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Semmes & Company was contracted by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection www.fire.ca.gov to design and build a Fire Safe Demonstration Building at the California Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles. The purpose of the structure is to demonstrate to the public construction practices that could give one's home the best chance of surviving a wild fire, so prevalent in our area.
Cal Fire teaches residents that the best way to prevent your home from burning in a wild fire is to have a 100 foot defensible space around the house and to design the building so as not to allow fire to enter the structure. This can be accomplished by using non-combustible framing, exterior siding, roofing, and eave materials, and eliminating eave vents. All of these techniques were employed in the Fire Safe Demonstration Building.
Semmes & Co. has been using many non-flammable building materials for years such as Insulated Concrete Forms, straw bale, rammed earth, stucco, cementicious siding, tile, metal roofing and non-vented attic spaces.
Want to see what a plastered straw bale wall looks like or a patina stained concrete floor? A Fiber cement exterior siding or a stuccoed eave soffit? Come tour the Fire Safe Demonstration Building at the California Mid State Fairgrounds.
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