[GSBN] FASBA Fire test 8th January 2014: 8mm Lime plastered straw infill wall successful >90min

Wed Jan 29 12:21:46 UTC 2014

Compliments from Canada, to you and your team, Dirk.
Yes, that is some good news to share,
My one-sided-thinking has always put straw bales up on a pedestal, when 
considering their burning emissions to the emissions apparent from 
burning polyisocyanurate foil-backed foam, vynyl siding,or EPX foam. 
That comparison seems to have obvious results.

I had never thought to consider the emission of carbon monoxide, as a 
result of the incomplete combustion of the straw. A headache is a very 
visceral response. That is a very good awareness.

Frank Tettemer
Living Sol ~ Building and Design
www.livingsol.com
613 756 3884

On 28/01/2014 11:12 AM, Dirk Scharmer wrote:
> I sent this mail on 9th of January but I didn't get it via the list by 
> myself, so I'm afraid, it didn't go through, or did anyone of you 
> already receive it?
>
> Something to share:
> Yesterday FASBA- Germany tested a straw insulated timber frame wall 
> plastered on both sides with "lightened" lime plaster (graefix 73 
> pajalith declared to be 8mm thick), successful over 90 min according 
> to DIN EN 1365-1 : 1999-10. Some weeks ago, we had an unsuccessful 
> test of the same wall type without any cladding. We had assumed that 
> the straw would be able to protect itself with the instantly arising 
> charred surface. This could still be true, but we didn't consider that 
> there is an overpressure in the burning chamber of 20 Pa when testing 
> according to this standard. The uncladded specimen probably failed 
> because of the very hot chamber gazes pressed into the burnable straw 
> with 20Pa, and also because oxygen had been easily able to penetrate 
> into it because of the absence of any cladding. The reason we did this 
> first uncladded test was not to build uncladded, we did it because of 
> a buerocratic and safety thing: After a successful test it is always 
> only allowed to build exactly as tested if you want to have fire 
> resistance acknowledged by authorities. Every detail, every material 
> (cladding product...) has to be exactly the same, and we wanted to be 
> free to use different types of plasters etc..
>
> With the successful lime plastered test yesterday we'll be allowed to 
> build acknowledged REI30 walls this one type of lime plaster 
> additional to the use of both sides clay as it has been stated before.
> Both walls had been charged with a load of 112 KN on a length of 3m. 
> The requirements for a successful test are mainly: The specimen has to 
> be safe in stability and spatial enclosure during the test burning.
>
> Fire safety requirements in Germany roughly summed up:
> <= 2-family house: REI 0 // <=3 storeys and 400sqm: REI 30 // <=5 
> storeys with unit size <400sqm walls has to reach "K2-60":
>
> 3- to 5- storey buildings:
> "K2-60" means that the three straw is 60 min protected 
> ("encapsulated") against 200°C and the timber against 270°C during a 
> "full fire". Research in the last two years for the 5-storey office in 
> Verden/ Germany showed that this encapsulation is possible with, lets 
> say, 50-70mm lime plaster and 70-80mm clay plaster (conventionally 
> done by 2x18mm gypsum fire protection boards or 2x18mm gypsum fibre 
> boards). The common 30mm lime or clay plasters might have a protection 
> against this development of off-ing burnable gazes (straw/ timer 
> staring to get brown coloured) for approx. 15-30min. Besides that, 
> before a wall is failing during fire resistance tests there also could 
> happen incomplete combustion with the danger of carbon monoxide 
> poisoning and of course the danger of smoke. These are no standard 
> criteria but should be of interest for us.
>
> Besides joyful-to-read-fire-resistance-results:
> Every straw builder and designer should keep in mind that straw 
> insulated components (and of course the timber) are burning and 
> off-gazing during a fire.That means even though we might have 
> successful REI of 30min and more, habitants and fire fighters could be 
> exposed to serious health hazards already actually during earlier 
> minutes of a fire depending of the type of cladding and proper 
> building details. During the testing yesterday we've been accidentally 
> exposed to very high concentrations of carbon monoxide beneath the 
> test specimen, enough for a decent headache, this wasn't that nice. 
> Fire resistance, at least as it is implemented in Europe, in general 
> means only stability and spacial enclosure over a specified time 
> during a full fire. Successful tests don't say anything about health 
> hazards during fire coming from the building components no matter what 
> they are made of. I know, we as enthusiasts don't like these kind of 
> intermediate shadows in the bright shining of straw building but if we 
> want to be better than the others we have to deal with intermediate 
> tones.
>
> If there is interest:
> If FASBA will receive donations of about 500€ in total with subject 
> "Translation Fire test 2014" the test report could be published in 
> english done by an acknowledged translator.
> Bank: GLS- Gemeinschaftsbank Bochum, Owner: FASBA e.V., Account: 800 
> 7971 500, IBAN: DE 82 4306 0967 8007 9715 00, BIC: GENODEM1GLS
> or sending via paypal to info at fasba.de.
>
> Have a healthy, successful year 2014!
>
> Dirk Scharmer - Architect
>
>
> Fachverband Strohballenbau Deutschland e.V.
> FASBA e.V.
> Artilleriestr.6
> D- 27283 Verden
> Email: info at fasba.de
> www.fasba.de
>
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