The safety of our homes is by far the most important thing for us when building or buying a new prefab home. But when it comes to prefab homes many are still not sure if they are safe for their family.
Are prefab homes safe? Yes, they are very safe, in some cases even safer than stick-built homes. Thanks to better technologies implemented in prefabs construction, and compliance with local building codes to the highest degree, prefabs are safe to live in.
Of course, each prefab home will have several degrees of safety, from fire rating to health safety. Some several fields and hazards contribute to the safety envelope of a house and we will explore them in this post.
Moreover, for some people there might be additional safety factors related to age, children, and pets, that others might not consider to be as important. As such I can not cover all that which is considered a safety hazard by everybody and will not try to get into everyone’s head.
Therefore, how safe are prefab homes of any type and construction method will be determined by each individual differently. However, certain guidelines do exist which draw a clear line for the basic level of safety that every home must meet so the local building codes are fully addressed.
Additionally, after looking at the accident rates and types in a home some factors are looking to be what most people will surely consider as a hazard. For that reason some of the safety factors that I will explore might look simple or obvious for some but trust me, unfortunately, they happen all the time.
What Are The Most Common Safety Hazards For Prefabs
Well Prefab homes are a fairly safe home option which I will elaborate on later, yet they are homes, and for that are under the obligation of complying with building codes. These building codes are meant to protect the inhabitants of any home prefabs as well.
Many safety hazards are related to accidents that may or may not occur at home and around it. For that reason when the building codes were written or corrected it was so that people will be more protected at home.
The leading safety hazards in the US are falling, poisoning, fires and burns, choking and suffocation, and drowning or submerging. Those are leading causes of injuries and deaths at or around homes. Prefab homes are part of these statistics as they are part of the general housing market.
However, prefab homes are built and approved by each local building code, thus, prefabs are not more dangerous than any other home. For example, the falling risk is real in any home, but prefab homes are constructed with ledges and stairs that comply with the building code so the risk is lower.
A swimming pool is the same for prefab homes as for stick-built homes, the safety of the pool is in the hands of the homeowner. Putting a fence to prevent children from entering without anyone watching is a must and can be done in prefab homes.
However, some safety factors are better addressed in prefab homes and for that reason, they are safer than the average stick-built homes.
Without further ado let’s get into each safety factor that makes prefab homes a safe choice for you and your family.
Health Safety Of Prefab Homes
The safety of prefab homes is first and foremost related to how healthy a home is. For that reason, prefab homes manufacturers are doing their best to ensure that their homes will be healthy to live in for the long run.
First, prefab construction is using greener materials both for the environment and the customers. Using new insulation materials that have been developed so that they will not harm humans is a great example. Think of Asbestos, a roofing material that has been used for ages all over the world only to realize that it can be harmful to the respiratory system if it gets broken.
Prefab homes, for the most part, have a modern and sustainable design which means that materials used for their construction were tested long before released for public use, therefore making them less harmful to a home environment.
Secondly, the ability to control the construction process and quality. For example, putting the air and moisture barrier as part of the insulation system, and by that reducing the health hazards of the prefab home.
The control over the process makes the air barrier much more efficient as it can be checked if done by humans or applied with greater precision by a machine. Both applications will lock the insulation materials to their place which prevents them from passing into the living environment.
Additionally, moisture cannot harm the insulation thanks to the moisture barrier, which will prevent mold growth inside the living rooms of the prefab. Mold is considered to be a very high health hazard, as it can induce allergies and has been shown to have a connection to some respiratory syndromes.
Overall, controlling the production process helps prevent an unstable indoor environment which helps reduce the health risks.
Thirdly, smart systems that could be implemented in prefab homes, thanks to lower costs of construction there is more freedom that allows for more technological solutions to be implemented. For example, smart lighting systems that change throughout the day that contribute to mental health.
A dark home will most likely be depressing and uninviting, as a result, the people living in it will be mentally harmed.
Fourthly, prefabs modern design improves the amount and size of the openings that bring more light into the house. Thus, it helps by creating a more natural feeling that improves mental health and could even help by raising sun exposure for more vitamin D absorption.
Both mental and physical health are a huge part of the safety degree your home should provide, and prefab homes can deliver it as their production process is under greater control and put to use better and safer materials and technologies.
Ventilation Systems Of Prefabs
As mentioned above prefab homes are totally air and water tight, as a result, the house must have a ventilation system to compensate for this.
Prefab homes use new and useful ventilation systems so that suffocation risk is very unlikely to occur. Additionally, fresh air is important in any home, and having an effective ventilation system will improve air quality inside the home.
Air quality is a big factor for home safety as lethal gases can not accumulate inside, which helps prevent related health issues, suffocation during the night, and keeping energy levels high.
Fresh air is highly important to keep the prefab homes safe, as the homes are airtight putting a ventilation system would be part of the build. This will also help keep moisture and temperature levels fairly balanced which again benefits health safety and sustainability of prefabs.
Fire Safety Of Prefab Homes
Fire safety approach in homes and prefab homes is determined by the local building codes, as there should be at least a minimum rating to a home.
Fire safety these days is becoming more and more relevant as humans push into new territories that are closer to woods, and as the climate is changing for the worst there are more forest fires. The protection of the prefabs envelope is getting better and so do their framing materials. All so that if and when a natural fire occurs there will be enough time for evacuation.
