FAQ · Fire safety
Is cellulose insulation fire-resistant? The natural mineral treatment and the blowtorch test.
Yes. It’s been shown to slow fire spread. Comfort Zone Cellulose Fibre Insulation carries a natural mineral treatment that turns into a glassy coating in heat. Hold a blowtorch to it and it chars and glows where the flame touches, then stops, while fibreglass batts simply melt away.
It’s the first thing people ask when I tell them their insulation is made from upcycled plant fibre: “won’t that just catch fire?” It’s a fair question, and the answer is that the treatment changes everything. Here’s the chemistry, the demonstration you can watch, and how cellulose stacks up against a melting batt. With the government sources to back it.
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What our customers say
Genuine Google & hipages reviews from Comfort Zone customers across SE Queensland.
- J
Jessa B.
Brisbane
“It dropped about 4 degrees straight away, and we added another 3 with the second job. I appreciate Peter's honesty, and the team showed pictures before and after.”
- Ahipages
Angela M.
SE Queensland
“The fact that I can't even tell it's 6 degrees outside when I wake up in the morning speaks for itself. Have wasted so much money attempting to heat and cool an uninsulated home. Worth every $.”
- I
Iain V-B.
Brisbane
“Quick and polite service. Great follow-up advice and photos sent for our records. Above and beyond what we expected. Would highly recommend.”
- Ghipages
Gerry S
Fitzgibbon, 2023
“I used Comfort Zone and they have a done an excellent job.”
- Jhipages
Jung K
Riverhills, 2023
“An experienced family operation. Highly recommend. Thank you for the great job!”
- Dhipages
David H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Completed the job as quoted and to a high standard. Great personal service. Would highly recommend Comfort Zone for ceiling installation work.”
- Bhipages
Benjamin H
Carseldine, 2019
“Very good explanation about their works. Advice of existing problems with the roof. Clean work. Very professional.”
- Ihipages
Ian G
Burnside, 2019
“Good information, communication and professionalism.”
- Dhipages
Danny D
Boondall, 2018
“He explained everything he was going to do and the different types of insulation they used. He talked through the different options but made a recommendation for the one most people use, which is the one I chose. He was very understanding towards what I needed and not about himself.”
- Ghipages
Graham R
Riverhills, 2018
“Comfort Zone. Turned up ahead of time, completed in about 2 hours, cleaned up. All good. Very motivated installation team.”
- Ahipages
Alex B
West Ipswich, 2018
“Fast, friendly, efficient.”
- Lhipages
Luke D
Mcdowall, 2017
“Peter did a good job. It was a quick and clean service. I'm happy to recommend!”
- Bhipages
Brendon
Brays Creek, 2016
“Peter supplied and installed roof insulation for me. He was very informative and provided good advice.”
- Thipages
Trevor G
Brookside Centre, 2016
“Excellent tradesmen from Comfort Zone Insulation. They were punctual and cleaned up after. Highly recommended.”
- Jhipages
John G
Beaudesert, 2019
“Peter is an honest person who provided me with the information I wanted then performed a good job with great results for the benefit of myself and my family.”
- Phipages
P Peter
Alstonvale, 2024
“Connected with Comfort Zone Insulation and would recommend them”
- Nhipages
Nola M
Birtinya, 2024
“They were courteous and competent.”
- Jhipages
Jennifer's E
Upper Caboolture, 2024
“Excellent customer service. Highly recommended. Has a profound knowledge of insulation products and has the best interest of his customer.”
- Jhipages
Jennifer
Upper Caboolture, 2024
“Excellent customer service. Highly recommend. Has a profound knowledge of insulation products and has the customer best interest.”
- Dhipages
Diane A
Ormeau, 2024
“Peter and crew did a great job I would definitely recommend them”
- Thipages
Timea
Highland Park, 2023
“I was extremely satisfied with the service they provided. They gave a very thourough explanation of the materials used, the way the work will be carried out and the price I had to pay was the exact amount quoted, no hidden costs included. They arrived on time, well prepared and workwas carried out exactly how they said it would be, they were super efficient, well prepared and were kind enough to even clean up after themselves. The services they provided was second to none! I don't hesitate to recommend them for any insulation job!”
- Mhipages
Mark
Pottsville, 2017
“Michelle, we are done - Peter from comfort zone insulation was very helpful. very honest with his recommendations - in fact he told me that the product my daughter had if installed correctly was superb. Thanks Peter you are a champion and i would recommend you to any person that was wanting professional advice and old school service.”
- Jhipages
Jessica
Pottsville, 2016
“This business offers a fantastic product that other businesses did not. Pump in ceiling insulation. Knowledge of the industry second to none.”
