Fire resistance and fire protection materials for homes and commercial buildings
A single fire in your commercial premises can endanger your employees and cause significant financial losses.
Implementing optimal methods of passive and active fire prevention is essential for the protection of people and property, as well as keeping up to date with the code of all relevant fire safety regulations.
Passive Fire Protection (PFP) refers to the materials and systems within a building that slow the spread of flames and impede the negative effects of fire and smoke.
As certain materials “fire retardant” burn slowly, allowing additional time for safe egress and firefighters to reach the scene.
Fire retardants vary in cost, durability, flexibility, thermal conductivity, and decay rate.
Different materials may be better or worse for different commercial buildings and functions.
Let’s explore some of the different types of fire retardants available, and how they stack up to different temperatures and other conditions.
Types of fire retardant materials
Mineral wool
Made by spinning molten mineral rock, mineral wool is a fire retardant material commonly used for thermal insulation and noise reduction.
Mineral wool requires seriously high temperatures to burn,
and glass wool and stone wool have a thermal resistance of 446-500 °F and 1300-1560 °F, respectively.
Ceramic fiber wool also takes this heat resistance to the next level,
approaching 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, though it’s expensive and relatively rare.
Gypsum board
Fire rated gypsum board is another popular fire resistant material for homes and commercial buildings alike.
This particular type of drywall releases water when exposed to a flame,
which slows the rate at which the fire spreads.
Treated plywood
Most types of wood burn quite easily, however, when treated properly,
plywood can significantly slow a fire in its tracks.
This wood material has been treated with a chemical that is fire retardant,
but does not oxidize, and transfers heat energy uniformly throughout the wood so it burns slowly and with less intensity.
Therefore, plywood made from fire-treated wood is not a fire-stopping material,
but it can be an important resource for many commercial buildings.
brick
Brick is one of the longest-used building materials in human history,
thanks in large part to its durability against high temperatures.
Of course, not all bricks are equal, as different brick materials provide different levels of passive fire protection.
Fire or refractory bricks are the most fire-resistant options available.
Cement
Like brick, concrete is inherently fire resistant, and with a lower thermal conductivity than steel,
concrete is often used as fire protection for steel framing.
These fire-resistant properties make concrete an excellent construction choice for floor coverings,
ceilings, walls, and more.
Puffy paint
Puffy paints expand in the presence of flames, creating a cushion-like barrier that engulfs the surfaces they protect.
These sprays are relatively easy to apply over paint and look similar to conventional paint under normal conditions,
so they blend in with the existing interior design of a commercial building.
Additional fire retardant materials
Other fire retardant materials include, but are not limited to:
Asbestos cement
Calcium silicate
Cement extraction
coreboard
Fire retardant treated wood
Geobond asbestos substitute
glass
Magnesium oxide (MgO)
perlite boards
potassium silicate
Sodium silicate
Processed vegetable fibers (such as cotton, jute, kenaf, hemp, flax, etc.).
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