[GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

[Pete Walker]

Hi

I am writing on behalf of a leading straw bale builder in UK who has run into concerns from a fire safety consultant concerning exposed straw bales during construction. The consultant is happy to accept the fire performance of load bearing straw bale walls once rendered, but is concerned that the exposed (unrendered) straw bales present too high a fire load risk during construction. To limit this risk the consultant is requiring that the 2 and 3 storey bale walls are rendered in stages as the construction progresses (in sections of around 250 bales per time), rather than all in one go after completion of all the bale walls (around 750 bales in total), as is more usual practice. This will cause significant programming issues for the project.

Therefore, I am writing to enquire:

1)      Has anyone else had similar experiences? If so, how did it work out?

2)      Has anyone had experience of straw bale buildings catching fire during construction? If so, how did it work out?

3)      What other fire protection measures have you experienced? Are your walls/bale stockpiles covered by a fire protection layer during construction, before rendering?

4)      Does anyone have data/information on fire performance of unrendered straw bale walls?

5)      Any other words of advice?

many thanks and best wishes

Pete Walker

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