[GSBN] Bulk moisture damage

[RT]

On Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:05 -0400
"stoneandstraw" <stoneandstraw at earthlink.net> wrote:

> No.

> "Jeff Ruppert" <jeff at odiseanet.com> wrote:

>> has anyone seen damage from sources such as interior humidity or plain  
>> old high humidity in wet climates, or any other sources than
>> leaks from windows, roofs, etc?


I think that a more useful question would be:

  "Has anyone conducted a study where a large number of SB homes with the  
tell-tale signs of potential moisture-related problems had their plaster  
cut away to enable qualified technicians to look at the condition of the  
straw ?"

The problem with Jeff's question is that unless water is literally pouring  
out of the SB walls,
people are unlikely to bust into their walls looking for evidence of a  
problem, so one hundred people replying "No" to the question doesn't mean  
that the problems don't exist.

High humidity levels alone aren't likely to be problematic in more areas  
where SBC has currently been used.

In 1996/97 Don Fugler was able to secure a small amount of CMHC funding to  
enable Bob Platts' firm (which had previously done similar studies of  
conventional buildings on sample sizes numbering in 5 figures)to cut into  
the walls and floors of a small number of SB homes and they did find  
evidence of moisture-damaged in straw in the situations and from causes  
where one would expect to find them in similarly detailed conventional  
construction.

ie Capillary action, inward vapour drive, air leakage.

There are more than a few reports of SB structures where people have  
mentioned that they were made ill as a result of being inside them,  
presumably due to exposure to mould. Don would probably be able to provide  
names and locations.  And there are no doubt as many or more unreported  
cases.


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  ChaffY a h o o  dot  C a >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)
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