Clean, green heat.

We are building a strawbale home in southern NSW. We decided to use a masonry stove for any additional winter heating. After a long period of investigation we have identified a kit that we intend to import from Canada. It is very easy to assemble and can include a bake oven if desired. We thought that others in a similar situation may be interested in importing one with us at the same time as this would reduce costs by up to 1/3. We have included some information on masonry stoves below and please see Tempcast’s web site via www.tempcast.com for many great sample pictures.

If you are interested, please contact us on 02 6493 6080 or by email at fiona.kotvojs@bigpond.com or alan.burdon@bigpond.com.

Overview of Masonry Stoves

Masonry stoves (or Russian or Finnish stoves) have yet to gain a foothold in Australia. They have been used for generations across the higher latitudes of the entire northern hemisphere where their efficiency of burning fuel and the friendly, even warmth they emit could keep families comfortable even in the harshest of winters. Only the mountain dwellers among us need to combat such a climate but our southern winters still bring a need for warmth.

The qualities of masonry stoves make them ideal for environmentally conscious home owners in places where timber is the fuel of choice. They burn with minimum pollution and with most of the heat generated being used where it is required. This is unlike slow burning fires that create more smoke and deposits and lose much of their heat to the atmosphere.

In principal a refractory core is surrounded by a skin of stone, brick or even elaborate tiling. This is often done very artistically. A short hot fire is lit; the gases being channelled up and down around the core before leaving via the chimney. Much of the heat in the flue gases is absorbed into the masonry and then exudes gently out over the next 12 hours or so. Users relate the feel of the heat to that of warm sunshine, rather than the ‘all or nothing’ output of traditional fires.

Masonry stoves have been traditionally custom built by expert masons, but now there are kits available (see the Tempcast site below) whereby individuals with some bricklaying skills can build their own masonry stoves, which come in a variety of configurations depending on where in the house the stove is positioned.

There are many online sources of further information, those in English are mostly from the USA or Canada. Here are a couple of useful sites:

http://www.tempcast.com/

http://www.vtbrickoven.com/masonry/index.html

Dear friends of strawbale construction,

We have had the German report re: fire tests for strawbale construction translated into English.These comprehensive tests were initiated by the German Strawbale Building Association (FASBA) and were conducted at the “Material Testing Authority For The Construction Industry (Institute For Materials, Solid Construction And Fire Protection)” in Braunschweig, Germany in 2003. The tests confirm a fire rating of F90 and meet German Construction Regulations/Standards, which are quite tough compared to some other countries.

We hope that this certified translation of the fire tests will be accepted by Australian (International) building officials and help strawbale construction to be approved through council applications, especially since fire safety regulations have been made tougher in some states of Australia.

These official tests are very expensive and it would help the international strawbale construction community if same or similar tests do not have to be duplicated in different countries.

If you are interested in a copy of this test report please contact us by phone or e-mail. For a fee of Australian $185.00 we will provide you with a copy of the original German report plus a copy of the certified English translation. The document also includes 10 attachments showing tables and diagrams of the test results. The money will help pay for our expenses (the certified translation, copies of the document, postage & handling) plus a donation to FASBA will be made with each copy sold.

This clay rendered strawbale wall holds two 15 litre buckets filled with water without showing any damage to the render. A 8 mm wallplug and screw were fastened to the wall, the full buckets are hanging without support and the 30 + Kg weight has not put any strain onto the clay render. This basic experiment demonstrates that frames, mirrors, light shelfs and other wall hangings can be fastened to a clay rendered strawbale wall without positioning pegs, dowels or similar in the bales before rendering. Our aim is to show that approximately 35mm of clay render is comparable to a standard gyprock (plasterboard) wall in regards to strength and durability. A gyprock wall is known to hold approximately 50 kilograms of weight and we plan to continue our experiment in order to show that a properly applied and reinforced earthen plaster can easily compete. The next planned step is to distribute weight evenly onto 4 plugs & screws to support a weight of four times as much as above = 120 Kilograms or more; hence hanging kitchen cupboards onto clay rendered strawbale walls without any further supporting structure.

New government rules for building homes in NSW have been introduced on the 1st of July 2004. BASIX sets a new design standard for saving water and energy. BASIX is compulsory and the standards must be met before approval of a development application is issued. Complying with BASIX is free and easy; information and forms can be accessed online at www.basix.nsw.gov.au

Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow, Strawbale Construction are pleased and excited to let you know that we have finally acquired our own spray rendering pump.

The pump is a Condor MPS303 (Mix-Pump-Spray), which is considered to be state of the art mortar application equipment. Its capacity and size allow us to render with clay, lime or cement and the multi functional device will make rendering, the most time consuming part of strawbale construction, much quicker, cheaper and easier. Individual aggregate particles of up to 25 mm are managed by the equipment and reinforcement fibres can be added to the mix.

The twin body is designed to mix in one compartment whilst pumping from the other, further reducing costly delays. Although strawbale construction and clay & lime rendering are our favourite and domains of expertise we furthermore offer to spray render Brick, Mudbrick, Fibro, Gyprock you name it, we do it - walls. To complete our services and your rendering requirements we also supply engineered clay which has prooved to be as strong and durable as cement based render while offering a breathable, healthy and natural alternative. Please visit the Natural Paints and Renders page for all your rendering needs and natural surface treatment products.

