Re: [strawbale] Switzerland: turning stones into stepping stones

[Herbert Gruber <d.sign@aon...>]

Title: Re: [strawbale] Switzerland: turning stones into stepping stones

Dear strawbalers

Lets again resume what we know about the house in Switzerland: The natural spelt-chaff used as isolation-material was infilled in the timber-and-frame-ceiling of the first floor and the roof. The walls are (loadbearing) strawbale. The cherry stones are removed. Mice and red meal beetle are still there after poisoning the whole house.

What we know about strawbale-insulation is, that the material is definitely NOT the perfect living space for pests, when it is plastered on both sides without cracks. There are many reasons for that: straw-stalks are sharp, pressed compact and the material is cellulose and silicia, which means, it is not digestible for this animals.
 
On the other side pests like mice and beetles prefer a warm space in winter, so when the isolation material is accessible (cracks in shrinking earthen plaster) and there are holes (not ideally compressed), it is possible, that mice live in such a space, regardless whether it is fibreglass, EPS, wool, cellulose-flocks or strawbale. This is a construction fault.

I personally do not think, that the mice in the house live in the strawale-walls, but this has to be proofed first. I believe, that a natural-organic living family with corn-mills and natural meal has brought the pests into the house (this happened to me once upon a time in closed glasses with natural meal), which spread into the spelt-chaff and multiplied there. The natural ambiente of the house is a preferred playground of ALL natural beings. And Mr. Föllmi wrote: The beetles fell from the CEILING in our beds, in the bathroom... So I do not think the problem is a strawbale problem.

On the other side we know, that a relatively new technology like strawbale (in Switzerland or Europe) looses a lot of confidence in the public, if we were not able to cope with and solve occuring problems (this had to be Ruedi´s part in connection with ESBN).

So Jans idea to visit the house (maybe with Martin and others) to analize the problem in a first step is surely the best way in the beginning. 

This week I visited a building-engineer, a so called mediator (a sort of trouble shooter for building problems) and spoke with him about the house.
He thinks, the best way of helping Mr. Föllmi´s family, would be to speak with Swiss officials (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science, SIB: Swiss Baubiologie-Institute, ...) to debate the problem: 
* this house was an experiment of sustainable architecture, using natural, renewable ressources. but something went wrong, that has to be analized, documented and then repaired, to prevent a back-stroke in the whole sustainability-movement
* a family is the victim of this experiment, trusting in a future technology but earning problems, that cannot be solved by a family or lawyers alone
* a project has to be financed by the officials above to learn from the errors made, document it and avoid it in future projects 

I think this would be a way to finance our efforts and to help this family best.

Jan, if you´ld like to organize the first meeting, shall I inform Mr. Föllmi of our discussion (he still does´nt know yet) and ask him to contact with you?

Best wishes
Herbert Gruber

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asbn austrian strawbale network
herbert & astrid gruber
http://www.baubiologie.at
email: asbn@aon...
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