- Jhipages
Jack
Pottsville, 2023
“Excellent communication and informative. Professional.”
- Thipages
Tony P
Redland Bay, 2023
“Very knowledgeable about insulation”
- Shipages
Steve
Redland Bay, 2017
“Excellent job and reasonable price.”
- Bhipages
Bruce H
Kuluin, 2023
“Prompt and efficient quoting.”
- Ghipages
Gerry S
Fitzgibbon, 2023
“I used Comfort Zone and they have a done an excellent job.”
- Thipages
Tamara
Underwood, 2023
“Peter is honest, hard-working and came on time. Knew excally what he was talking about and answered my questions. Would 100% recommend”
- Shipages
Sterling G
Ashgrove, 2023
“Comfort Zone were very knowledge with great communication and follow up”
- Ghipages
Graham R
Riverhills, 2018
“Comfort Zone. Turned up ahead of time completed in +- 2 hours cleaned. All good. Very motivated installation team”
- Jhipages
Jung K
Riverhills, 2023
“An experienced family operation. Highly recommend. Thank you for the great job!”
- Khipages
Kathy A
North Lakes, 2023
“We connected with Peter through HiPages and he was prompt, professional and even came back after the job was complete to assist with a question we had. We would highly recommend Peter for further insulation works.”
- Dhipages
David H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Completed the job as quoted and to a high standard. Great personal service. Would highly recommend Comfort Zone for ceiling installationn work.”
- Shipages
Sue H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Incredible customer service”
- Ehipages
Eileen C
Cedar Vale, 2021
“Quality work, good customer service, prompt”
- Chipages
Craig M
Woody Point, 2021
“Called within 5 minutes of request. Very knowledgeable and explained job in great detail, provide great advice in prior preparation for works required. Very friendly and helpful.”
- Jhipages
Jenny C
Plainland, 2021
“Although I did not hire Peter I was impressed with the initial contact and the knowledge he was willing to impart. I was treated with respect which I appreciated. I would have hired but I received a lower quote.”
- Qhipages
Quinton
Coomera, 2020
“Professional installation without any short cuts. True to their word with high integrity. Response from Comfort Zone Insulation”
- Ghipages
Gary P
West Kempsey, 2020
“Came & Gave a free quote”
It’s plant fibre. But it’s treated plant fibre.
Cellulose Fibre Insulation is made from upcycled plant fibre that started life as newsprint, so the worry is reasonable: paper burns. The thing that changes it is the treatment. The Australian Government’s CSIRO describes cellulose fibre as pulverised paper combined with fire-retardant chemicals, and ours is a natural mineral treatment. Heat turns that treatment into a glassy coating over the fibre, which slows the flame and helps the fibre char instead of burn. That is the mechanism chemists describe for this class of fire retardant. (That’s the chemistry, not a fire rating on the product. There’s a difference, and I’ll come to it.)
The state-government guidance is even more direct about what the treatment does. Sustainability Victoria’s Energy Smart Housing Manual states that cellulose fibre must be treated with a fire retardant, and that the treatment ensures that, if the material does ignite, the flame will not spread. That’s a government source saying the quiet part out loud. It’s not the paper that matters, it’s what we put in the paper.
The demonstration you can watch
Hold a blowtorch to it. It chars and glows. It won’t carry a flame.
You don’t have to take my word for the chemistry. Take a handful of our treated cellulose and put a blowtorch straight on it. Where the flame touches, it chars and glows orange. The moment you take the torch away, it stops. It won’t carry the flame across the rest of the blanket the way a sheet of newspaper would. The treatment has done exactly what Sustainability Victoria describes: stopped the flame spreading.
It isn’t just a party trick. In full-scale fire tests by Canada’s National Research Council on loaded timber-stud walls, the wall insulated with cellulose lasted 51 minutes and the similar walls with glass-fibre batts 42 and 43 minutes. The Australian fire test that gives a building material its ignitability, flame-spread, heat and smoke indices is AS/NZS 1530.3. I don’t print a rating I can’t back up.
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Family-owned insulation manufacturer, making comfy homes since 1986
The contrast
Fibreglass melts away. Cellulose chars and holds.
Fibreglass is glass, and glass melts. In a house fire the batts soften and melt away, leaving your roof timbers exposed at the worst possible moment. So the cheapest insulation in the roof also disappears right when you most need cover. Treated Cellulose Fibre Insulation does the opposite: it chars and holds its position rather than melting.
