Hemp Building Materials

This post will look into the very exciting and eco friendly collection of Hemp Building Materials.
Hemp Building Materials
The Stalk of the Hemp plant, when broken down for construction purposes, is mainly used in Walls & Insulation.
- Walls – A mixture of shredded Hemp stalk(Hurd), Lime and Water creates a material know as Hempcrete that can be formed into bricks like Lego/Cinder blocks or left malleable like Concrete so it can be packed into forms or sprayed into place. It is not used as a load bearing or structural component so wood or steel framing is still required.
- Insulation – Hemp walls already act as fantastic insulation on their own but Hemp batting or sprayed in Hempcrete can be used for in other situations.
The benefits of using Hemp/Hempcrete as a building material are numerous:
- It is recycleable
- It weighs a 7th of of traditional concrete. When fully cured, a Hempcrete block can float on water
- It breaths. The walls absorb moisture during high humidity and release it when humidity falls
- Hempcrete absorbs and holds CO2 (carbon) from the surrounding air
- It is Pest resistant
- It has exceptional resistance to Fire
- It has improved Sound deadening properties when compared to traditional concrete
- It becomes harder over time. Due to the chemical reactions between the Water and Lime, if given enough time, the mixture will petrify and turn to stone
Because of the renewed interest in Medicinal Cannabis throughout North America and the legalization of Hemp production in Canada since 1998, Hemp should soon be able to regain its proper position as a valued and important resource.
Below is a short National Geographic video that highlights building with Hempcrete.
Here is another YouTube video that takes a more in-depth and technical look at Hempcrete and how it is used in building construction.
Just over 25 min long.
For information on the differences between Hemp & Marijuana, please check out the post: Hemp vs Marijuana. What is the difference?
Thank you for visiting!