[GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

Sun Aug 5 23:46:18 UTC 2018

Thanks for that Lance.

Good to know that Insurance is now available.

This now should be a Clause in Tender documents - notifying Builders of
their obligations during the straw bale wall building stage.

And should also be included in your tender to the Builder.

Generally smoking is prohibited on building sites - however it does go on.

Bohdan Dorniak

From: Gsbn [mailto:gsbn-bounces at sustainablesources.com] On Behalf Of Lance
Kairl
Sent: Saturday, 4 August 2018 9:46 AM
To: 'Global Straw Building Network'
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

Hi Pete,

and GBSN users,

Yes spread of flame over loose straw, and the straw sticking our of bales is
know as a high flammability Index. Once strings start to break / burn  more
fuel has access to air and burns very well. While our  ( Ausble ) fire test
was on rendered bales , testing staff ( also knows a licensed pyromaniacs)
just wanted to see how well they burn. I think the official response was
,Yes, very well indeed.

Our experience with fire on un-rendered strawbales. 

A 2 million dollar project, single story, we felt it wise to  bale and then
render it in sections at a time, partly to reduce the vast amount of
rendering to be undertaken in one hit.

Partly because we could  bale and render one section while other
construction work proceeded in other sections of the large single story
building. ( would create some work flow efficiency)

It is believed a  piece of loose straw blew from the construction area out
to a petrol powered air compressor ( 6 meters away ) caught alight and blew
back onto the bales being used for construction. All while we where there ,
and where  in fact rendering the first stage of bale walls.

The single coat of render to the bale walls closest to the fire outbreak did
significantly reduce the spread of fire ( along with minimal fire
suppression work .. A garden hose) to other wall sections.

In the main we lost a wall 6m long x 3m high, but did cause significant
damage to other structural elements of the building..

Happy ending, insurance paid for all repairs,  house finished owners love
it.

Since June 2017 and the Grenfell tower fire  Insurers and underwriters world
wide have been showing great interest in "Cladding arrangements and
materials being used" and risk reduction.

Late 2017 we had our insurance was ( verbally) cancelled by our insurer
because we built "straw houses". 

This raised many issues , Our Builders licence is endorsed for strawbale
construction, but any builder could undertake to build a strawbale house.
Was Strawbale becoming a prescribed risk ( like asbestos removal , or
demolition work over 10 meters high).

Many emails / phone calls later  our insurance was reinstated with:

Us having to provide "  A fire risk management strategy" protocol.

A written document setting out what we will do and have on site to reduce
the risk of fire and to suppress fire in the event one started.

And a hefty $10,000 fire excess in the event of a fire related claim.

And a  hefty increase in premiums. ( the excess is acceptable on large
projects , but we often only install the bales and render on jobs of $20,000
to $40,000 as a subcontractor )

Our Risk reduction protocols were to  include;

NO smoking on site, 

No angle grinders  or fuel powered equipment within 10m of  bales or straw,
and no welding on site once bales were delivered.

Site fencing to exclude all unauthorised  intruders.

Provision of multiple fire extinguishers on site.

Provision of 1000 litres of fire fighting water and a fuel driven fire pump
and fire hoses on site.

Uninstalled bale storage area

Loose straw clean up and disposal

Fire brigade phone numbers on display

While none of the above is excessive , it becomes difficult when we are only
a subcontractor , and the Principal builder does not have the same insurance
conditions . So on a country property is there going to be site fencing
provided , and the builder usually allows smoking anywhere on the site,
along with plumbers welding  and angle grinders in use by other trades.

Site theft, how many fire extinguishers can be stolen from a building site,
as they are useless if locked in a cage or chained to a post.

On smaller sites where will we put our fire fighting pump and water tank. 

Thankfully talk of applying fire suppressing agents to all the bales did not
get raised in any of the insurance conversations.

( fire treatments like those used on Theatre stage curtains seemed most
likely to be in contention. As could be sprayed on the surface only, and had
good documented performance)

Thankfully we can comply with most of the above , now have a different
insurance agent ( same underwriter ..go figure) 

Not so high premiums, and an acceptable but double our standard excess for
fire claims.

Advice,

See if they will accept fire management/ prevention protocols,

Yes this will incur some cost.

Ascertain cost of rendering as you go, ( sorry someone has to pay)

Investigate fire suppression agents ( great on a sustainable ,
environmentally friendly  building site )  Sorry again some one will have to
pay.

Hopefully this has been of some help.

Regards lance.

Lance Kairl

G Thomas & L Kairl Builders

PO Box 810

GOOLWA, SA 5214

Ph: 8555 4223

www.houseofbales.com.au <http://www.houseofbales.com.au/> 

From: Gsbn <gsbn-bounces at sustainablesources.com> On Behalf Of Pete Walker
Sent: Friday, 3 August 2018 11:45 PM
To: gsbn at sustainablesources.com
Subject: [GSBN] Fire resistance of unrendered straw bales

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

<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai
gn=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> Image removed by sender.

Virus-free.
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai
gn=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> www.avast.com 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20180806/15d6a7db/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 350 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20180806/15d6a7db/attachment.jpg>