Selecting Correct Roof for Your Home, Area

Your concern about fire-safe roofing will depend, to some extent, on where you live.

Some municipalities dictate what material you may use. Los Angeles and Glendale, for example, ban even treated wood shake and shingle roofs. Other cities, Long Beach, for example, leave wide latitude.

In either case, you’ll get the most for your money if you know a thing or two about fire ratings. “I’m very pro-fire prevention, but don’t get snowed by a Class A fire rating,” said Bill Teie, former deputy director for fire protection in the California Department of Forestry.

“People are using it as a sales gimmick--but that’s just a part of the picture. It should be just one factor among many,” Teie said, adding that keeping dead and flammable brush cleared at least 30 feet around the house is just as important as having a fire-safe roof.

Teie believes factory-treated shake and shingle roofs, which come in either B or C ratings, can be adequate for certain locales. Former State Fire Marshal James McMullen agrees--to a point. “The issue with shake and shingle roofs is that the untreated type have spread fires . . . “ he said.

McMullen said that even the fire-conscious homeowner with a Class B treated wood roof can pay a terrible price. “A firefighter in a difficult situation goes first to those homes he can save with the resources he has,” McMullen said, explaining that in a desperate situation beleaguered firefighters will sometimes turn away from wood-roofed homes because they have no way of knowing whether they’re fire safe (and therefore savable) or not.

Fire ratings are given based on tests that simulate what can happen to a roof in a fire. The first and lowest rating is no classification. Untreated shake and shingle fall into this category. Next come the A, B and C ratings.

In the test for a Class A rating, a 12-inch-square piece of burning wood is put on the roof. If the wood doesn’t burn through, the roof gets a “Class A” rating. To earn a B classification, a roof must withstand two smaller (6-inch-square) burning brands. Class C rating is given when 20 1 1/2-inch-square brands burn out before igniting the roof.

“There’s an irony involved here,” Teie said. “The rating is to prevent fire from getting into the house through the roof. But I would say 90% of home fires in this nation are internal. Statistically, they start most often in the garage, in the kitchen, or in the attic,” he said, adding, “I personally feel that if you get a roof rated B, you more than adequately meet the wildland threat if you’re in an area with brush, grass and timber.”

Fire ratings can have a significant impact on the cost of a roof. For example, untreated shake costs about $123 a square (100 square feet equals one “square”). That price jumps by nearly $40 a square for Class B and by $50 a square for Class A.

But safety and cost are not the only considerations that will affect your choice of fire classification in roofing material. Next year two tough new state fire laws will supersede less restrictive municipal codes and narrow the choice somewhat. One law, authored by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell, requires Class C ratings on all new construction--and whenever more than half the roof is to be replaced.

Meanwhile, a more far-reaching law written by Assemblyman Tom Bates calls for the Department of Forestry to map high fire-hazard areas throughout the state. Municipalities will be allowed input on their classifications, but once they’ve accepted or modified their rating, all local jurisdictions in designated high fire zones must require Class B roofs.

In other words, untreated shake and shingle roofs will be outlawed by mid-1995, as will Class C treated shake and shingle.

For now, your best bet is to start with a call to your local building and safety department to find out what is allowed and what isn’t.