[GSBN] Fw: Emerald update

[Chris Newton]

I’m waiting for Lance to come up and test the mushies for me. They looked as good as everything else growing in the mud. C.

From: Bohdan Dorniak 
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 10:03 AM
To: '(private, with public archives) Global Straw Building Network' 
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Fw: Emerald update

Thanks for the update.
You are doing a fantastic job in this research - maybe you could do an technical article after the completion of the building repairs??
(Joke) - are the mushrooms edible!!

Regards,
Bohdan Dorniak




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From: GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com [mailto:GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com] On Behalf Of Chris Newton
Sent: Thursday, 27 January 2011 9:51 AM
To: GSBN at greenbuilder.com
Subject: [GSBN] Fw: Emerald update


Happy Australia Day . 26th Jan

We went up to Emerald last weekend, so time for and update.

The 2 levels seen on the exterior lime render are from the 2 flood peaks. The upper level for <1 day and the lower level was in water level for 3 days. So 2 bales in flood water. Mark is one of the council workers, and given the post flood workload he is working with at present,  I think he has done a great job monitoring the building for us. The walls do show a pattern of drying despite the humidity. There are a few inconsistencies in the numbers but that could be explained by some random probe depth / location. 60% MC is the maximum reading for this probe, so read 60 as meaning greater then 60. (attached pdf)

Is it drying out fast enough to prevent damage ... sadly, no. Lance Kairl was the SB builder of this project (House of Bales – South Australia) - he threw together a straw bale corer (as photographed). What came out was hot straw (composting) and various shades of going black. All straw felt wet to touch and was loosing its structure. Even the 19% from the 2nd row. 

The wet season has officially started with an average of 5 cyclones (our funny looking clockwise hurricanes) on the Queensland coast. Emerald is on the Tropic of Capricorn, 500 km inland. She only rains at this time of the year – mainly ex-cyclones that have crosses the coastline and sit around for a bit as a tropical low. We went up we put a coat of lime render over the inside exposed body coat. Mark has managed to spray the daily outbreaks of mould and fungi with a bottle fungicide (I see nothing). We closed a door in the store room to find a lovely dark wet corner > 60% MC with some gorgeous mushrooms taking advantage of the conditions. 

So the lime is now on and that should stop the need of further fungicide.

Replacement of bales will occur in April – final decision on how many of the second row of bales will be removed will be made during deconstruction. Currently we plan to replace them all with with engineered high density expanded polystyrene foam blocks. Why – The environment has set a new flood level. It is light weight to work with, similar R value and acoustic properties, can be cut to get the same lines and window and doors, engineered to take the load of the 5 rows of compressed bales above it, can be rendered over with lime and earth renders to maintain the same finish.

Of course we are really interested in any other greener product out there that will meet the needs, we have a few months up our sleeve to explore and experiment. 

I guess we are now looking at replacing 2 layers of bales around the whole building. I hear conversations between Lance and Col about supporting the upper bales in various ways while the damaged bales are removed, and having to put a new capillary layer on top of the expanding foam.

Shall keep you informed
Chris and the team.










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