Here’s the plain version. It’s more convincing than the hype anyway: nothing in your ceiling makes a house fireproof, and I’m not claiming it does. What I’m telling you is that when you put the two materials in the same heat, the cellulose stays put and resists carrying a flame, while the batt melts out of the way. That difference, backed by Sustainability Victoria and the NRC Canada tests, not just by me, is one more reason cellulose is the only product I’d use in my own home.
“The big burn”
The big burn, 1998: a US demonstration, not an Australian fire rating.
If you search for this, you’ll find a famous demonstration called “the big burn.” In the 1998 test at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, three identical two-storey test houses were lit together: one with no insulation, one with fibreglass batts and one with sprayed cellulose. The cellulose house stood about 24 minutes longer than the fibreglass one. It collapsed at 66 minutes 45 seconds against 42 minutes 26 seconds. Steven Winter Associates, Large Scale Outdoor Fire Demonstration Program, 17 July 1998, Conclusion 1 and Table 4A (archived copy). It lines up with what I see in my own blowtorch test.
But here’s the footnote. That test was done in the United States in 1998and paid for by a cellulose manufacturer, so it’s a demonstration, not an Australian fire rating. An earlier demonstration from about 1978 gets quoted too, and the 1998 report itself says that one had technical shortcomings. The Australian numbers come from AS/NZS 1530.3 ignitability and flame-spread testing, and I won’t print a rating I can’t back up on the page.
Watch the fire tests for yourself
Don't take my word for it. Watch us put a flame to it. Press play and the whole product-test playlist runs right here on the page.
The clips play right here on the page, or open the playlist to watch them all on YouTube and subscribe.
Some of these were filmed a while back. Our methods, safety standards and products have moved on since. For how we work today, see the rest of this page.
More on cellulose and fire
Is cellulose insulation fire-resistant?+
Yes. It's been shown to slow fire spread. Comfort Zone Cellulose Fibre Insulation carries a natural mineral treatment against fire, and Sustainability Victoria's Energy Smart Housing Manual says that treatment ensures that, if the material does ignite, the flame will not spread. Heat turns the treatment into a glassy coating over the fibre, so hold a blowtorch to a handful and it chars and glows where the flame touches, then stops, rather than carrying the flame across the rest. In full-scale fire tests by Canada's National Research Council on loaded timber-stud walls, the wall insulated with cellulose lasted 51 minutes and the similar walls with glass-fibre batts 42 and 43 minutes. I won't print a fire rating I can't back up. But the treatment and the government's own wording are why I trust it in a roof. Including my own.
Won't paper insulation just catch fire?+
It's the obvious worry, and it's a fair one. Cellulose Fibre Insulation is made from upcycled plant fibre, and plant fibre burns. The difference is the treatment. The CSIRO describes cellulose fibre as pulverised paper combined with fire-retardant chemicals, and ours is a natural mineral treatment. Sustainability Victoria's Energy Smart Housing Manual says the treatment ensures that if the material does ignite, the flame won't spread. Untreated newspaper in a pile is a fire risk. Treated Cellulose Fibre Insulation, pumped into your ceiling, behaves completely differently: under a blowtorch it chars and glows where the flame touches it, then stops, rather than carrying the flame across the rest of the blanket. The Australian fire test that gives a building material its ignitability, flame-spread, heat and smoke indices is AS/NZS 1530.3. I don't print a rating I can't back up.
What happens to fibreglass batts in a house fire?+
Fibreglass is glass, and glass melts. In a hot enough fire the batts soften and melt away, leaving your roof timbers exposed where you most needed the cover. So the cheapest insulation can also disappear at the worst possible moment. Cellulose does the opposite: it chars and holds rather than melting. I'm not telling you cellulose makes a house fireproof; nothing in your ceiling does that. What I'm saying is that when the two materials were put in the same heat in NRC Canada's loaded wall tests, the cellulose wall lasted 51 minutes against 42 and 43 minutes for the glass-fibre walls. That's one more reason it's the only product I'd use in my own home.
Have they actually burned cellulose against batts to test it?+
There's a well-known demonstration people Google called "the big burn". The documented one is the 1998 test at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute: three identical two-storey test houses were lit together, one with no insulation, one with fibreglass batts and one with sprayed cellulose, and the cellulose house stood about 24 minutes longer than the fibreglass one. It collapsed at 66 minutes 45 seconds against 42 minutes 26 seconds. It was a US test paid for by a cellulose manufacturer, so I present it as a demonstration, not an Australian fire rating. An earlier demonstration from about 1978 gets quoted too, and the 1998 report itself says that one had technical shortcomings. The Australian numbers come from AS/NZS 1530.3 ignitability and flame-spread testing, and I don't quote a rating off the top of my head.
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