Moreover, interior fire safety is not a new factor in the total home safety rating, but one that prefabs have improved so that house fires would stay local for as long as possible. Again thanks to new materials and a new design with safety in mind prefabs can achieve a higher safety level.
Fire safety factor which is required by the law is determined mostly by the materials used for construction and the combination between them. Meaning each material gets a fire rating at the factory (approved by an agency of the state) and each construction method or element gets a rating as well. By combining these together the authorities know whether your new home stands within the requirements.
In most cases, traditional stick-built homes will be constructed to the minimum fire rating safety requirement, unless told otherwise. However, prefab homes that cost less to construct can use better and more high-end fire-rated materials that improve their fire safety.
It is important to have the fire rating as high as you possibly can to ensure a safe evacuation possibility for your family out of the home if ever caught on fire both inside the house and from the outside.
In recent years there is a higher number of wildfires all across the globe, from western rich countries to the very poor. One thing is sure, fire safety in homes, buildings, and prefabs is here to stay and it is super important to have a good fire rating for every home.
Prefab Homes Are Natural Disasters Ready
Nature can be amazing most of the time, but at times it can also be devastating, natural disasters can happen all year round and impact the way we perceive home safety.
Prefab homes are being constructed to comply with the local building codes just like other homes, as a result, they are resilient against nature at least to the rate set by the authorities. Thus, considering a prefab home should not be interfered by a notion that there is something weak or unstable with them.
In fact, many of these prefabricated homes are stronger and can last longer than other traditional homes. Thanks to new materials and composites these prefab homes are constructed better. For example, steel frames are becoming more and more common and might soon overtake wood, because it is lighter, stronger, sustainable, cheaper, but most importantly can be designed to withstand natural disasters better.
Moreover, the modern design of prefab homes helps construct better-suited homes for the environment they will be situated in. Meaning, building a prefab home for a location known for its hurricanes will be engineered to withstand stronger wind gusts, while a prefab designated for a location known to have earthquakes would be designed and constructed to move and withstand the earth’s movement.
Overall, prefabs have a better chance of being safer as the design is improved, materials used are better and are in line with local building codes, all that and the fact that prefabs are produced under higher control points towards a safer outcome.
The Safety Of An Aging Prefab Home
Prefab homes are not aging like other homes, this is thanks to the use of new material combined with better implementation methods during the construction process into complete and high-quality sections.
Because of this, there is less degradation in the long term which equals a longer lifetime, which equals a higher safety rating overall.
The connection between longevity of prefabs to safety is directly driven by materials’ slower degradation rate which ensures the structural integrity of the prefab home and prevents health risks over time.
Compared to other types of homes where many of the materials used are either of lower quality or did not get the right treatment along the way. Either way how a home is aging has a lot to do with how safe it will be.
For example, rotten wood can, if not treated on time and properly, cause parts of a home to collapse. However, prefab homes that are built out of wood are treated before the construction and are not exposed to nature during the construction phase.
One other thing is the degradation of materials over time can cause some parts of it to separate and get into our body through the air or water. A good example is insulation materials that can fall apart after some time and “fly” into our breathing systems.
Prefab homes manage to deal with this by implementing better materials that won’t fall apart as quickly as other material, and closing them properly so that even if they do fall apart they will not find their way out of the wall cavity.
As explained earlier in this post, each type of prefab home is by far more advanced than traditional homes. And the safety of prefabs is also higher as it can endure through time better and by that stay safer longer.
Prefabs Have Higher Quality Control During Production
Safety is related to the quality of the build, prefabs construction is known to have a high-quality process that leads to a better home. Prefabs are highly safe thanks to the ability to control the production process, in-doors and off-site under the best conditions possible.
As the prefab homes are built under strict construction stages with set checkpoints it is much easier to find flaws and fix them before they get into a massive problem. Thus, there is a smaller chance for construction defects to become a larger problem for the safety of the house.
For example, the frame of the prefab home is built from materials that are safely stored from nature, and built by workers or robots that are specifically learned to build each part to its highest quality. Then the part and later on the fully assembled section are going through a thorough quality check which goes into making a safe home.
There are many things that go into building a home and many of them do go wrong and are fixed if noticed on time, prefabs control each stage of the process and manage to limit the flaws to the bare minimum.
The quality assessment that happens throughout the construction process of prefab homes is what gives this type of construction the ability to produce and deliver a safe and highly worthy home to its customers.
Prefab Homes Are Safe
Prefabricated homes are a safe living option thanks to all the advancements and upgrades offered by this housing option.
Having said so some injuries are not necessarily related to the type of home but more the one’s way of living. Those would be hazards like falling, drowning, and poisoning that can happen at any house.
But those safety hazards that do relay to the type of home are those that prefabs have managed to reduce and control up to a point where they are almost nonexistent.
Health safety is being improved by better materials and built quality, fire safety by improving the materials and their combinations, air and light quality by improved systems, and natural disasters durability by modern and proper design.
Overall, prefabs can deliver higher quality and safer homes by controlling the construction process from A to Z most of it off-site with the best possible conditions.
All those factors combined create a safe and healthy home environment, and this is all thanks to the manufacturing process of prefabs which is better than the traditional stick built projects altogether.
So if you are looking for the safest home for your family prefab homes can certainly be the option you are looking for. Make sure to ask local manufacturers for their safety ratings and features so you could compare your offers.
Until next time, Stay safe
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