Hemp Concrete Walls (R30 + Fireproof) - You Won't Believe How They Built This House!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2020
- Check this out, Hemp construction! Hemp has been used in various forms of construction dating back to the Romans, in bridges, sails, ropes, and now more recently in residential construction. Reintroduced first in Europe, Hemp construction takes form as a low weight, high insulating, vapor permeable wall component. Placed usually in one of three ways: cast in place, sprayed, or by block. Hempcrete utilizes the core of hemp plants in a woodchip like form as the aggregate, combined with natural binders, and water to achieve the finished product. We were fortunate to visit a site in central Texas where they are using a hempcrete in the wall assembly, to surround a roughly 400 year old Japanese timber frame structure. Huge thanks to Mattie Mead, who founded Hempitecture, an Idaho based company bringing hempcrete and hemp wool insulation to the American market, for taking time to show us this project. Hemp has gotten a bad wrap over the last century thanks to its medicinal cousin. But from the sound of it, we should be seeing more and more applications of hemp here in the states, as it is a bomber agricultural commodity with so many applications.
Project - Central Texas
www.hempitecture.com/theminka
Mattie Mead - Hempitecture
www.hempitecture.com
Chad Burnel - EIM inc. - Builder
eimtxcorp.com
Axel Vervoodt - Architect
www.axel-vervoordt.com/interi...
Mell Lawrence - Local Architect
www.melllawrencearchitects.com
Seth Willison - Timber Frame Designer
www.willisontimberworks.com
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www.Poly-Wall.com
www.Dorken.com
www.Huberwood.com
www.Prosoco.com
www.Viewrail.com
Hempcrete is fireproof, bugproof, rat and rodent proof, moderates humidity levels. Therefore has museum quality air that provides an environment where you can store papers, books, material, metal without degrading. Great wall material to live in, grow in, and store in. I plan on using it as an infill for a geodesic dome, which is more of a suspension building, that will not be taken down by hurricanes. Try to blow this one down you crazy old wolf! lol Good luck to everyone in their endeavors.
Good day, thank you for your information. I need to read, and learn more about this. Any suggestions? Ciao.
I'm sure it is cost proof also.
To where the average joe would not be able to afford for many decades to come.
I've seen many videos on how this hemp product that they were using is produced.
And there is 2 methods.
And they are both long drawn out processes.
One method is using a hammer mill. Which I didn't like. The finish product looks dirty and inferior to the other method. Which is what I think the guys in the video used. Nice and clean and white.
@@assog5737 they have companies making blocks out of it now. Still greenflation prone but its really nice.
@@kraft_mo1245 Greenflation prone... that was hoot! lol. Very accurate.
@@assog5737 I'm thinking that maybe this can be substituted with coarse wood dust/saw dust for cost savings. For one this hemp base product is a boutique material not something I can go to Home Depot and load up like dimensional lumber. Much less in the rest of the Americas. It may be decades before it scales up to a commodity. Just look at the unique Architecture of this show house with 500 y.o. timber... doesn't look like money is a problem when it comes to choosing hempcrete.
There's a guy in youtube that used said wood chips to fill in his cabin walls with "dust-crete", his term, and it looks like it could work as the poor man's hempcrete, something I'd like to try some day.
An inspiring book with lots of ideas for a variety of garden buildings The instructions are detailed and clear with plenty of photos. As a beginner th-cam.com/users/postUgkxlg1H4xyrEBR03VoimQHdPx6Ebmzrr0nO I was looking for a manual that would walk me through the basics with detailed instructions and this book does just that. The book caters to both the beginner and more experienced DIY enthusiast with builds varying in complexity, from straightforward projects such as the one we've completed, to more ambitious builds. Absolutely on trend, with instructions on how to install solar panels, green roofs and sweet chestnut shakes - It's given me lots of ideas for future projects!
People suffering from property loss due to these wildfires should definitely consider rebuilding with this.
The guy is really brilliant. That answer about why the hemp doesn't rot, is just so succinct, it's brilliant. The man knows his stuff and can talk about it, I love it.
He’s a dick, anyone that says “special ingredient” is a con and thief of other’s work. I share discoveries not meant to be used by others to gouge working folks. Overpriced underpaid profiteering. He put it in a bag, didn’t grow or harvest make it? He’s a thief and exploiting people childish fads and fashionability weak ego. Carbon and weed maaaan!
