Hemp For Houses
by Rolf B. Priesnitz
Houses built from hemp have been found to use less energy, create less waste and take less fuel to heat than conventionally constructed homes.
Hemp is perhaps best known for its Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids that make it a great addition to a healthy diet, and as a cotton substitute in ecologically-sound clothing and bedding. But it is also a versatile, environmentally-sound building material.
A hemp crop can be grown without the use of herbicides or insecticides and produces up to four tonnes of material per acre per year. Hemp is categorized as a bast fiber crop. It has a stem consisting of an outer skin containing long, strong fibers and a hollow wood-like core or pith. Processing the stems results in two materials: hurds and fibers, both of which have properties that make them extremely useful in building construction.
A variety of wood-like products, such as fiberboard, roofing tiles, wallboard, paneling, insulation and bricks, can be made from the compressed hurds. The fibers can also be used like straw in bale wall construction or with mud in a sort of modified cob style of building.
Foundations can be made out of hemp hurds. A hemp plywood frame is filled with a hemp hurds combined with lime, sand, plaster, some cement and enough water to dampen, and then let to set for a day and to harden for a week. A sixth century hemp-reinforced bridge in France is testimony to the stone-like strength and durability of this material, which has come to be known as "hempcrete".
Hemp building boosters claim that hempcrete foundation walls are up to seven times stronger than those made of concrete, half as light and three times as elastic. This superior strength and flexibility means that hemp foundations are resistant to stress-induced cracking and breaking, even in earthquake-prone areas. The building material also is self-insulating; resistant to rotting, rodents and insects; and fire proof, waterproof and weather resistant... Read more
Resources:
Building with Hemp by Steve Allin (Seed Press, 2006, seedpress@eircom.net)
Haverhill, Suffolk Hemp Homes Report (British Research Establishment, 2002, www.bre.co.uk/pdf/hemphomes.pdf)
The Oldbuilders Company (many hemp construction photos)
http://www.oldbuilders.com/
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Arina,
How can there be such a difference in the same town? How many months was this comparison for? It doesn't show numbers of sales to see if there is a trend or just too few sales for a true comparison. It would be interesting to go back to the one that was done for December to see if there is a trend.
Thanks,
Lucky :)