Recently, a fashion for natural materials has appeared, returning people to their origins and allowing them to live in harmony with their inner worldview. The 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 highly flammable, and fire quickly spreads throughout the house. How to protect your home from unexpected tragedy? The latest technological developments, such as fire retardant for wood, will help.
An interesting feature of wood
Before starting a conversation about special impregnation, it will be useful to learn about one curious feature of wooden buildings. Yes, a tree is capable of igniting with lightning speed and is a rapidly combustible material in its structure. What, in addition to environmental friendliness, explains the popularity of buildings from it, despite the increased fire hazard? It turns out that with rapid carbonization, the inertia of wood burning also increases. If the log house of the house is made of logs of large cross-section, the design has an increased fire resistance limit and can for a long time retain bearing capacity in case of fire. That is why people eagerly erect wooden residential buildings, for insurance, additionally applying a coating with a flame retardant .
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 the future building. According to fire regulations, the owners of each wooden structure should strive to reduce the expected flammability. Fire-retardant composition for wood, applied to the surface of the structure, well retards combustion.
How to choose the perfect composition? Warnings
Impregnation, increasing 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 his structure. There are many factors, conditions and characteristics 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 water-based washable product is suitable for processing, 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 with concentrated acids, can harm the health of the family living in the house. There have been cases when such a fire retardant for wood destroyed a copper or galvanized roof. Choosing the best composition, you need to remember about its possible corrosiveness and carefully study the indicators presented on the label.
Preservation of the appearance of the structure
Each 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 paints and varnishes, which have the same properties as the flame retardant. If we talk about deeper protection, then it is done only by professionals who have the necessary license.
Efficiency
To provide 1 group of fire safety, 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 methods of deeper application. With the help of the "Plasas" development, the fire retardant is able to provide the necessary depth of impregnation.
Active and passive means
On the market there is a large selection of formulations for professional application, performing several different functions. Active protective equipment can internally affect the fire process itself, playing the role of a kind of fire extinguisher. Passive compounds are more often used in the form of ignition prophylaxis, and in case of 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 constructive protection. When installing a building, this kind of fire-retardant compound is covered with thermal insulation, the surface is plastered, and screens reflecting heat are additionally installed.
Types of formulations used
In conditions of fire safety in wooden structures, in addition to popular impregnations, dusting, paints, varnishes and fabrics are used. The material selected as protection must have an SES certificate. Sometimes impregnation with a flame retardant requires prior preparation before application. To determine the correct choice of a particular tool, a professional conducts a test for smoldering and burning of a cut chip covered with a test 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 diverted to the side, the test sample should not smolder. Metal, galvanized surfaces and concrete also require a certain level of protection. To prevent the burning of metal frames and air ducts, "Plasas" is used - a fire retardant specially developed for these purposes.
Practical tips
In order not to worry about the appearance of the walls, after applying the impregnation, agents are used that provide a control tinting of the surface. Sometimes the compositions are tinted before application, dyes are added to them. Fire 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 external decoration due to the difference in street temperatures. To apply impregnations on the facades of houses and their external elements, special fire-protective antiseptics are used that can retain their properties at temperatures up to -25 degrees. These kinds of chemicals can last a long time.
Professionals rush to the rescue
It may seem to a person who is trying to protect his structure from fire that he himself will completely cope with the selection, testing and application of impregnation. However, it is not in vain that all trains are subject to mandatory certification, and organizations that professionally provide services to the public have licenses. Choosing a fire retardant for wood, you can simply get confused, so why not trust the experts? Chemicals are such a dangerous thing that, protecting them from fire, can, in turn, harm the health of households.