Guides · Bushfire
Gutter guard in a bushfire area: what to look for
Gutter guard can mean fewer leaves in the gutter, but in a bushfire area the material matters as much as the mesh. Here's what the official guidance says, and what guard doesn't do.
Before you start: I don't install gutter guard at the moment, so this is just what the official guidance says. For a new build or extension in a bushfire prone area, your building surveyor will tell you what your site's Bushfire Attack Level requires.
Steps
- It must be non-combustible. The CFA and building regulator's guide to retrofitting your home says that where gutter and valley leaf guards are installed, they should be non-combustible. In practice that means metal mesh, not plastic.
- Know the 2 mm rule. For ember protection, the same guide specifies mesh or perforated sheet with a maximum aperture of 2 mm, made of corrosion-resistant steel, bronze or aluminium. Many "ember guard" gutter products use that mesh. Ask any supplier to confirm in writing that their product is non-combustible and what the aperture is.
- Find out your Bushfire Attack Level (BAL). BAL is the rating in Australian Standard AS 3959 for how much ember attack, radiant heat and flame a building site can expect. If your home was built or extended in a designated bushfire prone area, the building permit documents should show the BAL it was built to. The retrofit guide covers homes up to BAL-29; at BAL-40 and Flame Zone it says homes usually aren't suited to simple retrofits, so get advice from a registered building practitioner.
- Don't forget box gutters and valleys. The retrofit guide also recommends box gutters be non-combustible and flashed to the roof with non-combustible material. Valleys are where leaves pile up deepest, so any valley guard should be metal too.
- Check what's on your roof now. If you're not sure what kind of guard you have, the installer's invoice or the product name will tell you. Look for the words non-combustible and the mesh aperture.
- Plan to clean it anyway. Leaves mat on top of the mesh, and fine litter and grit wash through and settle underneath. On a bad fire day, leaves sitting on top of a guard are still dry fuel on the roof edge.
If that didn't help
- Plastic or unknown guard on a house in a bushfire prone area? Talk to a licensed roof plumber or a registered building practitioner about replacing it with non-combustible mesh. You can check a practitioner's registration with the Building and Plumbing Commission.
- To see whether your address is in a designated bushfire prone area or the Bushfire Management Overlay, look it up on VicPlan.
- For everything beyond the gutters, start with the CFA's how to prepare your property page.
When to call me instead
Your guard hasn't been lifted and cleaned underneath in the last year, or leaves are matted on top going into summer. I lift it, clean the gutter underneath, brush the mesh and refit it for a fixed $180 on top of the clean.
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