6 ms·

In Australia, once you get outside urban zones, I think the default building guidelines are no flammable materials on the outside of your house. That includes

by Jedd 3y ago

In Australia, once you get outside urban zones, I think the default building guidelines are no flammable materials on the outside of your house. That includes wood verandahs, posts, balustrades, through to aluminium rather than plastic-based fly screens on windows & doors. Ember attack is a big concern - as noted in TFA you want a clear area around your house, but also sealing off ingress pathways under gutters / eaves and so on. This is all doable, but it's as expensive as you'd expect 'the last 5%' to be. Where I am (250km north west of Sydney AU) in the months before the pandemic, we had a bush fire heading towards us at about 1km a day through national park. It was ~ 10km away when (atypically) heavy rains arrived. We've had 3 years of above-average rainfall, but it's now agreed that el niño / la niña has flipped, so while it's been great for the inland areas of the southern half of the east coast of Australia these last few years, we're left with a lot of organic matter that's rapidly dying off and drying out. It's hardly a novel prediction, but this summer will be spectacular in all the wrong ways in Australia. EDIT: Add link to some of David Holmgren's (co-originator of permaculture fame) work, responding to large bushfires through Victoria AU over the past few decades: https://holmgren.com.au/writing/bushfire-resilient-land-and-climate-care/ https://holmgren.com.au/writing/bushfire-resilient-land-and-...

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
1letterunixname 3y ago
Mom's house in Butte county was built around 1985 up to whatever California building standards existed at the time. The first owners weren't mechanically included but appeared to have a mix of professional repairs where it mattered and confused DIY otherwise. What helped saved the structure were American city habits of high-water lawns and pushing back the wildland-urban interface. Coober Pedy is a completely subterranean town around the opal mines. These days (not in AU), I'm looking at semi-underground housing structures to cut heating and cooling costs and avert some classes of risks associated with conventional housing. 40-45 C summers for 4 months & -10 C winters will increasingly become too expensive for conventional structures. Plus, there's wind, hail, lightning, tornadic, and wildfire risks to consider. Flooding isn't a problem if building on high ground.
- Jedd 3y ago
  Yup, over winter (just at the end of that here, now) we've been continuing to clear a larger break around the abodes, a few very large bonfires over the past couple of months, but ultimately if a fire is heading towards us we're mostly at the mercy of climate & localised weather events. Underground is appealing, but radon and costs (water diversion, load-bearing roof strength, etc) have put me off that idea. I should revisit. We're starting to plant out more deciduous trees as our break zone extends - local Australian natives (eucalypts, cypress) burn like tar barrels. Similarly contending with -6 through 45 celsius. You paint a cheery picture. ; |

by Jedd 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

1letterunixname 3y ago

Mom's house in Butte county was built around 1985 up to whatever California building standards existed at the time. The first owners weren't mechanically included but appeared to have a mix of professional repairs where it mattered and confused DIY otherwise. What helped saved the structure were American city habits of high-water lawns and pushing back the wildland-urban interface. Coober Pedy is a completely subterranean town around the opal mines. These days (not in AU), I'm looking at semi-underground housing structures to cut heating and cooling costs and avert some classes of risks associated with conventional housing. 40-45 C summers for 4 months & -10 C winters will increasingly become too expensive for conventional structures. Plus, there's wind, hail, lightning, tornadic, and wildfire risks to consider. Flooding isn't a problem if building on high ground.

Jedd 3y ago
Yup, over winter (just at the end of that here, now) we've been continuing to clear a larger break around the abodes, a few very large bonfires over the past couple of months, but ultimately if a fire is heading towards us we're mostly at the mercy of climate & localised weather events. Underground is appealing, but radon and costs (water diversion, load-bearing roof strength, etc) have put me off that idea. I should revisit. We're starting to plant out more deciduous trees as our break zone extends - local Australian natives (eucalypts, cypress) burn like tar barrels. Similarly contending with -6 through 45 celsius. You paint a cheery picture. ; |