RE: SB: Small, cheap, easy, and temporary

[Speireag Alden <Joshua.M.Alden.91@alum.dartmouth.org>]

Sgrìobh luc:

>Plumbing and wiring are not a concern for this structure because we don't
>intend to plumb or wire it.  We may even go with some kind of packed earth
>floor as well, although that seems pretty undesirable to me.  Maybe a
>sealed earth floor, though -- that would be interesting.

     Since it's a temporary structure, why not just stack the bales on 
plastic on the ground and let the ground be the floor on the inside? 
Worked for my temporary tool shed.

>Well, plastering would certainly be an important part of our education, but
>it may push the amount of effort required to complete this small project
>over the line for us into "don't have time for right now."  Does anyone
>have comments on how important it would be from a learning perspective to
>plaster this structure?  Do you suppose we could get away with doing only a
>scratch coat if we did plaster but didn't need it to last for a very long
>time and didn't mind if it were a bit ugly?

     Yes, I would think that a scratch coat is all you need for basic 
fire protection.

     You have an excellent opportunity, though, and you shouldn't 
waste it.  One of the main barriers to using earthen plasters is that 
local earth is always different, and so you need to test its 
performance to come up with your own local mixture.  Look!  You're 
planning a test structure!  Stucco it in batches with different 
mixtures of your local clay soil, and mark each patch to remind you 
of what the mix was later.  Then slather the stuff on, and by the 
time you need to plaster again, you'll have a good starting point for 
using earthen plaster.

>I've been under the impression that straw bale fire resistance comes not
>from the plastering but from the compactness of the hay.  Working from that
>same book, here's a quote from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,
>albeit discussing bales in the context of (I believe) a mortar matrix.
>
>"The straw bales hold enough air to provide good insulation value but
>because they are compacted firmly they don't hold enough air to permit
>combustion."

     Yes, but the fuzzy outsides burn okay, until they burn down a 
bit.  So what you get is not catastrophic conflagration, but rather a 
surface burn, which migrates into pockets between the bales and other 
flammable materials.  If the bales are put together well, it might 
burn out, but you're going to put wood over them (the rafters for the 
roof) and there will probably be other flammable materials, and it's 
just better to protect it.

-Speireag.
-- 
Speireag Alden, aka Joshua Macdonald Alden

...the last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or 
plant: 'What good is it?' --Aldo Leopold, _A Sand County Almanac_ 

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