How to Safeguard Your House from Wildfires

Ask This Old House host Kevin O’Connor learns about ways to make a home more resistant against wildfires. Click here to SUBSCRIBE to the official This Old House YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=thisoldhouse Shopping List: Class A Roof Shingles Non-combustible siding Rock mulch Steps: 1. In general, houses that are destroyed by wildfires catch on fire because embers reach combustible materials that are too close to the house. Once the combustible materials ignite, they can catch the rest of the house on fire. To prevent the house from catching on fire, it’s important to keep combustible materials as far away from the house as possible. 2. One way to do that is by building a house with noncombustible materials. On the roof, use shingles that have been given a Class A rating, meaning they can withstand fire for 2 hours or more before burning through to the sheathing. For siding, consider using brick, stucco, block, or fiber cement board. 3. It’s also important to keep the house and surrounding area clear of combustibles. Remove leaves from gutters, keep debris off the roof, and keep your surrounding properly clear from combustible materials that could easily spread to the house. 4. The also applies to landscaping. Do not plant anything 0-5’ from the house. Instead, consider laying a bed of crushed stone or rock mulch. 5. If you want to plant anything 5-30’ from the house, keep them lower to the ground and spread apart in a way that the fire can’t jump from plant to plant. 6. Beyond 30’, consider keeping tall trees trimmed so that it’s harder for them to catch fire as well. Resources: Kevin learned that choosing and maintaining a house with non-combustible building materials can help prevent the embers of a wildfire from burning a house down.   The fiber cement boards that Kevin saw are Hardieplank Lap Siding in Pearl Gray, which is manufactured by JamesHardie (http://bit.ly/1Kw0PYR). The roof shingles with a Class A rating can be found at home centers. Rock mulch can be found at home centers and nurseries.   Expert assistance with this segment was provided by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (http://bit.ly/1NqbYi2). Ask This Old House TV Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook. This Old House releases new segments every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Keywords: This Old House, How-to, home improvement, DIY, ask this old house, kevin o'connor, wildfires, prevention, safety, fireproofing Watch the full episode: http://bit.ly/2G6mpry Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: http://bit.ly/1psm4fC Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisoldhouse https://twitter.com/asktoh Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1psm4fE G+: http://bit.ly/1CtsNjJ Instagram: http://bit.ly/1psm1QZ Tumblr: http://bit.ly/1CtsLbH