In another thread I was proposing to use a piece exterior UPVC soffit on a job inside the living room. Someone then reminded me of the potential fire hazard. This has made me think of the potential fire hazard of UPVC soffits and plastic gutters and also the internal coatings on my new double-glazing. Does anyone know if the soffit/window coatings have any fire-retardant properties? Also, would it be effective to use fire-retardant paint on the piece of soffit board in the house?
Apologies, the following reply should have been sent to the group and if you have received my direct reply it would be advisable to "munge" your e-mail address to prevent the hordes of spam that you may be receiving.
The potential fire hazard is no greater than that of timber, the main hazard of UPVC is that of toxic fumes being released when it has actually ignited.
If you have plastic internal window cills that were fitted during the installation of your windows then that is the same as fitting your soffit board inside - with a low fire risk.
However, if you wish to fit your soffit near an open heat source such as a fire or flame then I would advise against this - otherwise go ahead.
With regards to a fire retardant paint for plastic, I personally know of no such compound because to be effective, the paint has to be absorbed into the base material and this is not possible with a plastic surface.
PVCu is fire resistant, but does burn and will give off potentially dangerous fumes. I think the flashpoint is higher than wood, and IIRC it is self extinguishing
I am aware of a number of instances though, where fires have spread more quickly through soffits and eaves, because the PVCu melted/burned quicker than wood and thus allowed flames to travel into the exposed roof spaces. I recall a London council stopped using it after such an occurance, and specified wood instead.
I also remember a fire close to home where a builders van caught fire on his drive. The van was within 5 foot of the house and the flames licked the wall up to the eaves and were close to a window.
Now the fire crew said that if the window had been plastic, then the flames would have melted it and been in the house in no time. However, as it was timber, all that happened was the frame charred and the outer DG unit pane broke. Same for the soffit. Timber prevented a much worse situation occuring
It is not any more of a fire hazard than wood, but just remember it is plastic and
Painting PVCu seems to defeat the object of using it in the first place!
I've just had my 3,000'th 2,000 linewom-spoor of the _day_, from the new Swen worm. It seems (from tracing addresses or some of the cc: lists) to have picked up my address from alt.war.nuclear
My query relates to a posting titled "Is this a daft idea?" I propose extending a shallow (4.5") chimney breast by 2" to balance the breast either side of a new fireplace. It doesn't seem worth getting it plastered. In effect the piece of soffit will act as a new corner-piece for the chimney breast. Well away from any direct heat. I'll redo the coving and skirting board and then wallpaper. It's not meant to be seen. The paint was only a suggestion for possibly improving its fire-retardant properties.
Thanks again for your helpful and thought-provoking suggestions,
Ditto. This hotmail address which I have used for usenet posting (and only that) receives at least 10 spam emails per day. Quite obviously been trawled off the newsgroups; nobody is going to have hit on a stupid username like davidlobsterpot601 by fluke or other spammer techniques.
ISTR that it's apparently 'safe' to set your posted 'Reply-To:' address as your real one; the spammers don't touch that, it's the 'From' address that they go for.
I dont really understand the determination to use something so unsuitable as upvc when one can use wood, metal, cement and plaster, or wood covered by plasterboard.
Even the 1924 building regs outlawed upvc this close to the fire.
Er, um, did I say that or did you misquote? Anyway, I get lots of spam to an address I use on the web, I get just about no spam at all to my usenet address that I use here ( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.