[GSBN] Straw Bale Code Appeal

[Bohdan Dorniak]

Yeh!
Great work - here in Australia we have the same kind of concerns and we
believe that there is more research being done than in other building
traditional materials.
Bohdan

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From: GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com [mailto:GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com]
On Behalf Of Joyce Coppinger
Sent: Tuesday, 1 December 2009 9:25 AM
To: (private, with public archives) Global Straw Building Network
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Straw Bale Code Appeal



Great work, Laura. Look forward to the report when it's available. Many of
us on the GSBN have done so much to help educate building officials and
others in our own communities and regions and in many countries. Always glad
to hear about the experiences everyone  has had. Thanks.

Joyce
--------------- 
Joyce Coppinger
Managing Editor/Publisher
The Last Straw, the international journal
of strawbale and natural building
PO Box 22706, Lincoln NE 68542-2706
402.483.5135, fax 402.483.5161
<thelaststraw at thelaststraw.org>
web site: www.thelaststraw.org
and our new blog at http://thelaststrawblog.org











Dear GSBN'ers, 

First, let me say I am feeling very thankful again for this network, the
value it offers, and the access it provides to so many good people doing
excellent work. I don't write often, but I "listen" a lot and speak up as my
schedule allows. 

And secondly, I was asked to share this by several of you. I was recently
hired by a client to appeal a straw bale code in Grand County, UT that
required a "weather barrier" or "sheet barrier" 32" up the exterior of the
straw bale wall under the plaster. This code requirement has been in place
for over 10 years, previously required a full sheet barrier and was
unsatisfactory to many builders and owners in the jurisdiction. The client,
who I applaud, was willing to put some resources into having a study of this
and to create a hopefully successful appeal for the benefit of those
following him. The head code official is on the board of the International
Code Council and is involved at the state level as well. Thanks go to
several folks on this list who I contacted individually for thoughts and
data related to this issue. I collected data from the StrawSense systems
that GreenWeaver makes and sells and wrote a report summarizing that data,
the data in a study by Kris Dick, and a one-time moisture investigation I
did of the Waldorf School campus in 2007. With that in hand, I met with the
building official, the clients and their builder last week and at the end of
a two hour meeting, he agreed to remove the requirement from the code and to
look more deeply at the other straw bale requirements and opportunities to
improve their code. The meeting helped me to see again some of the common
misconceptions about drainage vs. storage wall assemblies, the role of
plasters, and the properties of vapor permeance and capillary absorption.
But, it also helped me to understand again the value of taking the
educational approach, going in with an appreciation of the motivations for a
code, and an attitude of wanting to work together. The building official was
very conscientious and I applaud him as well in this change. 

Thanks again to those involved. 

Laura 

I will make available a .pdf of the data after I add some additional data
that came in after the fact. 
 




Laura Bartels
P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623
Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905
laura at greenweaverinc.com
www.greenweaverinc.com


 



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