[GSBN] Straw Bale Code Appeal

[Joyce Coppinger]

> Great work, Laura. Look forward to the report when it¹s available. Many of us
> on the GSBN have done so much to help educate building officials and others in
> our own communities and regions and in many countries. Always glad to hear
> about the experiences everyone  has had. Thanks.
> 
> Joyce
> --------------- 
> Joyce Coppinger
> Managing Editor/Publisher
> The Last Straw, the international journal
> of strawbale and natural building
> PO Box 22706, Lincoln NE 68542-2706
> 402.483.5135, fax 402.483.5161
> <thelaststraw at thelaststraw.org>
> web site: www.thelaststraw.org
> and our new blog at http://thelaststrawblog.org
> 




> 
> 
> Dear GSBN'ers, 
> 
> First, let me say I am feeling very thankful again for this network, the value
> it offers, and the access it provides to so many good people doing excellent
> work. I don't write often, but I "listen" a lot and speak up as my schedule
> allows. 
> 
> And secondly, I was asked to share this by several of you. I was recently
> hired by a client to appeal a straw bale code in Grand County, UT that
> required a "weather barrier" or "sheet barrier" 32" up the exterior of the
> straw bale wall under the plaster. This code requirement has been in place for
> over 10 years, previously required a full sheet barrier and was unsatisfactory
> to many builders and owners in the jurisdiction. The client, who I applaud,
> was willing to put some resources into having a study of this and to create a
> hopefully successful appeal for the benefit of those following him. The head
> code official is on the board of the International Code Council and is
> involved at the state level as well. Thanks go to several folks on this list
> who I contacted individually for thoughts and data related to this issue. I
> collected data from the StrawSense systems that GreenWeaver makes and sells
> and wrote a report summarizing that data, the data in a study by Kris Dick,
> and a one-time moisture investigation I did of the Waldorf School campus in
> 2007. With that in hand, I met with the building official, the clients and
> their builder last week and at the end of a two hour meeting, he agreed to
> remove the requirement from the code and to look more deeply at the other
> straw bale requirements and opportunities to improve their code. The meeting
> helped me to see again some of the common misconceptions about drainage vs.
> storage wall assemblies, the role of plasters, and the properties of vapor
> permeance and capillary absorption. But, it also helped me to understand again
> the value of taking the educational approach, going in with an appreciation of
> the motivations for a code, and an attitude of wanting to work together. The
> building official was very conscientious and I applaud him as well in this
> change. 
> 
> Thanks again to those involved.
> 
> Laura 
> 
> I will make available a .pdf of the data after I add some additional data that
> came in after the fact.
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Laura Bartels
> P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623
> Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905
> laura at greenweaverinc.com
> www.greenweaverinc.com
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
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