The first house in the US to be built from a completely new concrete-like mix that incorporates industrial hemp is Anthony Brenner’s own house in Ashville, North Carolina, and built by his own company, Push Design, as a demonstration of breathable building construction.
The house was relatively more energy-efficient and economical to build due to its unique plant matter construction using Brenner’s invention, that he calls hemcrete.
Hemp is mixed with just quicklime and water on-site and then packed into molds between the structural timbers.
Although he named it hemcrete, the mix is non-structural: more like straw bale than concrete.However, as you see here, the walls are not as thick as typical straw bale walls. The temperature-regulating properties are equivalent, due to the high thermal mass.
Brenner claims that the material has the ability to absorb carbon, not just when grown but even during its second life: being mixed into a wall, because there is more carbon sequestered in the growing of hemp than in the making of the mixture with lime on site.
Purepanel recycled paper panels from Paragon Panels provide the insulation inside, using air-filled cardboard.
Despite the beautiful interior appointments, the house was quite economical to build.
The cost is partly due to the very large footprint. Tt 3,400 sq ft, the building’s cost-per-square-foot priced-out very economically – at just $133 per sq ft.
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