Hello:

I am considering spraying the underside of the floor, the framing & sheathing of my house (before insulating with Roxul) with PinkShield. (http://www.pinkshield.ca/) My house is being built where I doubt the volunteer fire department could do much if it started to burn.

PinkShield is "a water based fire protective paint for use on wood" and costs about $58 per gal when bought in 5 gal containers with a coverage of 250 sf per gal.

I am also thinking of spraying it over the spray foam foundation insulation in my crawl-space.

Has anyone used this stuff or a similar product?

Would there be a 'breathing problem' in my walls if a sprayed the 'latex-like' product on the studs & sheathing before closing them in?

Thanks for any input on this.

Rob.

If you build to code, your risk of internal fire is pretty low. But there are lot of things you could do and it's an interesting statistical question as to what is the best ROI in terms of reducing fire risk.

PinkShield tested at 7 perms- it's on the more-permeable end of Class-III vapor retardency, more permeable than dry OSB or #15 felt, so "breathing problems", aren't an issue.

I'm not sure if it's rated for use on foam insulation or whether it has solvent or other interactions with polystyrene, polyurethane, or polyisocyanurate.

Dana1:

FYI, when I asked PinkShield about covering foam, this is what they replied, so it is NOT rated for foam:

Rob - the reason they don't have approval for over foam is that the code requires "thermal" protection for foam. It is not enough to reduce the chance of ignition. Many foams won't self ignite anyway, they need a sustained heat source.
I have not used their pink shield but have used other products from Cano. Always found them good to deal with.

Another thing to do to reduce fire spread is to caulk every opening into stud and joist bays so that fire doesn't have the benefit of the chimney effect. Make it burn each bay individually. Caulk around all wiring, plumbing and heating penetrations at both top and bottom plates. You would do that anyway for the outside walls but do the inside walls as well. Fire block all adjacent bays.

Robert, Pink shield only offers a 15 minute thermal barrier, when it gets hot enough it will expand and char, giving it minimal protection.