Hempcrete in action
USA Today ran a story in their Sept 12 edition about the construction of homes made with walls made of a material called Tradical Hemcrete, manufactured by Hemp Technologies LLC.
According to the manufacturer, this material has many advantages including:
● low density
● breathability
● flexibility in design
● mold resistant
● no dry rot
● can be recycled at the end of its life cycle
However, according to USA Today:
The industrial hemp is imported because it cannot be grown legally in this country — it comes from the same plant as marijuana.
Interest in the use of green building materials has been consistently growing in the United States. Not only are green materials better for the environment but many people feel that using more natural, less toxic building materials such as hemp, can help improve health and wellbeing for the people who live in these homes.
Building greener houses using hemp doesn’t need to be prohibitively expensive. On its website, Hemp Technologies claims that the following costs can be reduced by building with hemp binder or filler:
1. Shallower or smaller foundations required
2. 30-40% less lumber/labor used in framing
3. Lower transport costs of materials to job site
4. Non-deterioration of framing
5. Less building time
6. No vapor barriers, rain screeds or shear walling needed
7. Lower insurance costs
8. No need for termite fumigation after construction
As the public becomes more interested and educated about the valuable properties of hemp they may start questioning why a plant with such beneficial environmental proprieties is not permitted to be grown in the United States even though most varieties contain only trace amounts of THC.
Tags: building, cannabis, hemp, hempcrete, law, marijuana, material, medical, uses
