James Hardie Siding Can Help During A House Fire
When you’re considering putting exterior siding on your home, there’s a lot that goes into the decision. You want your home to look great in order to improve its resale value. You also want to make sure the siding is durable and will protect you from the elements. When you have James Hardie Siding installed by Good Guys Contracting, you’ll have a superior product that gives you all of those things. But there’s another benefit to installing James Hardie Siding and it’s the most important one of all. Hardie siding is very fire resistant. Good Guys Contracting is proud to be a Preferred James Hardie remodeler and we want to let you know how it can protect your home and your loved ones in the event of a fire.
Every Year Thousands of Fires Strike Long Island
Fires can happen anywhere at any time and they can happen to you. In 2014, the last year we have statistics for, there were about 163,000 fires on Long Island, according to the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. There were about 93,000 in Suffolk County and another 70,000 in Nassau County. Fires can spread quickly and cause severe destruction, injury, and loss of life. For example, an April 2016 blaze in Copiague, damaged five homes before leaping across a canal and starting a brush fire on an uninhabited island. Over 200 firefighters from 15 fire departments were called to the scene.
You want to protect yourself as much as you can, and while siding can’t stop or prevent fires from occurring, James Hardie Siding can slow their spread. Wood siding will quickly go up in flames when a fire breaks out. Vinyl siding will melt. But James Hardie products will not ignite when exposed to direct flame. It has a flame spread index of zero. Also note, that because heat will transfer through Hardie Siding, it’s not 1-hour fire rated. But James Hardie Siding has been tested by various IAS Certified Laboratories to ASTM International standards.
James Hardie Siding Saves Money and Saves Lives
The fact that James Hardie is noncombustible may also help save you money. Many fire insurance companies offer a discount to homeowners with Hardie Siding, so it’s a smart idea to share this information with your fire insurance company.
James Hardie Siding is made of fiber cement and has been credited with stopping the spread of fires and even for saving lives. According to NJ.com, homeowners Kate and Kent Freeman of Carrollton, Texas and their three small children were unharmed when a major fire that started on the construction lot next door to them and quickly moved towards their home in 2010. The home under construction was completely destroyed in minutes, but the Freeman home with the Hardie Siding was able to stop the flames for 15 minutes before it finally ignited on the roof.
“It gave my husband time to get my young sons up and out of the house before the fire spread,” Kate Freeman said.
Good Guys Contracting is a Proud James Hardie Installer
James Hardie Siding can save you money, increase your home’s curb appeal protect you from bad weather. But for the Freemans, installing it was literally a life saver. It’s one of the many reasons why Good Guys Contracting is proud to install this product. For more information, contact Good Guys today.