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<FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>On 7/30/09 11:32 AM, "Tim Owen-Kennedy" <timok33@gmail.com> wrote:<BR>
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I just started pulling apart an earth plastered straw bale wall that was damaged due to roof failure and there is actually some significant mold. Going to document as much as possible . . . but wanted to know if any of you had any pet concepts or things you've always wanted to know about if you could just tear into a wall . . .<BR>
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Tim, if it’s not too late:<BR>
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In areas where you haven’t yet pulled off plaster, I recommend you drill a grid of holes in the plaster (one side only, maybe a 12” grid) in order to insert a moisture meter probe, and take readings 2” from each plaster face and in the center of the bale. Then pull the plaster off each face and see how the visible damage correlates with the moisture readings. <BR>
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You could take the same readings after the plaster is pulled off, which would be a lot easier, but soon after the plaster is off, the moisture content of the straw (especially near the surface) might significantly change. It may already have changed since the water intrusion incident, but there’s no way to go back in time (yet) (or maybe there is, and there are people among us who are from the future) (anyone on this list?).<BR>
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Like Graeme I’d like to see an assessment of the steel reinforcement after 10 years in a weather-exposed earth plaster.<BR>
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Like Dave Arkin I’m interested in saving plaster samples (ones that will yield as large a cube as possible) for compression testing. Although I assume you don’t have compression values from the time of application for comparison. Also, although it’s worth testing samples 10 years after application, I don’t anticipate compression values much different than a typical earth plaster tested 30 days after it was created. I believe that once an earth plaster (or adobe brick, etc.) is fully dry, it has reached its maximum compressive strength. It doesn’t cure and become stronger over time (even indefinitely) like materials with cement or lime binders. It simply dries.<BR>
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If there’s any additional costs associated with some of your “research” work, maybe CASBA could cover it? With what has been discussed so far it doesn’t seem it would amount to much.<BR>
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Thanks for requesting input, and I look forward to hearing what you discover.<BR>
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Martin Hammer<BR>
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