Best Practices for Building Fire-Resilient Homes

Join architect, builder, and building-science expert Chris Laumer-Giddens as he shares his experience with exterior insulation and cladding assemblies that make homes more fireproof in addition to making them more comfortable and energy efficient.

Each year, more and more of our neighborhoods are finding themselves part of Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Zones, partially because of the increase in regions seeing large forest fires, but also because of the growth of home construction in these regions. And these places are not only in the historically dry, rural canyons of the Southwest—wildfire risks exist across a wide range of geographical locations, so more homes are at risk than many might assume.

Fortunately, some of the choices we make when designing and building our homes can greatly reduce the chance of them catching on fire, even when a wildfire strikes our communities. Chris will outline some of these strategies based on the success stories he has seen in his work.

In this webinar you will:

• Learn what Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Zones are, what risks they pose, and where they exist (the prevalence of them might surprise you)
• Learn how the principles of resilient design apply to fire safety and well as energy conservation and comfort
• Learn about creating fire-safe wall assemblies, with a focus on the time-tested use of exterior stone-wool insulation
• Get detailed overviews of homes damaged by wildfires and ones that are being built or rebuilt to protect from future fires
• Get a thorough introduction to how to use these principles and building methods to build resilient homes of your own

Presenter

Chris is an architect, custom builder, HVAC system designer, and building science expert, involved in designing and building custom high-performance, Passive House, and off-grid residential projects throughout the country and abroad. He is a principal of the woman-owned firm, LG Squared, Inc., and is recognized throughout the U.S. as an expert in residential building science, residential HVAC Design, and designing and building durable high-performance homes. Completed projects range from high-performance tiny houses to several off-grid homesteads to historic deep-energy retrofit & Passive House homes to hot yoga studios. Chris often provides his insight on webinars, at conferences, and on his company’s blog, YouTube, and other social media channels. His expertise and experience are solicited by not only other architects, builders, and industry folk, but also equipment, product, and material manufacturers, and researchers to help with improvements in technology, installation methods, labor costs, and performance. Chris and his wife are known for bringing the beauty of design together with the critical science of performance, comfort and durability to their projects.