(ARA) – If you’re building a new home, you will likely spend thousands of dollars in upgrades designed to make your home more beautiful. Carpet, cabinet and lighting upgrades can easily drive up the total cost of the home significantly. But how much are you willing to spend to make your home safer for you and your family?
The reality is that for the same amount of money it would cost to upgrade your carpet or cabinets, you could install a life-saving fire sprinkler system. On average, the cost to install a fire sprinkler system in a new home is 1 to 1.5 percent of the total building cost.
It has been proven that smoke detectors alone are not enough. They merely provide a warning but do nothing to extinguish deadly flames. Fire sprinkler systems, on the other hand, are designed to provide occupants with added time to safely escape. Industry statistics show that when a smoke detector is used in combination with a fire sprinkler system, it can reduce the loss of life up to 98.5 percent – an increase of 48.5 percent over what smoke detectors alone can do.
“Residential fire sprinkler systems more than pay for themselves in the form of peace of mind,” says Matthew Kuwatch, global business director for BlazeMaster Fire Sprinkler Systems, the most specified nonmetallic fire sprinkler systems in the world. “The decision to install a residential fire sprinkler system is a smart one, but is especially beneficial for families with young children, elderly adults or disabled individuals, because their chances of dying in a fire are more than twice as high as they are for young and middle-aged adults. Fire sprinkler systems work to help delay a fire and, in some cases, completely extinguish it.”
If you’re still concerned about cost, be aware that there are newer technologies on the market that have proven to be more cost-effective, as well as more reliable, than traditional steel fire sprinkler systems. BlazeMaster fire sprinkler systems, for example, are made from a revolutionary, high-temperature specialty material that has effectively been used in life-safety applications for nearly 30 years. Lightweight, corrosion-resistant and easy-to-install, BlazeMaster fire sprinkler systems offer significant cost savings in the form of reduced material and labor costs. They additionally offer superior flame and smoke characteristics over some other nonmetallic piping materials.
Beyond the obvious safety benefits, the installation of a residential fire sprinkler system can also result in reduced insurance premiums because of its ability to limit property damage. Automatic fire sprinklers are individually heat-activated to spray water only in the immediate area of the fire – often with only one sprinkler operating. The amount of water discharged from a sprinkler head is one-tenth to one-hundreth of the amount of water typically disbursed if the local fire department is called in.
In some regions of the country, fire sprinkler systems aren’t just a smart investment, they are required by code. Recent changes to the International Residential Code (IRC) mandate that new single-family homes be built with sprinklers beginning this year, although it is at the discretion of individual states to decide when the new code changes will be implemented. Such changes in legislation reflect increased education and growing awareness regarding the effectiveness of and need for home fire sprinkler systems. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), more than 500,000 household fires occur in this country alone each year, resulting in 5,000 deaths – an average of 14 per day.
Make sure your family is adequately protected – wherever you live. To learn more about the benefits of residential fire sprinkler systems, visit www.blazemaster.com or the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition at www.hfsc.com.