As fibre cement sheet suppliers we are often asked about the fire rating of fibre cement cladding, boards, panels and sheeting. Fibre cement cladding is exceptionally good at preventing the spread of fire because the material it is made from is non-combustible. This means that fibre cement sheeting will not ignite when exposed directly to a flame or heat, and neither will it add fuel to a fire.
Most fibre cement boards that we supply are Euro Class A1 fire rated meaning that they provide the highest level of fire rated performance in the building world. Along with this, for many products, a fire insulation burn time can be up to two hours, making it a preferred building material for buildings at higher risk of fire.
In fact, the majority of fibre cement cladding products are A2-s1, dO rated, which when broken down means:
- A2 refers to the flammability of the product – it is non-combustible therefore does not catch fire very easily.
- The S-value relates to smoke development from a fire. S1 means that you would expect barely any smoke from fibre cement cladding.
- The value d0 refers to the amount of burning drops you see in a fire, which with fibre cement boarding is 0.