[GSBN] Canadian research into straw bale swimming pools

[Habib John Gonzalez]

Greetings All:

In 2000 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation published a summary paper titled “Straw Bale House Moisture Research.” It is part of the Research Highlights Technical Series 00-103. There are quotes from Bob Platt’s “Pilot Study of Moisture Control in Stuccoed Straw Bale Walls” concerning the “discouraging” results of the investigation of straw in floors- 

Of the 12 samples, two in an occupied house were in the range of 20 to 30 per cent moisture content (MC).
All the others exceeded 45 per cent. Some were as wet as 300 per cent moisture content; these samples showed
liquid water in the cavities. Current advice on preventing straw rot recommends
keeping it under 20 per cent moisture content. Rot typically begins at 25 to 30 per cent moisture content.
The collected core samples showed that in-floor environments are conducive to rot. All the samples
showed at least some discolouration at the base of the concrete cavity; the straw was rotting from the bottom
up.The longer the straw had been wet, the more developed the rot. Several bales had lost volume and
subsided within the concrete cavity. In the worst case, a straw-insulated swimming pool, there was nothing
but a pile of black compost in the base of the cavity. The waffle slab floor of a Montreal-area house is still
being monitored with wood-block sensors.

There you have it-nix on the swimming pools.

The full report can be downloaded at: 

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/publications/en/rh-pr/tech/dblist.cfm?mode=year 
Go to the bottom of the list for 00-103 on straw bale moisture monitoring, look under 2000, the year of publication.


All the best,

Habib


      
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SUSTAINABLEWORKS
Habib John L Gonzalez
RR#1, S-4, C-12
Crescent Valley, BC
Canada V0G 1H0
250-359-5095 
780-438-0821
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"Better the kindness of imperfection than perfection without kindness" 
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