trimmed.


Clean up a solace around your house to set a buffer area to control the spread of fire.
Don’t pile up firewood near your home.


Decrease any attached systems that may escalate fire to your house.


Take all the necessary measures to make sure that in case of a fire outbreak, the fire won’t reach your roof. 


Maintain Your Electrical Connections


Some houses have electrical connections or wires near or on the roofing e.g. conduit pipes, light appliances, or HVACS among others. In the event that any of these electrical systems fail, this may lead to a fire that may wreck the roof. Make sure that your electrical connections ate properly maintained to mitigate this risk.


Install A Lightning Diverter


Lighting is a byproduct of heavy electricity from the SKU which ionizes and raises the atmospheric temperature around it. A sudden lightning bolt can induce damage even to the most solid roofs. The top method to mitigate the risk of fire caused by lighting is to add a lightning diverter/ arrester to the roof. This will offer a safe lane for the electricity to divert into the ground instead of your roof. 


Keep Your Chimney Clean


Last but not least, you may also need to keep your chimney clear if you don’t want to see it burning down. When you ignite a chimney fire, any partially burnt down materials will turn into debris and soot that reach the chimney. These partially combusted materials together with organic dirt may light up and send flames to the roof. Make sure that your chimney is cleaned regularly to mitigate this hazard.

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