Some of the interesting straw bale experiences from our recent trip to Europe - Frank Thomas and Ingrid Leusch.

This 3 day gathering was very well organised by the FSB (Fachverband fuer Strohballenbau Deutschland, see www.fasba.de) and was attended by about 70 people.

Presentations from Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Rumania, Australia and of course Germany included the following themes; German & Austrian fire test results, physical properties of straw bales for building, moisture measurements and building code approval for strawbales.

Many different strawbale projects, some residential, some commercial & some experimental, were introduced as well. The host village Siebenlinden is a great example of an eco-community where sustainability, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly principles are followed with the construction of new and the renovation of old buildings. More about this gathering (from the organisers) should be available in the next issue of TLS.

This exceptional strawbale building will be used as a sound studio or music-dome where voice development & music seminars as well as concerts are to be held. The musician and owner of the dome explains that the special acoustic properties of domes are due to the sound being distributed very evenly as the waves travel around the room.

The strawbale dome measures 8.20 metres in diameter, is about 5 metres high, with an opening of 1.8 metres on the top from where a skylight provides plenty of daylight. It has been built using a construction of laminated beams and plywood strips with the strawbales placed in-between this structure. Even the floor is built with strawbales; they are positioned on pallets and particle boards are freely swimming on top.

Internal walls are completely rendered with clay whereas only one coat of clay render has been applied on the outside. The dome has been covered with a very tough waterproof membrane and vines are to grow over the bright blue fabric.

With the brick foundation hidden by earth and the vines growing over the structure this building will soon blend in perfectly with nature. Prof. Minke (author of the Earth Construction Handbook), together with his research assistant Friedemann Mahlke and a team of architecture students from the University of Kassel, Germany http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb6/fachgebiete/feb/ designed, planned and built this structure. They were helped by Frank Thomas, the owners and clay rendering & finishes specialist Manfred Fahnert. Prof. G. Minke has built more than 20 domes, mainly from mud bricks, rammed earth and earth bags however, this is the first strawbale dome or music dome he and his team have realised and probably the first strawbale dome to be found in Europe.

We had the privilege to be engaged as guest speakers at a workshop run by the Dutch strawbale building company RAMstrobouw. Their large strawbale project in Warns, includes a shipyard, annex, warehouse and living quarters. It was a rather long drive to get up to this hidden corner in Holland but it was well worth the effort. Rob Kaptein from RAMstrobouw was a great host, organiser and another inspiration to our trade. Our presentation was very well received and it was a pleasure working with Rob and the workshop participants during a wall raising day. The company has completed some beautiful strawbale projects which can be visited on following website www.ramstrobouw.nl/

This advanced and specialised clay rendering, colour design and surface treatment course was run by Manfred Fahnert, a well known expert in his field in Germany. A carpenter by trade, Manfred is an artist when it comes to clay, lime, colours, special surface effects and creative ornaments. The four day course was run at the University in Kassel http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb6/fachgebiete/feb/ and provided a chance to see some experimental loadbearing strawbale buildings with grass roofs at the same time.

Topics and practicals covered included the Italian lime plaster Stukkolustro, the Moroccan glossy lime plaster Tadelakt, traditional Japanese clay and lime render surfaces, decorative surface effects and Lazure painting techniques. Most of these techniques need hours of experience for perfection and are quite labour, therefore cost intensive. However, the effects and characteristics achieved by them can far outweigh time and money concerns.

Tadelakt and Stukkolustro techniques provide waterproof surfaces without using chemicals or destroying the vapour permeability of clay and lime. The glossy surfaces of Tadelakt & Stukkolustro are achieved by mixing a special soap into the final coat of the lime plaster. This final coat is worked into the wall, using a granite stone to compact the surface as much as possible. The result is a glossy waterproof surface shimmering in many colours, quite unlike any other plaster finish we have arrived at before.

Preparing for Tadelakt	Tadelakt

Traditional Japanese finishes were achieved by using different rendering tools to apply the finish coat. About 300 different trowels can be used to create as many different surfaces. Effects range from rough and textured to a very smooth wall finish. Other decorative surface effects were achieved by adding gold or silver dust, colourful pebbles or similar to the last plaster application. These additives are then brought back to the surface using sponges or brushes to partly liberate them from the plaster. The protruding or visible additives bring texture, colour, shimmer and three dimensional effects to the wall.

Brushed special effects with pebbles	Pigment coloured lime render with japanese finish	Red & black lime plaster over white base applied with japanese trowel	Silver dust over pigmented clay

Lazure painting is a technique where natural, tinted translucent glazes are applied over walls coated with a natural white paint. Many layers of colours built up to create a translucent and visually textural wall finish. The paint base and glazes are made of all natural components such as beeswax, casein, tree resins and essential plant oils. Below is an example of Lazure Paint ? Balloons.

Applying layers of lazure paint	Brushed lazure finish	Lazure finish with leaf pattern