2 - Friday, June &, 1990 - North Shore News Fire sprinklers made practical for home Hot TIes IMAGINE HAVING a 24-hour firefighter right in your home. Sound impractical? Not necessari- ly. The District of North Van- couver Fire Department would like you to know how safe and prac- tical home fire sprinklers are. If a fire breaks out in your home, a fire sprinkler head in the area will open within about 30 seconds, spraying water on the fire to put it out. The fire won’t be able to spread beyond the spot where it starts. Even if you’re not at home, the fire will be taken care of. The combination of smoke detectors to wake you up and home sprinklers to put out the fire can’t be beat. Fire sprinklers for commercial structures have been around for a long time but modern techniques and materials have made them practical for home use as well. Still, many people have concerns about putting sprinklers in their homes. Aren't they big and ugly? Mod- ern sprinkler systems for home use are very different from the Wisteria From Page 11 around this circle. I'm not sure of the mechanics, but this action can force the plant to release flower forming hor- mones as part of a defence pro- cess. It appears as though the plant might be trying to assure reproduction because it interprets your attack on its roots as a death threat. Of course, most of the above applies only to mature plants. Newly planted wisterias should be given a few year’s grace to allow them to develop tc the desired size and shape. Young plants should be watered and fed more often and pruned only when the new growth is developing in undesired areas. If you would like to grow a ‘tree’ wisteria, start by staking a single shoot to a six-foot support. Remove any and all additional growth that appears below the top of the support. Pinch the origina! shoot off at the six-foot mark to encourage branching. Regular pruning and thinning of the growth will cause oY r iia a’ CERAMIC TILE BATHROOM WALL TILES arid INSTALLATION from $4 ggoo WALL TILES 6"x6", scolourseD oD ¢ MOSAICS 499 from FLOOR TILES 12°x12" sq/ft, from sq/ft. 1288 East 14th St. 988-3160 North Vancouver District Fire Department sprinklers you've probably seen in warehouses, shopping malls and restaurants. They are small, hug the wall or ceiling and blend right in. Many actually recess into the wall, popping out when needed. Some companies have special kinds for adding to existing homes that look just like crown moulding. What if they go off by mistake? Rigorous tests conducted by Fac- tory Mutual, an independent testing laboratory, show that resi- dential sprinkler systems have only a one in 16-million chance of a false response. That’s not a bad record. What about water damage? Isn’t it just as bad as the fire? Today’s residential sprinkler systems use a minimum of water. Most operate directly from the home’s own water system, so the water is clean. Only the sprinkler head nearest the fire will operate, not all the sprinkler heads in the house. And water is nowhere as destructive as fire. The small amount of water needed to put out the fire will keep the fire from spreading. Within a few short minutes the fire will be out. Without the sprinkler, the fire would continue to ravage your home and belongings. What about cost? A sprinkler system can be installed in a home under construction very economi- cally — usually around $1.50 per square foot. Adding sprinklers to an existing home costs more, but some insurance companies give substantial discounts on policies for homes with sprinklers. A home sprinkler system is worth consider- ing. 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