RE: [Strawbale]lime and earth plaster and heating systems in bale walls

[Catherine Wanek <blackrange@zianet...>]

Hello Jeroen --

Rene D. has given you excellent suggestions ..... I have two things to
add:

If the white powdery film is not fungus, but efflorescence (as was
earlier suggested) then white vinegar will also clean that up easily.

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.

regards,
Catherine Wanek


At 09:00 AM 10/12/04 +0200, you wrote:
> Jeroen,
>
> At 07:36 AM 10/12/04, you wrote:
> > I try and start to drain the
> > foundations next summer.
>
> 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.
>
>
> > In the mean time I would love to
> > get rid of the fungus without using
> > chemicals. I have stript the wall (it's only one inner wall though
> > load
> > bearing) for the lower 20 centimeters or so. Because the earth
> > plaster
> > wouldn't cure at all.
>
> 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
>
> > I hope lime will be able to cure so
> > I can finish the
> > wall.
>
> 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.
>
> > Here comes this shrinking problem
> > (or not) because there is a heating system
> > installed  in the wall the same way as a heated floor is with
> > plastic tubes
> > running hot water through it.
>
> The heating will help tremendously to dry the wall once you have removed
> the moisture source.
>
> >  This means big and rapid
> > changes in the temperature off the plaster. So
> > will this be a problem for lime? Earth plaster is working really well and
> > we
> > have had no cracks.
> >
> > Does anybody have experience with strawbale wall's using this
> > heating
> > system? We are planning an extension to our house and would love
> > this
> > heating system there also.
>
> 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
> http://home.hetnet.nl/~rene.dalmeijer
> 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.
>
>
>
> Rene
>
>
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