[GSBN] Use of and protection - steel columns in bale walls

[RT]

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009, a dewey-eyed,slip-jointed Skillful Meany opined:

> My notion is that condensation will not occur at a theoreticaldew point  
> location in the wall, but will happen on the back sideof the exterior  
> plaster.


I'd venture that vapour in the wall will in fact condense at the dew point  
of the wall's thermal profile  ... but noticeable accumulations of liquid  
will be found at the backside of the plaster.

I'd also venture that condensation that happens at the dew points in the  
straw would be sucked up by the straw and hence not be noticeable by  
visual inspection. That condensed moisture sucked-up by the straw may or  
may not be released later, depending upon subsequent temperature &  
humidity conditions.

As for metal framing members being magnets for condensation, thereby  
posing too much of a risk to use with straw, I'd venture that that would  
be the case if and only if the air barrier was so shoddily done so as to  
be ineffective.  If that's the case, then moisture damage as a result of  
bulk moisture transport via air leakage would be a problem even if there  
were no metal framing components embedded in the straw.




-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  ChaffY a h o o  dot  C a >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)
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