ASSESS. DESIGN. HARDEN. PROTECT.
HOME FIRE HARDENING | FIRE-SMART LANDSCAPES | | EMBER-RESISTANT VENTS | DECKS | SIDING | METAL GATES & FENCING | WINDOWS & GLAZING | GUTTERS & GUTTER GUARDS | ROOFS | MULCHES & FLATWORK | EAVES & SOFFITS | VEGETATIVE CLEARING
With the arrival of stricter state and local fire-safety mandates — Berkeley’s EMBER Initative, AB 38 real estate transfer rules, and the critical need for Zone Zero (Zone 0) compliance — we are currently living through a shift in how we inhabit the California landscape. Residents are having to reevaluate how best to protect their homes and communities from fire danger.
CALIFORNIA’S LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING.
At Traditional Craftworks, we use a systems approach to create fire hardened homes and fire-smart landscapes that are beautiful, durable, and functional — protecting your home with the same craftsmanship used to build it.
OUR PROCESS: FOUR Steps to Fire Resilience
STEP 1: The Wildfire Assessment
We perform a whole property assessment addressing home fire hardening, ember resistant zone zero compliance, and vegetative fuel sources. If you don’t already have a fire department property fire assessment, we will help you create a home ignition zone (HIZ) assessment that addresses all fire dangers and clears the way for fire safety and insurance compliance.
The Outcome
A prioritized roadmap for compliance and safety that ensures home and property fire protection that meets both CalFire fire-safety standards and California FAIR Plan compliance. We use materials we trust like Vulcan Vents, WildFire Defense Mesh, Hardie Siding, WUI-compliant metal gutters, and aluminum gates and fencing.
Step 2: Fire-Safe Solutions Design & The Five-Foot Zone Zero Buffer
We craft a zone zero sanctuary, zone zero is the immediate five-foot ember-resistant zone surrounding a home (0 – 5 feet). This is the most critical area for protecting a home.
Replacing combustible mulch and woody shrubs with elegant, non-combustible hardscaping and meandering gravel pathwork. Replacing wooden fences with metal gates. We design for the Berkeley EMBER Initiative using materials that anchor the home to the earth, protect your home, but dont take away from the craft and charm of your home.
The Outcome
An attractive, low-maintenance landscape that meets the ember-resistant zone zero, 5-foot non-combustible buffer, ensuring a safe home.
Step 3: The Hardened Build
We defend the envelope, as dual-licensed general and landscape contractors, we execute the technical hardening of your home as your WUI (wildland urban interface) fire hardening contractor.
We stop fire before it enters your attic or walls. Roughly 90% of fires are caused by ember spread and our job is to harden your home so embers stay out of it (a fire up to a mile away can send embers to your home). We ensure all work meets CA Chapter 7A (fire building code) using WUI-Compliant CalFire Approved Building Materials.
The Outcome
Installation of ember resistant vents (crawlspace, attic, eaves), fire-resistant gutters and gutter guards, non-combustible roofing & siding, fire-resistant eaves and soffits, heat resistant window glazing, and sprinkler systems when necessary, all ensuring complete fire property protection.
Step 4: Landscape & Defensible Space
We design and build defensible space through fire-smart landscapes.
Fire spreads by climbing and eating up fuel sources quickly along its way. In an unmanaged garden, it finds a fuel ladder — the dry, woody brush and low-hanging limbs that allow a ground fire to climb into the tree canopy. Fire-hardening the landscape does not mean clear-cutting. It means limbing up and thinning out. It’s about creating horizontal and vertical separation — industry terms that essentially mean giving our plants room to breathe and grow, in some ways mirroring what our neighboring forests are needing to be more fire and disease resilient.
The Outcome
A low maintenance, water-wise landscape and garden that greatly reduces fire risk, beautifies your yard, and improves overall soil and plant health.
