Be careful about fire and tiki huts. They are a glowing mixture. Yes. When you install a natural thatched roof, your hotel, restaurant, or resort will be at higher risk of fire. If you don’t apply an effective thatch safe fire sealant on tiki huts, once the fire starts on dry palm thatch, the spread of flame will be fast, making it difficult to extinguish. So, today, we’ll teach you how to fireproof a thatched roof.
How to Fireproof a Thatched Roof: Taking Fire Protection a Step Further
Thatched roofs are always at risk of fire. So, to comply with local building regulations, fire protection, and insurance purposes, we’ll teach you how to fireproof a thatched roof. We recommend two effective thatch fire retardant & sealant that you can apply to your tiki huts.
As you know, the genuine tiki huts are built using cypress log frame, and the palm thatch as roof material. So, being wood and dry palm thatch naturally combustible, it’s hard not to worry about your tiki bars, poolside tiki huts, restaurant tiki huts, or any other thatched property from catching fire.
Some primary causes that increases the risk of fire in your thatched building are faulty electrical wiring, sparks from fire pits, bonfires, discarded cigarettes, and any other type of sparks of fire.
So, if for example, you’re planning to build a fire pit near your tiki bar, you have to be careful.
We advise to build all fire pits at least 15 to 20 feet away from your tiki bar, tiki umbrella, or any other thatched building.
If you want to increase the beauty of your resort, here we present to you our fave tiki hut ideas and designs.
Without further ado, here we’ll recommend two fire retardant products to increase your palm thatch fire safety.
Apply Magma TAS Firestop Sprays
Applying a thatch fire retardant spray on your tiki is one of the common ways to improve the fire protection in your resort.
You must treat your wood frame with fire retardant products. Also, if the roof material is natural, it’s imperative to make it fire resistant. As an expert tiki hut builder, we recommend using the Magma TAS Firestop sprays.
Magma Firestop® is a proven and effective flame retardant for thatch, wood, and other organic materials. There are two types of sprays, indoor and outdoor.
The indoor spray is used on the internal surface of the thatch and the supporting cypress log frame. The outdoor spray is applied over the exposed roof surface.
These thatch fire retardant sprays are designed to protect your thatched building from catching fire fast. Also, many international institutions have tested it. So,
Magma Firestop® retardant for thatch has the best rating to stop the spread of flame on the thatched roof space.
As a trusted tiki hut builder, we recommended this spray for your tiki hut. Besides doing a great job as a fire retardant, it also works well as a water repellent.
This fire retardant spray is non-toxic, biodegradable, odorless, non-shrinking, and does not affect other materials in any way.
While the fire protection may last for up to 10 years, we recommend testing the roof every 5 years. It’s only in this fashion that you can assess the degree of protection, and you must respray when necessary.
Use Flame Safe Thatch Safe Fire Retardant
This is one of the most popular fire retardant coatings for thatching.
It comes in big economical presentations of 1 gallon and 5 gallons. Thatch Safe Fire Retardant is a water based product. And it does’t contain asbestos, color dyes, or toxic chemicals.
This fire thatch sealant is colorless, but it surely has pungent odor.
The great thing about applying transparent fire retardant coatings is that you won’t have to worry about your tiki hut roof losing its natural color.
We recommend applying 3 coats to make your thatch fire safe.
Prior to application, materials and surfaces should be cleaned and dried to ensure maximum coverage and effectiveness.
You can cover a roof area from 150 sq ft to 200 sq ft per gallon. So, make sure to buy the right amount to fireproof your roof.
You can apply this fire retardant with a paint brush, roller, or sprayer.
All tiki hut builders must include thatch fire safety in their building process. Otherwise, they’ll put people’s lives at risk and breaking the local building codes.
Another great way to fireproof a tiki hut is by dipping the individual palm fronds and pieces in the retardant.
For instance, you can dip thatching, bamboo, cypress logs, and other wooden/organic material.
When applying the fire retardant, you should not expose the treated area to moisture for the first 24 hours. Also, you need to leave the pre-treated piece of thatch to dry several days before beginning building your hut.
Following these recommendations, you’ll guarantee the fire protection of your tiki before beginning its construction.
Take a look here to learn more about how we address tiki hut building and the wide benefits our tiki huts can offer to your resort, restaurant, or business.
Also keep in mind that there will always be risk of fire in a beachfront resort, hotel, restaurant, tiki bar, or any other thatched property. So, what we advise you to do is to always keep on top of your thatch fire safety. You can do this by reapplying 3 coats of fire retardant every couple of years.
Fire Retardants Prevent Mold, Insects, and Rodents
Besides increasing thatch fire safety, fire retardants provide long term protection against mold, insects, and rodents.
If you live in Florida’s humid climate but still want to have a nice-looking tiki hut, we recommend buying a fire rated thatch sealant to prevent mold. Remember that it’s better to prevent fungal growth than to deal with it.
By locking out moisture, a thatch fire sealant will decrease the risk of damage due to humidity, inhibiting fungal growth.
Applying a thatch fire sealant will extend the lifespan of your tiki hut roof for approximately two years.
This varnish coating helps to keep appearance of thatch products. Since the coat is transparent, a fire retardant preserves the natural, earthy look of the thatch. So, by spraying or applying the fire sealer on both sides of the thatch, it gives you the best of both worlds. Your tiki hut will look great, and it will last longer.
Don’t Forget to Install Smoke Alarms
No matter what your roof material, you should always be ready to prevent it from catching fire.
You must have an adequate smoke alarm in your tiki huts, tiki umbrellas, chickee huts, etc.
So, we advise you to hire a trusted electrician to install adequate smoke alarms to increase your thatch fire safety.
Remember that any type of thatched building without smoke alarms is a danger to your vacation locale.
Obviously, we want to reduce the risk of a fire starting in the first place. But just in case, make sure to always keep the right fire extinguisher to suppress fire when it has started.
We recommend to buy one fire extinguisher per thatched property. In that way you avoid any fire from taking hold, and the spread of flame trough the roof space.
Keep Your Business Safe with Fire Retardant Thatch!
Your priority as a business owner or resort manager should be to create a safe tropical paradise for your guests.
You can protect your resort, restaurant, bar, umbrella, poolside tiki hut, or amusement park by using fire rated thatch.
So make sure to use the fire retardant on thatch roofing and panels of:
- Your exterior dining area(s)
- Huts and chickees
- Pool areas and outdoor spas
- Themed parks
Now that you know how to fireproof a thatched roof, you won’t have to worry about your vacation locale catching fire.
So, go ahead and put our advice into action for a safer tropical paradise.