Success Stories

The exterior of many homes and outbuildings are in high fire risk areas that would normally require expensive rebuilding requirements to comply with the standards of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), including California Building Code 7A. An easy, cost-efficient, solution is to use the Firefree’s fire retardants paints for wood and metal to coat the exterior sidings, eaves, soffits, porch overhangs and projections. The system is the only fire protection paint and coating system currently on the market that has passed the stringent exterior testing criteria (weather and fire) required by WUI test standards.

Residential insurance: Novato, CA
Homeowners in a fire risk area could not get insurance coverage for their home. The homeowners coated the exterior of their home, including the siding and eave overhangs, with the Firefree Exterior System, which meets the California 7A WUI fire test standards, thus providing a solution that previously did not exist for the homeowners.. Their insurance company, based on the use of the Firefree’s fire retardants paints for wood and metal, provided the insurance the homeowners needed
Wildland Urban Interface: Insurance

Multi-story apartment building: Rohnert Park, CA
Construction of a new multi-story apartment under construction was stopped as the exterior siding assembly using OSB sheathing with lap siding did not comply with the WUI 7A fire requirements. Firefree Class A (“FfA”) was applied to the OSB sheathing prior to the installation of the siding. The coating application met the WUI ignition resistant requirements for the exterior of the building, providing a cost-effective solution to the problem that allowed the builder to move forward with the project in a timely fashion.
Wildland Urban Interface: New construction

Residential: North Tahoe, CA
The Fire Department allowed the use of our fire retardants paints for wood and metal on siding, trim and deck areas to protect the wood surfaces from fire brands. The Firefree Exterior topcoat was tinted by the local store (Kelly Moore) to match the homeowners selected color.
Wildland Urban Interface: Retrofit

Museum: Walt Disney Museum, Presidio, San Francisco, CA
The museum wanted to preserve the existing wood ceilings and leave them exposed to retain the character of the existing building. Based on the successful/validated fire tests on wood, Firefree 88 was customized to a color specific not only meeting the fire code requirements set forth by the City of San Francisco but also it maintained the historical preservation required by The Disney® Corporation.
Retrofit: Wood Floor, one (1) hour

Corporate Hi-Tech- Offices: Spruce Goose Hangar for Google, Los Angeles CA
Tech giant converted the historic aircraft hangar into multi-use facility (100,000 sqft. building). Firefree 88 met all the fire rating qualifications and with a goal of LEED Gold Certification, the building maintained its Green Sustainable Guidelines.
Retrofit: Wood Roof/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Apartment / Condos: 5-story building,, Kansas City MO
Firefree 88 was reviewed and approved for Alternate Means and Materials (AMM) for areas containing historically significant tin ceiling tiles to achieve the 2-hour fire rating to justify only one exit from the upper floors.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, two (2) hours

Apartments/ Condos: 52 Mercer Street Brooklyn NY
130-Yr old building with beautiful exposed wood rafters. Client was looking for a 2 hour rating protection and did not want to install GWB because it wanted to leave the rafters exposed. Firefree 88 was applied to all exposed sides of the wood and the client was satisfied with the white color paint finish.
Retrofit: Wood Roof/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Museum: Margaret Mitchell House Atlanta, Georgia
The building was converted to condominiums above the first floor. The first floor area was extensive and occupied by a fabric store that was opened daily. Firefree 88 approved over the embossed tin ceiling represented a 60% reduction in cost and it maintained the heritage preservation of the ceiling.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Military Reservation Museum: Home of General Patton, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Bring the home of General Patton up to current fire codes. To meet current fire standards would have required removal of all moldings and rebuilding of walls and ceilings within the home. Firefree 88 validated tests on lath and plaster and wood assemblies simplified a disruptive and time consuming process, met not only the fire codes but it also the military budget.
Retrofit: Lath and Plaster Ceiling, one (1) hour

Museum: Marietta Fire Museum, Georgia
The museum has equipment, antique apparatus and item from private collectors. Applying Firefree 88 over the embossed tin ceiling panels significantly reduced the project downtime and eliminated a potential damage to an irreplaceable ceiling tiles.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Retail: Hallmark North Wilkesboro, NC
To remove the tin ceiling and install sheetrock was unacceptable to the owner since it would deviate from the Heritage landmark. Firefree 88 was approved by the City Code Official based on actual fire test on embossed tin ceiling.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Retail: 903 Main St North Wilkesboro, NC
The entire ceiling was coated with Firefree 88 again, the historical design of the building was maintained.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Schools: San Domenico School, Marin County CA, Door Rooms
Firefree 88 coating was used to paint all the rooms which added much need fire protection and a fresh new look to all the rooms at a fraction of the cost.
Retrofit: Gypsum Wall/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Schools: Live Oak Auditorium, Morgan Hill, CA
Approved by California State (DSA) Department of School Architecture.
Structural and Fire Safety Retrofit of a condemned auditorium to current codes. Project was jointly funded by the Live Oak School District and the City of Morgan Hill for joint use by the schools Music and Arts Department and the community of Morgan Hill. Upgrading of the deficient wood roof and ceiling structure required an upgrade to a 1 hour roof assembly system.
Retrofit: Wood Roof/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Schools: University of Georgia
Tiles are highly flammable. The university was on a tight budget financially and for time to open the facility (20,000 sq.ft new computer building) for the new school year. Based on our testing of ceiling tiles at FM Approvals, the coating was approved for use to meet the required fire rating and resulted a 45% cost savings to the school.
New Construction: Ceiling Tiles

