[GSBN] Straw bale survives the recent New Zealand earthquake

Sun Feb 9 20:40:08 UTC 2014

Good morning John,

A closer viewing  the plans show a reinforced concrete ground
beam/foundation with up stand beneath all walls.
This concrete foundation runs round and is continuous past the poles (these
are supposedly set in 1000 deep concrete footings)  This ring beam is
directly under the straw bales with the mesh anchor timber bolted in a
recess in the edge of the foundation.
The plan shows packed earth floor inside some  rooms.
Until a visual inspection of the property is undertaken we can but surmise
how close were the sketch plans followed

I trust this provides some further insight into this unfortunate example of
straw bale design of last century

Cheers

Ian

  www.adobesouth.co.nz   Ian Redfern
 Adobe South
 A:    5 Lancewood Rise, Onerahi, Whangarei
 P:     09 436 4040      M: 027 490 2324
 E:     ian at adobesouth.co.nz

From:  Graeme North <graeme at ecodesign.co.nz>
Reply-To:  Global Straw Building Network <GSBN at sustainablesources.com>
Date:  Monday, February 10, 2014 9:10 AM
To:  Global Straw Building Network <GSBN at sustainablesources.com>
Subject:  Re: [GSBN] Straw bale survives the recent New Zealand earthquake

Hi John

I am sure that there would have been a continuous reinforced concrete
foundation, and bond beams.

Graeme

On 7/02/2014, at 1:11 PM, John Swearingen <jswearingen at skillful-means.com>
wrote:

> Thanks, Graeme.  We look forward to your first-hand inspection!
> 
> From what you noted, there was no tie beam or foundation holding together the
> "ground embedded posts".  If that's indeed the case, then as the rolling waves
> passed through the house, the posts would have swayed independently,like
> boats' masts in a marina. This would be an eccentric movement that the straps
> may not have been able to effectively restrain.
> 
> John "Mastadon" Swearingen
> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 1:17 PM, Graeme North <graeme at ecodesign.co.nz> wrote:
>> Hi Everyone  - A very preliminary report:
>> 
>> Ian and I have now reviewed the council file on the damaged strawbale
>> building and can report so far that:
>> 
>> 1) The drawings are rudimentary and show little construction detail but they
>> do show the roof held up on timber beams, supported on a series of
>> ground-embedded posts. Lateral bracing is from crossed and tensioned metal
>> straps so the plaster skins were not expected to take lateral in-plane loads
>> - or not intentionally anyway.
>> 2) The drawings for the  walls show an exterior weather protecting cavity. We
>> have no evidence that these were installed from the photos we have seen so
>> far.
>> 3) There is an earth roof drawn at 100mm thick over a rubber membrane on
>> plywood  - presumably the ply roof gave some diaphragm effect.
>> 4) The heavy roof appears to have survived the earthquake but we surmise that
>> the structure has flexed quite a lot in the earthquake with that heavy roof,
>> and this may have induced the severe plaster damage that we have seen  so
>> far. 
>> 5) The drawings show an earth floor - we have no idea yet how this has
>> feared.
>> 6) We have been told via the grapevine that the building already had moisture
>> issues but whether that was roof or walls, or had any bearing on the
>> earthquake damage seen we do not know yet.   The Council file is silent on
>> that matter as far as we are concerned.
>> 7) The drawings were given a building consent in 2003 and the building was
>> signed off as being code compliant by the Council in 2005.
>> 8) We are willing to travel and inspect the building, but we first need
>> relevant permissions unless we go in a very unofficial capacity.
>> 
>> Cheers
>> 
>> Graeme
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 27/01/2014, at 2:21 PM, Lance Kairl <sabale at bigpond.com> wrote:
>> 
>>>  
>>> Hi all
>>> My two bobs worth.
>>>  
>>> To me it looks like a post and beam structure with the posts in the centre
>>> of the wall, Perhaps with Only straw as the bracing ,  render skins in that
>>> case would only partially absorb forces!
>>> In the shake it would compress the straw on one side and then the other as
>>> it sways, creating stresses further along the walls,
>>> And with any oscillation of the posts result in a vertical crack in the
>>> render adjacent to the post.
>>>  
>>> Note crap window sill / render detail .
>>> I'm glad we don¹t build them like that, and don¹t have 6.5 + quakes to deal
>>> with.
>>>  
>>> Like many of us would love to be there to inspect and learn.
>>> Cheers lance.
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> GSBN mailing list
>>> GSBN at sustainablesources.com
>>> http://sustainablesources.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/GSBN
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> John Swearingen
> Skillful Means Design & Construction
> 2550 9th Street   Suite 209A
> Berkeley, CA   94710
> 510.849.1800 phone
> 510.849.1900 fax
> 
> Web Site:  http://www.skillful-means.com <http://www.skillful-means.com/>
> Blog:         https://skillfulmeansdesign.wordpress.com
> <https://skillfulmeansdesign.wordpress.com/>
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