Recently, a fashion for natural materials has appeared, returning people to their roots and allowing them to live in harmony with their inner worldview. A favorite material for the construction of residential low-rise buildings, their decoration, as well as furniture is natural wood. This material, along with a large number of positive qualities, has a significant drawback. Wooden structures are flammable and the fire quickly spreads throughout the house. How to protect your home from an unexpected tragedy? The latest technological developments, such as wood flame retardants, will help with this.
An interesting feature of wood
Before we start talking about special impregnation, it would be useful to learn about one curious feature of wooden buildings. Yes, wood can ignite with lightning speed and is a rapidly combustible material in its structure. What, besides environmental friendliness, explains the popularity of buildings from it, despite the increased fire hazard? It turns out that with rapid charring, the inertia of burning wood also increases. If the frame of the house is made of logs of a large section, the structure has an increased fire resistance limit and can maintain its load-bearing capacity for a long time in case of fire. That is why people willingly build wooden houses, additionally applying fire retardant coating for insurance.
Impregnation functions
Despite the minimal loss of the working section during a fire and the durability of wooden structures compared to reinforced concrete or metal objects, safety standards do not particularly welcome wood as the main building material of a future building. According to the requirements of fire codes, the owners of each wooden structure must strive to reduce the expected flammability. A wood flame retardant applied to the surface of a structure is good at retarding fire.
How to choose the perfect composition? Cautions
Impregnation that increases the hygroscopicity of the coated material may impair its mechanical properties. Therefore, it is difficult for an uninformed person to choose the ideal composition for their structure. There are many factors, conditions and features of a particular type of wood, each of which must be taken into account. So, if the structure is not affected by moisture in excess of the norm, then a washable agent on water is suitable for processing.base, on top of which a layer of varnish is applied.
Impregnation should take into account the acid-base balance of the space. The increased acidity of the flame retardant, almost equating it to concentrated acids, can harm the he alth of the family living in the house. There have been cases when a similar flame retardant for wood destroyed copper or galvanized roofing. When choosing the best composition, it is necessary to remember its possible corrosive aggressiveness and carefully study the indicators presented on the label.
Preservation of the appearance of the structure
Every consumer wishes that the impregnation applied to the surface of the walls does not affect the appearance and does not spoil their texture. In this regard, many pay attention to paintwork materials that have the same properties as the flame retardant composition. If we talk about deeper protection, then it is carried out only by professionals who have the necessary license.
Efficiency
To ensure 1 fire safety group, it is necessary to carry out deep impregnation under pressure. In the residential sector, this technology looks very problematic. However, experts do not stop and develop more and more new ways of deeper application. With the help of Plazas, the flame retardant is able to provide the required impregnation depth.
Active and passive funds
There is a largethe choice of compositions for professional application, performing several different functions. Active protective equipment can influence the ignition process from the inside, playing the role of a kind of fire extinguisher. Passive compounds are more often used in the form of ignition prevention, and in the event of a fire, they only reduce the intensity of the fire. Even at the stage of building construction, some designers provide for the laying of layers of structural protection. During the installation of the building, this kind of fire retardant is covered with thermal insulation, the surface is plastered, and heat-reflecting screens are additionally installed.
Types of compositions used
In terms of fire safety in wooden structures, in addition to popular impregnations, sprinkling, paints, varnishes and fabrics are used. The material chosen as protection must necessarily have an SES certificate. Sometimes impregnation with a flame retardant requires preliminary preparation before application. To determine the correct choice of one or another means, a professional conducts a test for smoldering and burning of cut chips coated with the tested composition. The protective substance will be considered successful if it begins to blacken over direct fire no earlier than 20 seconds later. When the flame is turned aside, the test specimen shall not smolder. Metal, galvanized surfaces and concrete also require a certain level of protection. To prevent burning of metal frames and air ducts, "Plazas" is used - a fire retardant composition specially designed for thesegoals.
Practical Tips
In order not to worry about the appearance of the walls, after applying the impregnation, tools are used that provide control tinting of the surface. Sometimes the compositions are tinted before application, dyes are added to them. Flame retardant treatment of different areas in the house may imply substances that are different in structure and quality. A composition suitable for walls is not suitable for exterior decoration due to differences in street temperatures. To apply impregnations on the facades of houses and their external elements, special fire and bioprotective antiseptics are used that can maintain their properties at temperatures up to -25 degrees. These kinds of chemicals can last a long time.
Professionals to the rescue
To a person seeking to protect his building from fire, it may seem that he himself will quite cope with the selection, testing and application of impregnation. However, it is not in vain that all compositions are subject to mandatory certification, and organizations professionally engaged in the provision of services to the population have licenses. When choosing a fire retardant for wood, you can simply get confused, so why not trust the experts? Chemicals are such a dangerous thing that, while protecting from fire, they can, in turn, harm the he alth of households.
