[GSBN] Canadian research into straw bale swimming pools

[Bruce King]

Speaking of all the best, Habib:  Are you well?  Them doctors fix up  
your heart bone OK?

More than a few of us are keen to know . . .

Thanks,

Bruce King
bruce at bruce-king.com
(415) 987-7271
Twitter: @brucekinggreen
blog: bruceking.posterous.com
Skype: brucekingokok

On Jan 25, 2012, at 12:20 PM, Habib John Gonzalez wrote:

> 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
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