I watched an interesting little experiment the local fire department did yesterday. They built two little plywood huts, identical in everyway, and painted one with regular paint and one with this fire retardant paint. Apparently some lady wanted to know if the special paint worked as advertised and she contacted the fire department to see if they knew anything. Well, the fire department was curious too and so after getting the local news on the act, they set out with the lady to see how it performed.
For fire starter material they placed straw and wood inside both huts, set fire to it and started timing it. Within two and a half minutes (I could see everything on the TV) the hut with normal paint was pretty much on fire and well on its way to becoming ash. But the other one, the one painted with the special stuff, wasn’t even barely smoking! After thirteen minutes the firefighters were perplexed and decided to add more straw and wood to the fire. Finally the special paint began to peel and then the exposed wood would catch fire. The hut next to it was burnt to a black rubble long before the treated hut was the same way.
It was quite an interesting news clip. That stuff really works. It definitely delays any structural burning. If the initial fuel burns out before the structure goes down, then it would have saved a lot of money for someone. Thought I would share what I saw last night on the news 🙂
Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
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How much cost difference for that paint? Does it go on as good as the normal stuff?
blue
Any chance of a link to the video?
Forrest
If you do a search on "Intumescent paint" you will find that there are a number of manufacturers of fire retardant paint. Very few are for external use. Haven't checked out prices yet, only been told that they are "expensive".
Yeah, but all the others say "not for internal use"
:-)
Forrest
It's $65 a gallon here. Coverage isn't 400sf, I don't recall exactly how much, I think its more like 150.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
As a firefighter I think it's a great idea. However for the cost that is associated with the paint I think you could buy a whole lot of smoke detectors. Most of the damage caused by fires is smoke related. Unless this can seal out smoke damage I think it's a waste of money. Getting your family out with the use of good smoke detectors would be the best way to save money and losses...
Measure once > cut once > get board stretcher....
I dont think anyone is marketing it for your kids bedroom. Its mainly useful where some change in the usage of a building makes it necessary for a wall to have a fire rating that it didnt have when it was built. If the only thing wrong with the wall is that its 1/2 instead of a fire rated 5/8, you can get your one hour with this rather than redoing the wall."Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Understandable and I recognise and appoligize. .. For that I will agree with the paint.Measure once > cut once > get board stretcher....
I saw the paint can that they used briefly but forgot the name already. The news program didn't mention how much the product was. I just did a search to see if there was a video link for the clip I saw last night but there is no mention of it. This sucks... it was a great clip on the effectiveness of the paint. I am curious too as to how much this product is. I did see the firefighters painting the product onto the plywood. Interestingly, they painted the pieces before putting the huts together. Then I assumed they let it dry overnight before assembling the huts and setting it on fire. I do not know if they painted both sides of the plywood. I am sure they did as the huts were white on the exterior as well, meaning they were painted with the respective paints. I should pay a visit to the fire training academy down the street from me and ask around a bit about that video shoot.
Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
i sometimes use that on the back sides of indoor rock climbing walls. its really pricey (8x 5 gal = $5000) and i wouldnt use it as a room paint. its purpose is to be used in place of retro fitting sprinklers. according to mfg if it gets wet its usless. which became a big debate between me and inspector because we had 4 levels of fire sprinklers. the idea is to stop or slow down the burn rate. smoke detectors let you know there is a fire, but the fire still grows. Tmaxxx
Urban Workshop Ltd
Vancouver B.C.
cheers. Ill buy.
There is also an addative availible for paints. I'm paying about $12.00 for a platstic bottle that holds about a pint and it's good for a gallon of paint/finish. In the Columbus Ohio are they are really enforcing a part in the code calling for flame resistant finishes on on exposed wood in commercial projects.
Any idea on the name or where they sell it?I'm in Columbus, and we've got some baseboard heating in our house. I built a decorative screen around one (wood and metal screening) and the wood is showing some slight heat damage on the inside. I'll build more for the other baseboards (have 2 little boys in the house), but wanted to use some kind of fire-retardant paint on the inside as added protection.
Pittsburfh Paint on e 5th, east of 71. It sits on the north side. I can't remember the name of the stuff off the top of my head but I can go right to it on the shelf. Ask at the counter.
We use intumescent paint frequently in commercial applications. It's an alternative to spray-on fireproofing in areas that are visible and asthetically important.
It is pricey and coverage is dependent on the rating needed. A one-hour rated item will require less coats than a two-hour rated, etc. Certain mil-thicknesses are required for ratings...
You sure that was the local FD? That sounds exactly like a demo that I saw aired several years ago.
yup... they were local FD alright. Local news crew, FD, film, woman, etc. It is neat what kinds of stuff the local news produce :)Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK