<html>
<font size=3>Hello Jeroen --<br>
<br>
Rene D. has given you excellent suggestions ..... I have two things to
add:<br>
<br>
If the white powdery film is not fungus, but efflorescence (as was
earlier suggested) then white vinegar will also clean that up easily.
<br>
<br>
In addition to heat, I suggest using fans to help dry out the interior of
the wall. Ventilation is key to a drying strategy -- heat alone, in
the presence of moisture and food, will encourage fungal growth.<br>
<br>
regards,<br>
Catherine Wanek<br>
<br>
<br>
At 09:00 AM 10/12/04 +0200, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Jeroen,<br>
<br>
At 07:36 AM 10/12/04, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I try and start to drain the
foundations next summer.</blockquote><br>
Why wait till next summer? I suggest you start as soon as possible. The
winter can actually be a good drying season off course depending on the
weather. The lower the temperatures the better.<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>In the mean time I would love to
get rid of the fungus without using<br>
chemicals. I have stript the wall (it's only one inner wall though
load<br>
bearing) for the lower 20 centimeters or so. Because the earth
plaster<br>
wouldn't cure at all.</blockquote><br>
You can use vinegar to kill fungus this is also usual practice on wooden
boats to kill off fungus when they have moisture problems. Earth Plaster
does not cure but dry<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I hope lime will be able to cure so
I can finish the<br>
wall.</blockquote><br>
This is a very bad idea: first of all the plaster will get a bad start in
life; second you will effectively capture the moisture behind the plaster
allowing it to only dry very slowly even though the lime plaster is
relatively permeable. The fact that the earth plaster is not drying
actually tells me quite clearly that putting lime plaster over this wall
will lead to a failure of the plaster and could lead to more problems
further along the line.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Here comes this shrinking problem
(or not) because there is a heating system<br>
installed in the wall the same way as a heated floor is with
plastic tubes<br>
running hot water through it.</blockquote><br>
The heating will help tremendously to dry the wall once you have removed
the moisture source.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> This means big and rapid
changes in the temperature off the plaster. So<br>
will this be a problem for lime? Earth plaster is working really well and
we<br>
have had no cracks.<br>
<br>
Does anybody have experience with strawbale wall's using this
heating<br>
system? We are planning an extension to our house and would love
this<br>
heating system there also.</blockquote><br>
Yes this wall heating is quite general practice including SB projects and
at least one I know about in the Netherlands. Look at my website
<a href="http://home.hetnet.nl/~rene.dalmeijer" eudora="autourl">http://home.hetnet.nl/~rene.dalmeijer</a>
follow links to SB houses>Middelharnis for a picture of the tubing being installed on the surface of a SB wall (click on the thumbnail next to the text) The owner can tell you details of the installation.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Rene<br>
<br>
<br>
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