If your dream is a home among the gum trees, fear of bushfire doesn’t have to put you off. One northern Sydney couple found ways to protect their newly renovated ‘forever home’ – without compromising style.
As desirable neighbourhoods go, Wahroonga, in Sydney’s leafy northern suburbs, is a prized location. The appeal of its tree-lined streets, large blocks, abundant gardens and heritage character is accentuated by its proximity to stretches of bushland, with Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to the north and Lane Cove River National Park on the southern border.
However, this green city living has a trade-off: bushfires are a real and perpetual threat to properties in the suburb. When it’s where you want to live, can you do anything to minimise the risk?
When Angela Greenwood and her partner bought their original, cedar-clad 1960s home 10 years ago, they knew their bushy Wahroonga block came with a high fire risk. When the last fire went through the National Park at the back of their place, it came up to the door of the neighbouring property - and there is still evidence as all the grass tree trunks are scorched black.
So when the time came to start their long-planned exterior renovations, they weren’t surprised that the development application wanted a report from a fire engineer. But the proposed extension included a new deck shielded by a freestanding roof – a sizeable project in itself. The engineer’s report confirmed that every component of their extension had to be rated to Flame Zone, even though the existing house wasn’t.
The project immediately became more complex – and expensive. Now it would require specialist trades and products, much more time and effort, and a lot of research. Should they go ahead?
Angela and her partner were confident that the proposed extensions would enhance their lifestyle and enjoyment of their home enormously. They decided that renovating to Flame Zone requirements would be well worth it and proceeded to engage a specialist architect, engineer and builder.
There are no rules compelling Wahroonga home owners to fireproof existing properties. However, the renos also gave Angela and her partner the opportunity – and motivation – to rethink fire protection across the rest of the house.
‘Our house is an original ’60s house, made of cedar cladding,’ Angela says. ‘When we redid the kitchen, there wasn’t even any insulation behind the cupboards. It was literally just one layer of cedar between the outside and inside! And we are so close to the bush, even radiant heat could be an issue if there was a fire.’
The couple realised that when you live in a high-risk area, anything you can do to protect your property will make a difference if a fire eventuates. Determined to mitigate their risk of loss, she began researching how to fireproof a home without altering its character.
The cedar-clad house rests on a generous but steeply sloping block, surrounded by an abundance of trees and vegetation, with wallabies and water dragons as frequent visitors. Expansive paving stretched out from the western face of the house, providing ample outdoor living space.
The home’s roof extended over the paving to create a narrow covered walkway and block out the strong western sun. It also cut off much of the beautiful bush views from inside – particularly for Angela’s partner, who’s 1.8 metres tall. That had to change!
To maximise their enjoyment of the enviable surroundings, they decide to trim back the roofline to reveal the surroundings and replace the paved area with a stylish raised deck. A new, freestanding roof above the deck would offer shelter from the western sun, open up the green views and admit more natural light into the house, while respecting the home’s architectural style.
With few fire-rated options for the new 150 m2 deck, Angela and her partner ultimately opted for aluminium planks with a timber-like look suited to the home and its leafy location. While aluminium may melt in an extreme fire scenario, it’s not combustible, so it meets Flame Zone requirements. And in a fire scenario, the infill strips that close up gaps between the boards to weatherproof the surface will also keep out flying embers.
Their decking choice added to the project’s complexity. A timber subframe was out of the question: it was steel or nothing, and the footings had to be drilled down to rock. Working with 21-metre-long aluminium panels wasn’t easy for their poor builder. Meanwhile, the ceiling of the freestanding roof – 4 metres above the deck – had to be fitted with non-combustible fibre cement cladding.
Still, the project team delivered on every detail, right down to the extensive footings. The end result: a low-maintenance, highly fire-resistant deck that looks fabulous.
With the extension sorted, Angela started work on increasing the fire-resistance of the original home. The couple wanted to keep the cedar-framed sliding doors and windows that ran along the western side of the house, to retain the mid-century style. But not only was glass a vulnerable feature if a fire approaches, the cedar itself was also a weakness.
Angela ordered fireproof metal screens to cover the doors and windows, then explored how she could protect the prized cedar frames while accommodating the screens. The solution she found became a key element in their whole-of-home fire protection strategy.
‘I started Googling, looking at screening and blinds, and I came across FIRECOAT,’ says Angela. ‘And it was available at Bunnings, so I thought, “Give it a go.”’
FIRECOAT Exterior undercoat paint is the first of a new, highly fire-resistant product range that puts bushfire defence within reach of every Australian home owner. Developed with one of Australia’s leading universities, UNSW Sydney, it’s the only paint in the world to achieve a BAL-40 fire rating.
With delivery of the fireproof screens imminent, Angela was soon applying the fire-resistant undercoat to the cedar door and window frames with a conventional paintbrush.
Her first surprise was that FIRECOAT Exterior was not much dearer than any other exterior paint, despite its world-first BAL-40 rating. Her second was that it was just as easy to apply – or even easier – than other water-based undercoats.
‘Paint has just gone up ridiculously over the last few years. FIRECOAT is a little bit more expensive than regular paint, but not overly,’ Angela says. ‘And it’s amazing. It really goes on easily. It doesn’t drip, because it’s so thick, so that’s fantastic. And it’s very smooth to put on.’
The undercoats work by forming an intumescent layer across the underlying surface when exposed to high heat. This key feature makes them highly effective for defending property against fire, while being non-toxic, easy to use and environmentally safe.
Having discovered that increased fire protection was as simple as paint, Angela quickly factored FIRECOAT into their strategy. She intends to paint the exterior of the house once the western windows and doors are finished.
Of course, bushfires aren’t the only threat to the people and possessions we love – many house fires break out in kitchens or start from lithium ion batteries. Would she consider using FIRECOAT Interior next? Angela laughs.
‘I’ve just painted some of the inside; I don’t really want to do it again so soon! But I saw the videos on the FIRECOAT website of a lounge room that’s just caught fire. I like the idea that if there is a fire inside, FIRECOAT Interior will create a containment line, slowing the rate of the fire.’’
The videos illustrate the concept behind FIRECOAT, an idea that appealed to Angela. While, as she says, ‘nothing is fireproof’, in a fire scenario FIRECOAT will buy Angela and her family time: time to evacuate to safety, and time for emergency services to arrive. It can also mean the difference between having to replace the home and possessions and only having to repair them.
Other plans for home improvements seemed unrelated to fire protection, but Angela has made some surprising discoveries.
‘The other issue with our house – nothing to do with fire – is that it’s in a gully, so we don’t get a huge amount of breeze.'
Angela is looking at replacing existing windows and screens aren't necessarily going to suit them, so she is interested to learn that a new FIRECOAT product will offer an alternative when it launches in 2025. FIRECOAT WINDOW SHIELD is a fire-resistant glass covering that can be cut to size and fitted to windows and doors when a fire threatens, preventing the glass from shattering as heat increases.
And more FIRECOAT fire-resistant products for defending property against fire are in development, with several scheduled for release in 2025. They include FIRECOAT DEFEND, a temporary containment line product that can be sprayed around the perimeter of your house when a fire is approaching.
Angela and her partner have no doubts about their decision to undertake a fire-rated extension and carry it on to the original house. ‘We’ve done a beautiful renovation that’s all made of fire zone materials but still in keeping with the house.’
And as they continue their strategy for protecting their home from bushfire, Angela will be keeping an eye on the expanding FIRECOAT range.