Concrete lime making is using tons of fuel, caused the destruction of whole world of Mayans. Apocalypse sick starved ruined water cycle cannibalism and rain forest destroyed.
I've been using hempcrete in Ireland for the last five years. Very sustainable system, and cost effective too.
Coilin O'Toole do you need to add vapour barrier? I am concerned that in freezing temperatures in a humidified house vapour migration from the inside would freeze and damage the outside walls.
@@fredfrond6148 of course
iwasdropped then how do you maintain the nice looking finish if you have to put a vapour barrier on?
@@fredfrond6148 he said it will have a plaster that is vapor proof
No, he said it is vapor
Permeable.
That is not a vapor barrier.
This is hill country
Texas so it is not as important.
Also the vapor barrier many of us learned had been discredited.
Look up Building Science Corporation for details or watch more of these videos.
Please keep looking into more green and alternative housing solutions. I'd love to see a video on straw bale construction.
EDIT: Hijacking my comment to talk about something in the video. The guy says that the lime mix absorbs CO2 which makes it greener. This is partially true, lime does pull CO2 out of the air to form calcium carbonate BUT all commercial lime starts out as from limestone (calcium carbonate) that is baked at high temperatures. When used lime might be considered carbon-neutral (reabsorbing its previous carbon emissions), but only if you don't take into account the large amount of energy that goes into baking limestone to form lime.
This method of building is still very eco-friendly.
YES IM SO GLAD MATT LIKED THIS COMMENT IT MEANS HE MIGHT!
@@Joshleslie871 If you into "green" building then suggest you have a search on YT ... no need at all to wait for your man to do a video.
And, where straw bales not readily available some of your fellow compatriots have been building "alternative" housing for years using rammed earth and clay and timber.
(However it must be said some of your local buildings authorities didn't quite know what to make of them.
I gather they ticked all the boxes but not in the conventional sense.)
A modern take on adobe, sort of, but not in bricks so to speak. "Cob" is another way of using earth which can be formed into all sorts, including niches in the walls to form shelves.
Slightly ironic as this green way of building is several thousand years old. If interested have a squint at earth/mud/clay construction in Yemen or Mali to name only two.
Or even have a squint at the earth covered buildings in Japan. I gather with passive heating, together with feet of earth as insulation, these buildings are among the greenest on the planet. Sometimes literally as the roof is covered in grasses or low growing shrubs.
In UK we have some buildings built into hillsides, "cut and cover" style which resemble a house in Hobbiton.
If we in the West thought we knew about green technology then it may be we are thousands of years behind the rest of the alleged third world 😂.
Ross Kneebone yeah I watch a lot of that but what there isn’t a lot of is American contractors talking about the straw bale and how it would be possible within the context of typical American building code which is why I think it would be cool to hear Matt speak on the subject
@@Joshleslie871 Ref your compatriots building stuff out of clay I believe they started off "experimenting" with build techniques/design until they became proficient ... and complied with code ... sort of.
So it might be a case of having to watch a few hours of videos, make a lot of notes, then apply to straw bales and see how you go from there.
With enough hands and bales to hand some of the single storey structures were up in a day!
Plenty of videos on YT and books on Amazon. I gather the term is "building brown" if you are searching.
Just had a quick squint on YT at what has been built and to use one of "your" expressions it's "awesome", well I thought so.
And of course the videos are by the folks who build them so wouldn't need an interpretive explanation.
And the R values are in the hundreds ... maybe even higher ...
And it's green and cheap.
Somehow I don't believe you'll be bored.
Yes! I was actually about to make this same comment. I'd really love to hear Matt's thoughts on straw bale construction.
I think the various forms of hempcrete construction has a lot of promise. Use it for exterior walls and add a metal roof and your house will resist fire and likely drop your insurance quite a bit. I'd like to see something on the interlocking block form of it too - as what I've seen goes together quickly and has holes cut for running conduit to reduce EMF radiation in a home and protect the wiring. Thanks for this video, Matt!
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Interlocking blocks r great cause they r more seismic resistant!
Thank you.
EMF? I drive electric. It’s a rolling EMF generator!
"Sober cousin" that's the best I've heard! Love it!
When my dad’s house burnt down in 2018 from the camp fire in NorCal (thanks PG&E) I told them to look into HempCrete when they rebuild. It’s an awesome material! Also fire resistant! Love to see this catching on.
Edit: I would love to see the finished house! Hopefully Matt could go back and take a tour of the finish house to show people what a finished HempCrete house looks like.
PG&E was prevented from clearing around their lines by state environmental regulations.
No, PG&E was not stopped by regulations. They were stopped by the lack of money going into maintenance and instead going to their pockets. It is why they plead guilty, again (San Bruno explosion).
PG&E Did NOT cause that fire. Some morons doing a "gender reveal" party started that fire. And ironically 2 large fires have been caused by "gender reveals" parties and one of them blew up a family member.
@@PhillipDavis830 PG&E was prevented in one instance, because they couldn't contact a private property owner to get permission to go on his property and mitigate debris.
It's great to have a fire proof house BUT many people can't move back to burned areas because the infrastructure is cooked, literally. My neighbors house was standing they just had zero services and they say it will be years before they get them. So he is worse than the homes that got burned ( he still lost most of his stuff due to smoke and heat).
these two look like they could really nerd out over some building techniques. lol guy was very knowledgeable about everything.
also, holy cow what an incredible build! 😳
Hemp guy knows his stuff.
One of the best construction tools for the future.
Helped retro insulate a 'living' room in a traditional built Scottish cottage with this two years ago here in Scotland. the owner ripped out all the old plasterboard, back to bare wall, which here is a two foot thick rough stone affair held together with limecrete. Made a frame with 1x2, all it has to do is hold the shuttering till the hempcrete sets, then we all set to with an electric cement mixer and mix and fill, mix and fill. About 5 inches thick and right up against the stone wall. Learned that you do not need to pack it down hard, that takes away the air spaces you need for insulation. Also that best to leave shuttering on for a day or two so the stuff firms up well. It sets pretty hard after a week and there is good advice all over the internet. With a breathable plaster and then paint from lakeland paints here in the uk it totally transformed the room. No more 'bit chilly damp' feeling and the hempcrete retains like a reservoir the heat you put in the room, evening out the heat cycles from the log burner in there. It's a lot of work and I dont know the finance aspect, not my project, but for end comfort and to use 'natural' products its gets an A*
For those who do not know. Shuttering is the board (mentioned 3/4 osb) used as the forms to hold the hempcrete. One thing not mentioned.. the more you tamp the hempcrete the more you will destroy its ability to insulate. So denser packing is why he said r2 ..
Matt, is it bug resistant?
So, NOT hemp, just cellulose. Could do this with nothing but the cellulose insulation found in the attic and walls of every house in the USA... PS: Hemp is the outter fiber of the plant. This is the interior of the plant(waste product) This is nothing but corn stalks in reality and you could use corn stalks just as well. Seems like a whole lot of wasted effort. Just buy rockwool.
@@w8stral the hemp shiv has a lot of silica. this makes it different than cellulose. rockwool is another way to insulate. Every product has it pros and cons. Shiv is the woody interior of the stalk.. not the outside fiber. your concept of hemp is pretty much inaccurate. Corn stalks are NOTHING like hemp. due to the minerals in the stalks.
@@stevepailet8258 Way to prove 1) you cannot read) and 2) proved my point as you pointed out EXACTLY what I did. COrn is NOT its stalks just as the hemp fiber(its bark) is NOT the Hemp plant stalks. And 3) The so called "silica" is laughably absurd. What you are calling "hemp" shiv is in fact Cellulose. Now you can whine about mineral uptake difference between plants.... > but it is the PORTLAND CEMENT which makes this fireproof and the mineral content of said cellulose is minimally different between plants. This is like claiming wood soaked in salt water is not wood... Yea, it burns greeen sparks... Why? It absorbed some minerals out of the salt water. Does it burn at exactly same rate? Yup, it does.
I like this kind of stuff where people who know everything about their job talk about it.
(It is unbelievable how many people don't know anything about what they are doing - probably for their whole life.)
like someone who tells you how honest they are, watch out for someone who tells you how long they have been doing something
Ahhh, you may want to consult an engineer with experience in straw structures before trying this. There are a couple glaring mistakes you will not enjoy with this method.
@@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475
Why make such a vague comment, it serves zero purpose?
If you are worried about it not adding structural value because it's chopped, vs how straw is left whole, he mentioned the hemp isn't structural, the wood and steel are.
