LOS ANGELES-BASED ARCHITECTURE, FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION AGENCY

Property owners facing the decision to rebuild after a disaster typically have two primary options: sell the land or rebuild. For those choosing to rebuild, this guide explores various financing strategies to help homeowners select the best approach for their…

An easy switch is to require Type 5A – a slight improvement, still within the Type 5 category, for homes within fire zones. We can easily move from 5B to 5A. This requires using fire-rated construction for all bearing walls and floors. This is readily achievable, it simply requires using a different type of gypsum board on the inside, protecting the roof (vaulting the ceiling, for instance), and using stucco or another fire-resistive assembly for the exterior walls. Type 5B requires the structure of a building to be protected. This will likely slow the spread of fire.