[Strawbale] Fwd: Repair work on danish strawbale house

[RT]

...from the GSBN List, my thought being that there should be some Danes on  
this Euro SB List who are more familiar with Denmark-specific SB issues  
than those of us here in the Colonies.


------- Forwarded message -------

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 15:39:33 -0700
From: Bruce King <bruce at ecobuildnetwork...>

Michael Joergensen in Denmark sent me the note below, which has a
number of questions.  I'm pretty buried right now, so ask if anyone
(Lars?) wants to chime in and help Michael with his problems.

Please use "reply all", as both Michael and most of GSBN will want to
see your answers.

Michael:  GSBN is an invitation-only global email list of straw bale
"elders".  Everyone on this list (and now hopefully reading your note)
is both pretty modest and very knowledgeable.  You won't find a better
straw bale resource.  Good luck!

Thanks,

Bruce King, PE
Director of EBNet
Ecological Building Network
the art and science of building well
bruce at ecobuildnetwork...
PO Box 6397
San Rafael, CA 94903 USA
(415) 987-7271
follow us on Twitter: AEBNetwork
blog:  http://bruceking.posterous.com/

On Oct 2, 2011, at 2:59 PM, Michael M. J?rgensen wrote:

> Hi Bruce,
>
> According to EBNet website, I should contact you if I have a topic,
> I would like to discuss on the Build Well Forum.
>
> Well, I do.
>
> My wife and I build a strawbale house in Lyngby, close to Copenhagen
> in Denmark in 2001. At the time we didn?t think a lot about it, just
> rushed right out into it?as one should, when you are young and ready
> to learn new stuff  :o) You can see a few pics of the building times
> and the house.
>
> Today, 2011, after having experienced a major rainfall on 2nd July,
> the largest in Denmark in more than 100 years, which flooded our
> fine house, we are probably less openminded and more focused on
> finding the right way instead of the right experiment. Not that we
> have made some bad choices, not at all, but this time we need to
> make sure not to.
>
> We have a great insurance company which takes good care of us, so we
> are fine. Things take time, but that is ok, as long as they happen.
>
> I have some specific questions for the bale-experts, which I haven?t
> found answers for anywhere:
>
> Do we have to use welded chicken net/wire ? we did the last time,
> but we have also heard of a method of using straw mats, example:  
> http://www.hiss-reet.de/produkte/naturbaustoffe/unterputzgewebe.html
> My thoughts are that the bales and the mats are the same material,
> and using the mats to close the gaps over wooden joints etc. ought
> to ensure a wall that does not work in different ways.
>
> Will this ensure a rendered wall without cracks and tears or should
> we stay with the chicken nets?
>
> If we end up using the chicken nets ? should we then cover all bale
> surfaces with the nets? Or only the wooden joint parts?
>
> We intend to build the new walls in bales, but start with a not-
> water-absorbing material for the first 50-60 cm from the base ? no
> reason to invite disaster a second time. Should the joint of the two
> materials be separated by a water repellent material like to avoid
> ascending moisture or will that force any moisture in the bottom
> strawbale to stay there thus causing problems in the bottom
> strawbale. The direct reason for this question lies in the
> construction of the last wall, which was mounted on a wooden bench
> of 2 by 4 inch beams parallel to the house deck and elevated about
> 30 cm above ground and actually fully ventilated from below given
> the bench construction (should have been a bit further up, as we
> realize now, but no one knew at the time). That construction ensured
> that no water could accumulate in the bottom strawbale. It there any
> technical advice on this?
>
> In your experience will bigbales have a relatively better insulation
> effect than the small traditional ones. My thoughts are that they
> are very heavily tightened and there the free floating air inside is
> less than in the small bales (relatively). Am I wrong? What do you
> recommend and what do you use yourself?
>
> That is all for now.
>
> Hope you will let me bring my story, picas and questions ? or just
> the questions :o)
>
> All the best from Denmark
> Cheers
> Michael
>
> Michael M. Joergensen
> Om Kaeret 4A
> DK- 2800 Lyngby
> http://g.co/maps/ff6pp
>
>
> <fotos fra om k?ret byggeproces.pdf><om k?ret inde 032005
> 006.jpg><om k?ret inde 032005 007.jpg><IMG_0263.JPG>

---- End of forwarded material ---


-- 
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Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
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