[GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

[Dirk Scharmer]

David,
FASBA in Germany did an unpublished official Fire Resistance test of a 
uncovered straw wall (timber frame with strawbale as infill standing on 
edge. It survived not 30 minutes.
Main reason could have been, that according to testing standards the 
burning chamber has over pressure, so that hot flames immediately start 
penetrating the straw. It was a desaster. ~15.000€ burned.

May be just a paper on the outside of the wall could have done the job. 
For the test. For the reality, we all know, that burning straw is not 
nice, passing tests or not.

Dirk Scharmer, Architect


--

Dirk Scharmer
Fachverband Strohballenbau Deutschland e.V.
Artilleriestr.6
27283 Verden
www.fasba.de
Email: ds at fasba.de

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------ Originalnachricht ------
Von: "David Arkin, AIA" <david at arkintilt.com>
An: "Global Straw Building Network" <gsbn at sustainablesources.com>
Gesendet: 03.08.2018 21:29:40
Betreff: Re: [GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

>Hello Pete Walker, All:
>
>We recently completed a 34,000 sf (3,160 M2) mixed use warehouse / 
>office building, with straw bale insulated walls on the second and 
>third floors of offices.  The project was completed and occupied a few 
>months ago:  https://www.arkintilt.com/salvaged-materials-mahonia    
>https://www.arkintilt.com/mahonia-mixed-use-building (finished photos 
>coming soon).
>
>1)      Has anyone else had similar experiences? If so, how did it work 
>out?
>Worked out great!  We probably had a similar number of bales (±750) 
>within our building at any given time, with some on palettes and some 
>in the walls, before the plaster work started.
>We hosted a series of three weekend workshops; the first weekend we 
>trained 15 leaders for the second weekend, which had around 60 people, 
>and the third weekend focused on clay plaster.  These Facebook posts 
>are 9 months old now (hard to find), so here are links:
>https://www.facebook.com/pg/CASBACaliforniaStrawBuildingAssociation/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1480355395380273
>https://www.facebook.com/CASBACaliforniaStrawBuildingAssociation/videos/1480998491982630/
>https://www.facebook.com/pg/CASBACaliforniaStrawBuildingAssociation/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1482517535164059
>https://www.facebook.com/pg/CASBACaliforniaStrawBuildingAssociation/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1479606938788452
>
>2)      Has anyone had experience of straw bale buildings catching fire 
>during construction? If so, how did it work out?
>Thankfully, no. I’ve heard tell of fires burning loose straw on the 
>ground and up the surface of a wall, and then burning themselves out or 
>being put out, with little or no damage.  Other than a one-room studio, 
>a good number strawbale projects have survived wildfires 
>(post-construction):
>https://www.facebook.com/CASBACaliforniaStrawBuildingAssociation/ 
>(yesterday’s post, re: a project near Redding, CA)
>
>3)      What other fire protection measures have you experienced? Are 
>your walls/bale stockpiles covered by a fire protection layer during 
>construction, before rendering?
>‘Straw Management’ was a major emphasis throughout the workshops / 
>installation of bales, and a part of all of our bale-raisings.  We have 
>a document that addresses this specifically, including:
>- fire extinguishers and/or water hoses at the ready
>- a crew specifically dedicated to raking and relocating loose straw
>- absolutely no smoking or flames
>- electric and hand tools only
>Our bales were stockpiled within the building, in stacks on palettes, 
>without protection (other than the roof).  Could someone have snuck 
>into the building, started a fire and potentially burned it down? 
>Perhaps, but that’s true of nearly every building during construction.
>
>4)      Does anyone have data/information on fire performance of 
>unrendered straw bale walls?
>Yes.  Attached is a report on a fire test of unplastered bales.  We 
>submitted this to the City Building Official when they inquired about 
>how the straw met flame spread index and smoke developed index limits 
>for commercial insulation.  Anyone who has tried to burn a straw bale 
>knows how difficult it actually is.
>
>5)      Any other words of advice?
>Ensure that the insurance company is aware of the straw construction, 
>and will cover a fire during construction.  Having a plan for fire 
>protection and straw management during installation is important; 
>perhaps the fire safety consultant would want to assist with the 
>drafting of this?  Limiting the number of unplastered bales could be a 
>hassle, but if it’s the only path available, it can probably be made to 
>work, albeit with programming issues.  We started plastering some walls 
>before others had their bales in, so it could’ve worked for our 
>project, but with issues, and it was a whole lot faster and easier to 
>not have this restriction.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>David Arkin / ATA & CASBA
>
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