Homeowners in wildfire zone should consider coatings, in addition to landscaping, for fire protection. In fact all homeowners can benefit from fire retardant treatment inside their homes also. Fire sprinklers are the ultimate home protection but costly. People do not realize just how fast fires travel. Smoke detectors give you time and should always be installed. Your whole family, and pets, can be dead before the fire department even knows you have a fire. Kitchens and electrical fires in walls are the most common sources of fires. Garages with gasoline are not far behind but at least they tend to happen during the day and are caused by a person. Smoking in bed is slow suicide. Your call.
Intumescent coatings are applied chemicals that expand with heat and are non-flammable. I have personally participated in testing Barricade, a proprietary product. My fire department took a sheet of plywood and wrote “Hope VFD” in Barricade and then took a torch to the plywood. The only thing that was not heavily charred was “Hope VFD”. It made a believer out of me. This compound is sprayed on with water pressure when a fire is immanent. This compound is applied when a wildfire is imminent. It lasts 8 hours or more and if it dries out, the application of water will rejuvenate it. Burning embers are the main way that wild land fires ignite houses. This product is designed to form a barrier around the whole structure so embers can’t get into hidden places.
There are many other paints that do the same basic thing but are more attuned to interior use. They work by sealing the wood or fabric and preventing decomposition gasses from getting out. These gases are both flammable and toxic and are the cause of most deaths. The coating help turn the surface of the base material into char which is not very flammable.
Intumescent coatings expand to insulate the base material from heat as well as sealing the base material. The greatest amount of flammables in a residential structure (also known as a house) is the carpets, furniture, and window coverings. Most of these are derived from petroleum and behave as if they were petroleum. I have watched a hotel room, that was ignited from crumpled newspaper in a waste basket, be completely engulfed in flame, within 150 seconds. The windows blew out. The gases in the upper part of the room ignited, a condition known as flashover. A blast of 1200 degree heat kills every living thing in the room. Nothing is totally fireproof, but being fire retardant gives you time to get out. There are fabric treatments. I have attached URLs from some supplies but I have no personal experience with them.
One cheap substance that can coat interior wood is sodium silicate, or water glass. It is available from chemical suppliers in quantity. It is non-toxic.
Common boric acid can also be used on fabrics but is more difficult to use than commercial products.
Try these sites:
Firechemicals.com
Firegel.com
Americanfirecoatings.com
The author has no financial or other benefit from these companies and gives the URLs just a convenience to the reader.
The author is a fire engineer and is an author of fire service books. You can get sample pages at http://www.pumpsandwatersystems.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Kehoe
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6414033
fire damage fire damage contractors fire damage restoration Fire Preventive Coatings Painting
Tags: Fire Damage · Painting Contractors
Oakley CA Contractors
Just a quick post here to give you a heads up about remodel and rehab projects in Oakley CA. There are a lot of Oakley CA Homes for Sale, however, not all homes for sale in Oakley are located in the USDA eligibility area and so would not qualify for the USDA Home Loan program. The thing is to find out which homes do. Also, nearby towns such as Discovery Bay have many homes are in the USDA eligibilty area.
The USDA home loan program in some instances allows funds to be included in the new purchase loan toward cosmetic home upgrades such as new carpet and paint. Of course, programs change from time to time so you should check with a local lender who offers the USDA home loan program or check with the local USDA office for details and availability of such program.
Than, find ways to market your services to these homebuyers.
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Tags: Local Contractors · USDA Home Loans
Vallejo – Benicia Painting Contractor – Mustard Seed Painting – 707-280-4498 – Interior and Exterior Residential and Commercial painting contractor. Serving San Francisco bay area including Solano county – Painting contractor for Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield and Vacaville.
Two things are happening right now. Well – for sure more than two things on a worldwide bases – but, for Vallejo painting contractors and Benicia painting contractors as well as the homeowners seeking the services of local painting contractors – these 2 things are vitally important.
Okay. What are the 2 things? Vallejo homeowners and Benicia homeowners are getting their homes painted. Taking advantage of the nice weather and great prices the ones who are ready are calling Vallejo painting contractors and Benicia painting contractors and getting their free house painting estimates for exterior painting. Also, they are getting consultation regarding winter painting projects on the interiors of their homes. Interior painting contractors start lining up work now to satisfy their customers who want to get their interior painting done before the holidays.
Mustard Seed Painting – 707-280-4498 is looking forward to discussing your exterior paint job or interior painting project over the phone and schedule appointment to look over the project and prepare a free estimate for you.
Mustard Seed Painting also paints apartment complexes, condominiums, multi-unit residential, shopping centers, tilt-ups, restaurants, schools and other commercial buildings.
Mustard Seed Painting
CA Cont. Lic. #502792
california painting contractors solano county
Tags: Painting Contractors
Bay Area House Painters
It’s that time of year again and where homeowners are busy lining up their exterior home improvement projects before winter sets in again in several months. The sun is out (in case you weren’t sure) and things are hopping. Painting contractors are painting exteriors in a flurry and hiring painters to assist with their paint jobs in order to fill all the customers orders.
So, you are thinking – “great” – I better get off the stump and get my painting contractor to come over and get me a bid so my home can get painted this summer while the painting contractor can still get me on the calendar for the year. I’ll need to go down to the paint store and pick out some color charts that way when the contractor arrives I’ll be ready and not waste their time.
