Although there is ongoing debate over the illegality of growing maligned, environmentally friendly hemp, in 2009 in nearby Asheville, North Carolina, construction began on the first house permitted in the U.S. to be built with hemp. Hemp Technologies mixed about four parts ground-up industrial hemp stalks with one part lime and one part water and poured it into two-foot-by-four-foot recycled plastic wall forms creating eight inch thick hempcrete block walls. More hemp houses are now in various stages of completion in the area.
The amazing factor is the walls' life expectancy. With a properly cared for roof, the walls could last several hundred years or more. David Mosrie of Push Design states "the wall is actually getting harder and stronger as time goes on. The durability is unlike anything we have seen, with the exception of stone, as perhaps even beyond that as there is no mortar joint failure possible. Studies in Europe have estimated about a 600-800 year life span for the wall system." The secret is the breathability of the substance. It actually continues removing carbon dioxide from the air and the lime in the hemcrete calcifies which petrifies it eventually. However if it ever needs to be demolished, the hemp and lime can be crushed and become good fertilizers for the soil--no earth destructive pollutants involved.
Even with the added expense of importing the hemp from the U.K., since it's illegal to produce in the U.S., the owners Karon Korp and Russ Martin say the approximate cost was $133 per square foot excluding land and excavation. That's a very low figure for a custom home in pricey Asheville, NC. Less lumber is needed because the hemp is so strong. Martin states they have spent less than $100 a month to cool the home which has 3,000 square feet and a garage. It features interior walls lined with 100 per cent recycled paper panels called PurePanels and doors of the same material skinned with veneer. It took about nine months to build under unfavorable weather conditions and inexperience with hempcrete.
Besides being affordable, hemp has air-purifying properties and is excellent insulation when it's so thick. It is non-toxic, mildew-resistant, pest-free and flame-resistant, good for the people who live in the home and the environment.
Despite the fact that hemp is cousin to marijuana, you would have to smoke about 2,500 pounds of it to get high which would be about the entire master bedroom. It's the same plant fiber that arrived in the New World in Columbus' ships' sails.
The designer of the house on Towne Mountain Road in West Asheville is Anthony Brenner with eco-friendly Push Design.
Hemp-Technologies are the hemp experts. More about hemp
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