Schools: VARE School, Philadelphia, PA
Firefree 88 coating was used to upgrade an existing embossed tin ceiling to a 1 hour fire rating. There was a considerable savings in material, labor and time as compared to removing the ceiling, installing multiple layers of gypsum board and re-installing the tin ceiling to comply with the historical requirements.
Historic: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Hospice Care Facility, Columbus, Georgia
The rooms off of the corridors were occupied with patients. The standard repair would have been to install a second layer of gypsum board. This would have been extremely disruptive in the rooms with patients. With Firefree 88 solution, multiple patient rooms were able to be coated each day. The coating being non toxic, low VOC and fast drying allowed the patients back into the rooms at the end of the work day. The savings in both cost and time was substantial.
Retrofit: Gypsum Ceiling, one (1) hour

Medical offices, Pleasanton, CA
Upgrading top floor 15,000 sq.ft, Medical offices, Pleasanton, CA.
The Glu-lam support beams and wood ceiling framing above the suspended “T” bar ceiling was applied with Firefree 88 eliminating a costly traditional repair. The coating application took approximately 10 working days.
Retrofit: Wood Roof/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Hospital: Marin General Hospital Greenbrae, CA
Applied Firefree Class A at a minimal dry film thickness, easy to apply/use, to all existing 2x wood pallets and comply with the Fire Rated Treated Wood (FRTW) equivalent.
Retrofit: Fire Treated Panels

Hospital: VA Center for the Blind, Menlo Park, CA
The roof was designed and constructed to encompass 6 modular medical office building modules. The constructed roof assembly did not meet the 1 hour fire requirements, Firefree was proposed and accepted to be applied to the underside of the existing roof sheathing and roof structure.
Defective: Wood Roof/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Assisted Living: Valdosta Georgia
The high occupancy rooms and hallway corridors required the gypsum board ceilings to be upgraded to meet a 1 hour fire rating. The existing gypsum board was covered by a lowered T bar ceiling used to hide electrical conduits and cables, creating a substantial cost impact to remove and add an additional layer of gypsum board and redo the electrical work. The FF88 coating was used to meet the one hour rating at a substantial savings (60%) and more importantly, with no disruption to the people living in the facility.
Retrofit: Gypsum Walls/Ceilings, one (1) hour

Dialysis Centers: Satellite Dialysis (multiple locations)
Dozens of Satellite Centers across the bay area have specified Firefree 88 as the only intumescent fire resistant coating to comply with all new local building codes. Firefree 88 has met customer satisfaction on each project scope, including over timber, palletized roof systems, web truss roof systems. In addition, the coating provided a substantial savings in added weight as compared to gypsum board (ounces per sq. ft. for the coating compared to lbs. per sq. ft. for the gypsum board) providing additional savings in additional structural upgrades.
New Construction: Wood Roof, Floor/Ceiling, one (1) hour.

Food & Beverage: Café, Greensburg PA
Based on the successful/validated fire tests on embossed tin ceiling, Firefree 88 was customized to a color specific and applied to the tin metal preserving the heritage landmark, without adding extra weight.
Retrofit: Embossed Tin Ceiling, one (1) hour

Hotel: La Quinta Inns
Firefree 88 was approved and used to recoat 6 floors of hallway ceilings damaged by water from a sprinkler system going off on the top floor of the hotel. In lieu of replacing all of the gypsum board ceilings, the coating was applied to maintain the 1 hour fire rating being required. There was a substantial savings in time and labor as well as minimal disruption to the hotel and occupants, as compared to removing and replacing gypsum board ceilings at 6 floors of the building.
Retrofit: Gypsum board ceilings, one (1) hour

Hilton Worldwide: Electrical Rooms
Application of our premier flame retardant paint, Firefree Class A, over electrical / terminal backboards.
New Construction/Retrofit: Class A fire tested per ASTM E-84 (NFPA 255 / UL 723)

