Earth, Wind and Fire

Moisture and fire are concerns for all homeowners.  This morning I heard the sad news that a friend's beautiful, historic farmhouse was struck by lightning and gutted by fire.  At the same time we are enduring high humidity and temperatures near 100 degrees Farenheit.  As strawbale home owners we are frequently asked about fire risk, and per our location in the humid Midwest United States, moisture control.  In the mid 1980's fire safety tests of plastered strawbale walls were performed by the National Research Council of Canada.  In 1993 The Development Center for Appropriate Technology in New Mexico carried out similar tests.  Summary of New Mexico ASTM E-119 Small Scale Fire Tests On Straw Bale Wall Assemblies 

In short, both tests showed that plastered strawbale walls are extremely fire resistant.  The New Mexico test results found that plastered strawbale walls resisted fire penetration for 2 hours.  Impressive!  You can read more about testing and results from actual fires in The Straw Bale House, by Athena Swentzell Steen, Bill Steen and David Bainbridge with David Eisenberg (1994), considered by many to be the strawbale "bible."  Fire resistance is inherent in this type of wall construction.  Moisture control in our environment required more planning.  My husband Ken Geisen will remark on this in a later post. 

(In this photo,you can see the exterior stuccoed walls that are strawbale insulated and non-load bearing.  The walls with cedar siding are traditional framed walls.  The highest portion of the roof line is a stair tower with clerestory windows).