Home owner question

[+ deej]

I'm watching today's fire run wild on TV (from 5 acres to 200 acres in 2 hours), and I'm curious: why aren't rooftop sprinkler systems standard construction in burn areas?

 

You always see news footage of Hapless Homeowner spraying his roof with a garden hose. Shouldn't there be sprinklers up there to begin with?

 

Do we have any architects in the house? Is it practical? Is it legal?

[+ ArVaGuy]

>I'm watching today's fire run wild on TV (from 5 acres to 200

>acres in 2 hours), and I'm curious: why aren't rooftop

>sprinkler systems standard construction in burn areas?

>

>You always see news footage of Hapless Homeowner spraying his

>roof with a garden hose. Shouldn't there be sprinklers up

>there to begin with?

>

>Do we have any architects in the house? Is it practical? Is it

>legal?

 

Deej, I am not sure if such a thing is even possible but it brings up a point.

 

Why did these people build/buy houses in these areas in the first place? Wildfires are part of a regular, healthy, forest life cycle. When people move into these areas they are at risk that one of these days the fires are going to wipe out their homes. It's much the same on the coasts when people buy condos or build resorts on beaches in states prone to hurricanes. The views are nice till Mother Nature decides to rearrange the landscape.

[+ deej]

>Deej, I am not sure if such a thing is even possible but it

>brings up a point.

 

Possible? What's so tough about a copper pipe to the roof and some sprinklers? ;-)

 

>Why did these people build/buy houses in these areas in the

>first place?

 

Well, you can say that about homes built in the Mississippi flood basin, tornado alley (Texas to Michigan), anywhere subject to coastal hurricanes, or the Pacific earthquake zone. If we only built homes in a "safe" area, we'd all live in Omaha.

 

Home is where you make it, and nothing will change that.

 

I'm just curious why such an obvious (to me, anyway) precaution isn't taken. Of course, I still wonder why ANYONE in this part of the country would build a house with wood shingles. But that's another discussion.

[RM]

The city council here just passed an ordinance mandating sprinklers in apartment buildings and in very large houses. The building industry opposes it. Who knows whether it is cost effective? It adds to the cost of the building, and they argue that it will be harder to sell.

 

If sprinklers can go inside a house, it should be much easier to put them on the roof....but then the builders probably won't do it unless it is mandated.

[foxy]

If it works, and I can't think why it wouldn't, I wonder why insurance companies haven't pushed for it?

[JamesK840]

As someone else mentioned, it is often hard to add things to building code (at least without recent and fairly significant loss of life). There's a reason... you know all those signs for incumbent city council members you see every two years or so? In my town at least they're almost entirely paid for by developers and builders at 10:1 the amount challengers can raise.

 

However there is an industry more powerful then the developers: insurance. They don't wield political power nearly as blatantly as developers... they have an even better instrument. I did some consulting for an insurance agency once and started reading through what was required to insure a large property in danger of burning. Rain-bird style sprinklers facing outwards, fed by a reserve source of water (swimming pool's fine) gravity pressurized or with a generator and a pump, fireproof roof "shingles", etc.

 

Of course there's no requirement for people to follow these great ideas (unless they want to finance the property--the bank will make them get the insurance), but guess who's first in line for the government disaster hand-outs. I wouldn't be surprised to find out high-income Californians with penchants for building mansions in stupid places get more each year on average then all the non-homeowners who lost everything they owned in New Orleans ever will.

 

Wasn't it just last year, some big mudslide where they not only wanted 'disaster area' relief, they demanded our tax dollars go to making it so they could rebuild their mansions in the same spot? Govenator was busy cutting school funding and public services but didn't have the (steroid shriveled) balls to stand up to those rich white people...

[Epigonos]

There are, at least, two major problems with this type of system. The first is that it would draw water from the city or county water system which would weaken water pressure and hinder fire fighting. The second is that of using electricity to pump the water to the roof -- during many fires the power lines are down and electricity is gone.

 

I have a friend who lives in the hills of Southern California and installed his own system that operates on its own gas generator and draws water from his swimming pool.

[+ Lucky]

Google it!

 

Roof Sprinklers Protect Homes from Wildfires, cont.

There are many important questions that a homeowner must address to determine if installing this potential safeguard is the appropriate course of action. Three points to consider before installing a sprinkler system are: Are you sure that someone will be home to turn the sprinklers on in the event of a wildfire? Do you have sufficient water to enable a sprinkler system to operate for two to three hours? Is a means of providing adequate water pressure needed in order to operate the system?

These questions, among others, are discussed in the brochure, “Wildfire Fact Sheet, No.11—Community Fire Safety, Sprinkler Systems.” Some other questions asked are: “Is your home constructed from flammable material such as vinyl weatherboards or timber?” and “Does your home have poorly fitting tiles or metal sheets on the roof?”

 

To learn more about the tests, Wildfire Fact Sheet No. 11 can be downloaded from the CFS web site,

http://www.cfs.org.au/protect/ factsheets.asp and click on “Sprinkler Systems.”or contact Brian Menadue. Brian has been leading this research effort and he may be reached via e-mail at menadue.brian@cfs.org.au.

[+ deej]

I hadn't thought of the water pressure issue. Thanks!

 

Some friends are building on newly developed land outside Temecula. They showed me the plans, including a pool. I commented that I never knew they liked swimming. They replied it's to dive into during the inevitable fire. (It's not "if", it's "when".)

 

I guess it's no different from people I know who retired to Florida, with rebuilding twice as an integral part of the plan.