Restaurant (decorative): Sidney Harbor Restaurant. Australia
Firefree 88 was used to coat a 30 foot high by 80 foot long free formed cardboard sculpture inside a large restaurant locate at the Sydney harbor (seating capacity 480 people). The cardboard with the FF88 coating was fully tested for approval by CSIRO, the Australian Government fire testing laboratory prior to application. A multi coat FAUX paint application was applied over the FF88 coating as the final finish.
Retrofit: Cardboard, CSIRO

Restaurant: Marin Pizza Company, CA
Firefree 88 was used to coat the existing wood ceiling within an existing mall space to a 1 hour fire rating to meet new tenant occupancy fire codes. The coating was tinted to a specific color in order to leave the wood ceiling exposed and as part of the new restaurant design. There was a substantial savings in time and cost (70%) by being able to simply tint and finish coat the ceiling while meeting the 1 hour fire rating requirement versus the extra time to reframe, install gypsum board and paint a new ceiling in addition to being required to fire rate the existing wood ceiling.
Retrofit: Wood Ceiling, one (1) hour.

Government: US Military Structures, Middle East
Due to Firefree 88 being an eco-friendly product, the coating was applied while the buildings were occupied significantly reducing labor/installation; In addition, Firefree 88 met the Military’s color specification.
Retrofit: Wood Wall/Ceiling, fire rated

Government: Department of Housing New South Wales, Australia
Public housing that is not up to the fire codes. Firefree coating went thru a series of tests to make sure that they could adequately bring all these units back up to code. It was found that the coating would bring all their old ceiling assemblies to hour one ratings. All this was done at a fraction of the cost compared to adding gypsum and with NO relocation of any the residents.
Retrofit: Wood, Lath and Plaster Ceiling, one (1) hour

Government: Space Observatory, Australia
Firefree 88 used on the fiberglass dome protecting the telescopes. A major wildfire damaged the main observatory building. The coating saved the telescope section of the building from fire damage.
New Construction: Fiberglass, one (1) hour

Government: U S Embassy, Middle East
The U S Government wanted a high level of protection on many levels at the New Embassy located in Bagdad. One of the issues was fire protection at key areas within the embassy. The State Department, through GSA used the FF88 coating in key areas to provide a high level of fire protection at areas throughout the embassy.
New Construction: Areas and materials coated confidential

Government: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
Tested by MSS-Work Control and used within other Laboratories department. FF88 specified and applied at a minimal dry film thickness to comply with the highest rating required by the lab.
Retrofit Buildings: 16Ga Metal NEMA 1 Enclosures, two (2) hours

Government: Oakridge Nuclear Facility: Oakridge, TN
Large room wall/ceiling areas, near the reactor had polyurethane foam, which needed to be fire rated. FF88 was approved for use by the DEA for coating the room at Oakridge, because of its successful fire test over SPF in accordance to the Room Corner Test. Because of FF88’s great adhesion the coating was applied directly over the foam, resulting to the facility over $1,000,000 in costs and time.
Retrofit: Room Corner Test.

Military Installation/Government: Fort Bragg, North Carolina
The Army was upgrading the quality and fire safety of the barracks at Fort Bragg. Due to the age of the buildings and the materials originally used to finish the walls and ceilings, Firefree 88 was the only method approved to comply with the fire ratings; the savings in both cost and time was substantial.
Retrofit: Gypsum wall/ceiling, one (1) hour

Government: US Military offices Middle East
The US Military was upgrading the fire safety of the modular buildings. Due to the age of the buildings and the materials originally used to finish the walls and ceilings, Firefree 88 was the only method approved to comply with the fire ratings upgrade to the wall/ceiling panels; the savings in both time and cost was substantial.
New Construction: Composite Panels, one (1) hour

Military: US Navy, Honolulu HI
The US Navy had a several large warehouses that underwent major roof repairs. As part of the repairs, large roof drains were installed using 8” diameter PVC pipe through the inside of the roof areas of the building. Based on our testing on plastics, the FF88 coating was used to coat the PVC pipes to meet specific flamed and smoke rating, providing the only viable and cost effective method to do so.
Retrofit: PVC pipe fire rating protection

Military: Live Fire Training Structures, Middle East
The military was using large rubber blocks to build structures in which to do live fire training. The problem was the fires caused by the tracer rounds being fired inside the structures. The FF88 coating was used to coat the rubber blocks. The coating prevented any ignition from the vast amounts of tracer rounds being fired within the interiors of the buildings.
Retrofit: Firing Range Structures built with rubber blocks, testing proprietary

Military: Civil Defense Middle East
Due to the existing fighting and terrorism ongoing in the Middle East, the Civil Defense and Military were looking for a solution to protect vehicles from fire destruction from Molotov cocktails. An entire vehicle was coated at the exterior including the under carriage and wheel wells with the FF88 coating. Several Molotov Cocktails were thrown at the vehicle, with no sustained damage to the vehicle. In addition, gasoline was then poured over the vehicle and around the wheel wells and tires and ignited, again with no damage and no penetration into the vehicle or damage to the tires.
Retrofit: Vehicle fire test