Next – I’ll need to decide the color scheme I want my house to be painted. Do I want the sheen to be flat or satin? Do I want the walls to be flat and the trim semi-gloss? Or, perhaps I might want the entire home to be a low sheen. After all, that is quite popular nowadays. What about under the eves? Do I want them to be the same color as the walls? Or, is this perhaps the time to introduce a third or forth color? How about the walls are color #1, the trim and underhang color #2, the front door color #3 and the mailbox and exterior lamps color #4?
I wonder how long exterior painting takes? My home is an average size 2 story home of about 2000 sf with minimal preperation and the color scheme won’t be too complicated. Is it possible a 5 man crew can get this done in a few short days or will a couple guys drag this out for 2 weeks? It would be a bummer to come home every day for 2 weeks tripping over drop clothes as I get out of my car.
Well. I gotta go. Can think about this later. In the meantime – will call my painting contractor to get my free painting estimate scheduled.
Now if my painting contractor does a wonderful job on painting my house than I will want to refer them to my friends around the bay area including Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta areas. However, I realize that not all painting companies will travel those huge distances but some will to keep wonderful customers happy and their referrals as well. Also, some are just simply set up that way to cover the entire region.
It will interesting to ask my painting contractor if they offer painting services to all of the following counties and would be considered:
Contra costa, Alameda, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and San Joaquin county Painting Contractors
bay area painters california exterior painters faux finishes interior painters Painting
Tags: Painting Contractors
USDA Home Loans
The United States Dept. of Agriculture provides USDA Home Loans to rural communities which help home buyers purchase a home with favorable terms per the USDA Home Loan Program underwriting and eligibility guidelines.
So, you ask, why is the USDA Home Loan program mentioned on a site regarding local contractors and home repairs?
The answer is simply because (you will need to speak with the USDA office near you or a loan officer for all the details) in some instances there are funds available for the homeowner to have minor cosmetic repairs performed bundled into the total purchase loan amount. Thus, contractors should contact a local loan agent familiar with the USDA Rural Guaranteed Home Loan Program and learn more about it and how to market to these potential homebuyers.
Don’t confuse the USDA Home Loan Program with the FHA 203K Loan Program.
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Tags: USDA Home Loans
Home Energy Audits
This field is picking up steam in a big way and contractors stand to make a nice revenue stream in this niche as homeowners are turning to methods that will reduce energy loss on their homes.
You might have been hearing about “home raters” “energy auditors” “building anaylsts” “performance contractors” “weatherization” “energy rebates” and many other energy related terms. Pay attention to these. Many contractors are all ready ahead of the curve and have received certifications leading them into a lucrative industry helping homeowners and building owners to reduce their energy costs.
Take a look at some great resources to learn more about the home energy audit field.
HERS Rater
Building Performance Institue
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Tags: Home Energy
There are a lot of homeowners seeking advice on how to:
paint exterior
fix a fence
repair dry rot
detect mold
repair mold
replace siding
fix leaking roof
patch drywall
replace doors
install faucets
and many other home repair projects.
So, the purpose of this post is to encourage both contractors and homeowners alike to post comments. The homeowner would post a comment about what type of information they are looking for regarding a home repair item. The contractors would post comments answering the homeowners questions.
The contractor’s post must be a complete coherent reply that specifically answers the homeowner question.
Contractors may also place entire articles they have written regarding a repair or home improvement topic in the comment section.
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Tags: Local Contractors
November 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Sell your fire damaged home
We will try something new on this website and that is allowing you to
express an interest in selling your fire damaged home. Simply enter the information into the comment section below. Make sure that you put
your phone number and details about the home including address and asking price.
Besides fire damaged homes also include water, storm, mold damage and dry rot damaged homes.
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Tags: Dry Rot · Fire Damage · Sell my Home Fast!
October 28th, 2010 · 4 Comments
FHA 203K Construction Financing
203K home improvement loans has valuable information for real estate agents, home improvement contractors, homeowners and home buyers. The information is for contractors seeking more work opportunities right now. For real estate agents helping buyers close more escrows. Homeowners who would like to do home improvements and need a good financing option. Home buyers who would like to purchase a home but it needs repairs.
Many people are misled into believing that this 203K loan cuts off at $35,000 and can only be used for cosmetic non structural repairs. This simply is not true. The 203K may be used for large structural repairs as well. There are 2 versions of this loan. Make sure your Loan Agents offers the larger amount / structural repair version.
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Tags: How To Tips
East Bay Area Painting Contractor Mustard Seed Painting – 925-565-9962
Homeowners and businesses who are wanting to get their East Bay Area homes or commercial buildings painted may want to hire an east bay area painting contractor.
If your home or commercial building is located in one of the following towns or cities call upon the services of a local painting contractor.
Alameda, Albany, El Cerrito, Berkeley, Brentwood, Oakley, Antioch, Pittsburg, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Danville, San Ramon, Alamo, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Emeryville, Fairfield, Vacaville, Fremont, Union City, Newark, Hayward, Castro Valley, Hercules, Pinole, El Sobrante, San Pablo, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Oakland, Richmond, San Leandro, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, Benicia, Cordelia and Suisun
Mustard Seed Painting
CA Cont. Lic. #502792
california Contra Costa County Painters
Tags: Painting Contractors
