During the past 24 months diligent testing of ProtectorFoam has been carried out by ourselves, the Building Research Establishment (B.R.E.) and also at the Severn Park Fire and Rescue Training centre at Avonmouth, Bristol.

During these tests, thatched sections were set alight. Some sections were open beneath the thatch, others had plasterboard and pseudo lath and plaster. Some of the plasterboard and lath sections had ProtectorFoam installed in the void.

The results were astonishing - in the case of the B.R.E testing (using BS476: Part3 32004 methodology), it showed that after an hour of intense heating, the sections with ProtectorFoam were the only ones to achieve the burn limit time of one hour.

Specimen Construction			Penetration Time after 1 Hour
Thatch	ProtectorFoam	Simulated Lath and Plaster	None
Thatch	-	Plasterboard	51 minutes
Thatch	ProtectorFoam	Plasterboard	None
Thatch	-	-	17 minutes

As for the results at the fire training centre, these again showed what an excellent fire deterrent product the ProtectorFoam system is. Where as the sections without ProtectorFoam burnt through quickly, it was approximately one and a half hours before the fire burnt through the thatch and foam to the plaster or lath.  In the tests carried out on the thatched sections at Avonmouth the depth of ProtectorFoam varied beneath the thatch between 50mm and 100mm, this was because of the varying intrusion of the thatch into the void.  This is significant because properties with a deeper joist depth, (some can be as deep as 250mm or 10 inches), an even longer burn time through to the plaster board or lath will be achieved.

The pictures below are from the tests at Severn Park. The panels are constructed of (from left to right) plasterboard only, plasterboard with ProtectorFoam, thatch only, lath and plaster with ProtectorFoam