[GSBN] CMHC Straw Light Clay Report (was Light Straw fire test?), and Codes

Sat Nov 12 06:28:33 UTC 2011

Thanks David for the link.

A note of clarification.  Although the subject line was initially ³Light
Straw Fire Test², the Research Report is about straw light clay in general.
This includes issues of thermal resistance, vapor permeability, moisture
storage, compression, settling, density, and fire.  I believe it is the best
document available regarding the technical aspects of straw light clay (also
known as light straw clay, light clay, clay-straw, clay-fiber, straw-clay).
It may be the only document.  If anyone knows of another that examines the
technical aspects of this system of construction please let me know.

I bring this up in the context of straw-clay and building codes.  Last week
I spoke with Paula Baker-Laporte, an architect and leading practitioner
(along with her husband and builder Robert Laporte) of ³light clay²
construction in the US.  In 2010 I reworked with Paula the New Mexico Clay
Straw Guidelines, and she submitted them for inclusion in the IGCC.
Unfortunately they didn¹t make the first hurdle.  What did happen was that
Paula submitted the Guidelines to the City of Portland, Oregon where they
were codified in February 2011.  She went on to propose the guidelines to
the State of Oregon, where they are being considered for inclusion in its
state building code (Oregon is also one of only three US states with a
statewide straw bale building code).

Paula and I agreed Wednesday that we will submit a further developed version
of the guidelines, with as much supporting documentation as possible, for
inclusion in the International Building Code.  Because it is a
non-structural system, we anticipate less resistance than I expect for straw
bale.  Although I¹m sure insulation manufacturers will be out in force.

This brings me to my last point that I will continue in a subsequent e-mail
. . . . .

Martin Hammer

On 11/11/11 4:54 PM, "David Eisenberg" <strawnet at aol.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I just took the liberty of uploading the file Martin sent me via YouSendIt and
> made it available for download from this link:
> https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1283271062/f834de86f87f727a5a4067a5a126a7e2
> 
> So you won't need to bother Martin in order to get a copy, and this file
> doesn't have an expiration date so you should be able to download it in the
> future. 
> 
> David Eisenberg
>  
>  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: martin hammer <mfhammer at pacbell.net>
> To: GSBN <GSBN at SustainableSources.com>
> Sent: Fri, Nov 11, 2011 12:26 pm
> Subject: Re: [GSBN] Light Straw fire test?
> 
> Chris and Alex,
> 
> I revisited this post from two months ago, and noticed that the link Chris
> provided for Josh Thornton¹s Light Clay Straw research document gives only the
> short (4 pg) ³Research Highlights² version.  The full ³Research Report² is 148
> pages and contains 10 pages on the fire testing (plus page Œv¹ in the
> Executive Summary).  I looked but cannot find the full report on the CMHC
> website.  However I obtained the full report from the author last year.  I
> will send it to anyone who requests it (via YouSendIt)(14MB file size).
> 
> Martin
> 
> 
> On 8/14/11 1:43 PM, "Chris Magwood" <chris at chrismagwood.ca> wrote:
> 
>>    Josh Thornton's Initial Material Characterization for Light Clay/Straw was
>> published by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and is available for
>> free on their web site
>> http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/pdf/63928.pdf?lang=en. I don't have my copy
>> in front of me, but I believe it had some fire testing in the report.
>>  
>>  Chris
>>  
>>  On 11-08-08 2:29 AM, Alex Cicelsky (Kibbutz Lotan) wrote:
>>>      
>>>  
>>> 
>>> Dear Friends,
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> a. We're posting a series of YouTube videos with step by step documentation
>>> on how to construct the earthquake-proof (should I be humble towards Mama
>>> Earth and say earthquake-resistant?) strawbale dome-atories in our
>>> EcoCampus.  
>>>  
>>> #1 How to Build a Geodesic Strawbale Dome - dome manufacture
>>> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAaAqqRoEKQ>   KibbutzLotan
>>> <http://www.youtube.com/user/KibbutzLotan>  13 videos
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> b. Do any of you know of formal fire rating testing and results for "light
>>> straw"?  I'd like to have an idea of what to expect before we begin
>>> Standards Institute of Israel material testing on 8 and 40 cm light straw
>>> wall panels.
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> Thanks - Alex
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> Alex Cicelsky ~ Director of Research and Development ~ Center for Creative
>>> Ecology
>>>  
>>> Kibbutz Lotan ~ D.N. Eilot 88855 Israel ~ Tel: +972-(0)54-979-9009 ~ Email:
>>> alex at klotan.co.il <mailto:alex at klotan.co.il>
>>>  
>>>  <http://www.youtube.com/user/KibbutzLotan>
>>> <http://www.facebook.com/lotan.ga>    <http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/>
>>> <http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/%3E> ;   <http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/ga>
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>   
>>>  
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> GSBN mailing list
>>> GSBN at sustainablesources.com
>>> http://sustainablesources.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/GSBN
>>>  
>>  
>>  
>  
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>  
> 
> 
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