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Re: [Strawbale] A question about mold and insurance
On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:00:05 -0400, <gsbn-request@greenbuilder...> wrote:
Wendy wrote:
Have you or do you know of anyone who has researched mold
in strawbale houses. I have just been denied insurance because the
underwriter states that sb houses are prone to mold. All my
research over the past 10 years and during the building process is
quite the oppisite, but i need facts to persuade the ignorant. Also
my motgage co would love to cancel my loan if the insurance does
not come thru. We have been with this company for 4 years and 3 of
it during the building process. Are you able to help?
Graeme North <graeme@ecodesign....nz> wrote:
[snipped]
I have seen strawbales that have gone rotten and/or mouldy in poorly
designed or constructed leaky s/b houses, but generally the good
insulation value of strawbale walls prevents exterior wall getting
cold enough for condensation to occur on the interior surfaces of
strawbale walls and without moisture condensing , mould will not
start to grow.
There are a few CMHC studies/monitoring reports of SBH in Canada that I
have on hand that may be of use, and I think a couple more that I don't
have on hand (or more correctly, can't find at the moment) that also may
be of use.
The first two are:
(i) Pilot Study of Moisture Control in Stuccoed Straw Bale Walls
by Bob Platts June 1997
In this study, the research contractor selected a sample
of Quebec SB houses that had been out in the Real World
for up to about 10 years. Holes were cut into the
plaster, the straw inspected and photographed.
(ii) Strawbale Moisture Monitoring Report
by Rob Jolly, August 1998
In this study, moisture sensors were placed into the
walls of 4 Alberta houses, the data collected and compiled.
My defective/clouded memory is nudging me with the notion that Kim
Thompson in Nova Scotia and Habib Gonzalez in British Columbia have also
done reports for CMHC on this topic but I may be mistaken.
Both of the above will be available at the CMHC website
www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca
either as downloadable PDF files and/or in hard copy upon request .
I disagree with Graeme North's assertion about the inability of mould to
grow.
That should probably be re-discussed in detail.
--
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c at ChaffY a h o o dot C a >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)
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