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[Strawbale] Re: the BIG question

Paul, Michael,

I will reserve my remarks to certain points your respective mail.

First of the BIG question:
The big question in SB building is dealing with moisture. Convection currents within a SB wall could potentially contribute to moister problems developing but only as a secondary effect. The main contributor being leaks in the interior plaster finish of the SB wall. All leaks can allow moist interior air to enter the straw and condense on cold surfaces like the outer plaster finish. The amount of moisture moving through an intact plaster interior is of no significance and would normally not cause moisture problems in the SB wall barring very serious cold bridges due to poor detailing. The main issue is thus the prevention of leaks and maintaining the integrity of the interior plaster finish whatever is may be.
Watching his experiments crumble back into the reclaimed swamp at the mouth of the Rhine 
Rene Dalmeijer
On May 11, 2006, at 12:00, strawbale-request@amper....muni.cz wrote:


Hi Michael,


It is a shame that there does aopear to be a tendancy to try and ignore
problems/failures in in case the "cause" is damaged. I think there is a
tendency to panic at the eleventh hour and put on a ciment based finish.
I am sure this is not the case most people at least on the main SB lists are very open about failures. this openness is one of the main features contributing to the rapid worldwide development and growth of SB building. I can assure you disseminating lessons learnt is a fore-mount issue of the international SB community.
I suggest it is also a good idea not to bash different practices in different regions of the world as there are different solutions to basically the same problems. Local circumstances have a strong influence on what works where. So instead of bashing each other I rather suggest we listen constructively to each other and then select what you think will work in your specific circumstances. In the 8 years that I have been involved I have learned a lot from these free exchanges in the same time I have rejected even more as being unsuitable for my circumstances. The choice is yours to make, but please respect other peoples preferences. It might just be that testing and experience will show, over time, that what you rejected actually works very well. I say profit from others 'hair brained' experiments.