Multi-Story Townhomes: Townhomes – Milpitas CA
Firefree 88 coated to meet 1-hr rating on common walls and on sheathing ( R3/U Occupancy Group – V-B Type of Construction) and extending 4’ on both sides as required by the Building & Safety Department.
New Construction: Wood Wall/Roof Sheathing, one (1) hour

Two-Story Townhomes: Luxury Villas, Hawaii
Firefree 88 was employed to correct defective walls/ceiling without the necessity of relocation, demolition and re installation of rated drywall, moldings and stairs.
Defective: Gypsum Wall/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Apartments / Condos: San Jose CA
Defective fire separation walls and ceilings. The units were completed in a single day by applying a two minimal specific dry film thicknesses; thereby, resulting in a 60% cost savings on both labor and material.
Defective: Gypsum Wall/Ceiling, one (1) and two (2) hours

Condominiums: 29 units Property, Rohnert Park, CA
29 unit condominium project with defective fire separation walls and ceilings. Firefree 88 Solution eliminated cost for demolition, new drywall installed. Additional savings for the home owners by the elimination of costs for relocation. Traditional repair completion would have taken a minimum of 1 month in each unit. Actual work was targeted for 3 units concurrently or a total of 10 months.
Defective: Gypsum Wall/Ceiling, one (1) hour.

When a building is located to close to the property line (setback), it will often be required by the local building department, based on IBC Table 602, to upgrade the fire protection of the exterior of the home to meet a one (1) hour fire rating. A solution is to use Firefree 88 to meet the one (1) hour rating being required, followed by Firefree’s Exterior topcoat for weather protection. This will provide an easy, cost effective solution for most existing and new construction homes as compared to stripping and rebuilding the exterior wall assembly.

Residential: City of Oakland, CA
The exterior side of a home was located to close to the property line (setback) and was being required by the local building department, based on IBC Table 602, to upgrade the fire protection to the exterior of the home to meet a one (1) hour fire rating. This was easily done by applying Firefree 88 to meet the one (1) hour rating being required, followed by Firefree’s Exterior topcoat for weather protection.
New construction: One-hour separation, siding

Residential: Puyallup, WA
The roof eaves of the home were within 5’ setback required by the local building department, based on IBC Table 602, thus requiring an upgrade the fire protection to the exterior of the home to meet a one-hour fire rating. This was done by applying Firefree 88 to meet the one (1) hour rating being required, followed by Firefree’s Exterior topcoat for weather protection. This approach was easy and cost effective as compared to stripping and/or encapsulating the eaves with gypsum.
Retrofit: One-hour separation, eaves

Commercial: Florence, SC
Because of occupancy change, as the building was within the 5’ setback proximity, the local fire department required, as prescribed under IBC Table 602, a one-hour rating fire protection to the exterior of the metal building. This was easily done by applying Firefree 88 to meet the one (1) hour rating being required, followed by Firefree’s Exterior topcoat for weather protection.
Retrofit, occupancy change: One-hour separation.

Food Processing Plant: Ventura Coastal Concentrate Processing Plant
City approved the use of Firefree88 based on its extensive fire tests on wood; due to the classification of the building (H-3 Occupancy, 3100 sq.ft) and specific thickness of the coating, the project was completed within the building owner’s guidelines.
Retrofit: Wood ceiling, one (1) hour

Aerospace/ Industrial: Project: Honeywell Corporation
The Honeywell plant in Minnesota had over 100,000 square feet of ceiling that had a highly flammable cellulose board glued to the ceiling. The ceiling required a fire rating upgrade and the plant was in operation and the solution of applying Firefree 88 over the cellulose material greatly reduced time to complete the project with less disruption to the plant work force, an estimated cost savings of 55%.
Retrofit: Cellulose Board, Ceiling

High-Rise: 350 Units Civic Towers Renovation, Miami FL
Firefree 88 was applied at the tub/shower wall where the gypsum board is not continuous to the floor and comply with the fire separation per Alternate Method.
New Construction: Gypsum Wall/Ceiling, one (1) hour

Office Building: Nestlé USA HQ
The World’s Most Admired Food Companies new headquarters building uses Firefree 88 to provide a one hour protection to 12,000 sq.ft of ceiling.
New Construction: FRP/Concrete Slab Ceiling, one (1) hour

Telecommunications, antenna systems: Verizon
With the installation of antennas and antenna screens being placed on tops of building comes new fire codes regarding the placement of these structures. The antennas and antenna screens are fiberglass and, on their own cannot meet the required fire codes. Based on our high level of testing on fiberglass and related composites, the FF88 coating has been approved and used to provide fire ratings on fiberglass antenna systems and protective screens being required.
New Construction: Fiberglass Reinforced Plastics (FRP)