@@tracy419 You should consult a relevant specialist before choosing this method (which is not vague in the least).
Choosing to chop these fibers is one glaring error showing this method is not thought through properly, yes. Materials like straw have insulating properties due to the hollow core of the fibers. If these fibers are chopped cross-ways that's not great but OK. However, if they are chopped axially (in half lengthwise) the pockets are destroyed and the Adobe or Cob mix becomes *conductive* , not insulative.
Also: it's not structural once the straw is mangled into shards. The tubular structure, and length of fibers, both contribute to structural reinforcement. There's no advantage to destroying this internal material strength, and only disadvantages.
For simple evidence, consider a long-fiber straw bale is R-30. If it is chopped into short segments, it is not allowed under International Building Code for straw bale structures. And loses significant insulative capacity. Yet, that is chopped by segments, not axially into mulch, which is far worse on both counts.
I would recommended in the strongest terms you consult with an engineer, or research straw building techniques, for appropriate use of this material.
@@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475 @onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475 it was vague because, unlike this response to me, you provided zero reasons for why someone would need to contact a specialist.
Although I'll likely never own one, I'm very much into strawbale homes. I've been on Andrew Morrison's email list for years because I used to binge his stuff.
Very cool stuff and wish I could own one, but just because it's great doesn't mean there's no value to these hempcrete homes.
The video says it's not structural, so nothing misleading there.
And this isn't packed tight like an adobe or, while less so, a cob home would be, it's loose on the inside and only slightly compact on the outside with an air barrier on the outer surfaces which is what seals the air inside.
Is it as good as strawbale in that sense? Maybe not, but it's still worlds better than many currently traditional methods.
There's many ways to build a more sustainable world, why trash this one when they aren't being misleading?
Nice one Matt, definitely a great construction that would benefit the world. Farmers should be growing hemp because there are so many uses for it.
I slake my own lime mortars & plasters and keep my 300 year old, 3 foot thick, cob walled structure maintained with the lime putty mortar. It absorbs CO2, is warm in the winter, cool in the summer and has better acoustics than cement products and will last another 300 years hopefully.
The house was built without foundations, has a straw roof and no guttering, all the rain water drips into a French drain which surrounds the base of the cottage and is taken away from the building to soak away into the surrounding fields or could have gone into a tank for the garden or to flush into a septic tank which is emptied every 2 years.
Sounds heavenly...
Gives a whole new meaning to stoned wall.
This is pretty cool, but I think I would avoid for the same reason I don't ever want a house on a slab...repairing plumbing/electrical would be a pain in the butt.
Simple fix, use conduit for all of your encased wire runs, and run your plumbing in interior walls rather than exterior ones (which you will want to do in any case in order to maintain optimal continuous r value on the exterior).
I would have loved to heard some pricing. It comes across as a high end product only affordable by people that build with 300 year old lumber shipped from Japan.
Don’t forget the team of Japanese carpenters who assembled the wood with hand tools.
it is the shipping that is the killer.. I priced it.. 2100 sq foot house around $12000 for the materials and double that for the shipping, perhaps another $20000. Remember getting tons of the hemp and the Lime is heavy like portland. Plus it is labor intense to install. As a DIY it becomes affordable.. if you can source it domestically. More States have legalized the planting of industrial hemp.. This should help
@@jimyeats I didn't, it just seemed like rubbing salt in the wound.
Exactly. For all the green hype, it's extremely labor-inten$ive. This is virtue-signalling run amok
@@jimyeats last house I saw that done was Larry Ellison's home. Built in Japan without nails, and reassembled in Woodside Ca - billionaire's row...
Love it! R30, carbon sequestration, fireproof. Incredible.
By far, the best episode that I have ever seen on this important subject.
Many thanks for this Matt. As someone with a near evangelical enthusiasm for this unique material, I really appreciated your open engagement with it.
So cool. So glad you covered this Matt. So much potential.
So, NOT hemp, just cellulose. Could do this with nothing but the cellulose insulation found in the attic and walls of every house in the USA... PS: Hemp is the outter fiber of the plant. This is nothing but corn stalks in reality and you could use corn stalks just as well. Seems like a whole lot of wasted effort. Just buy rockwool.
w8stral -- Yea but liberal manipulation is fun
I love, love, love this and the many benefits of hemp AFT !
This is one of my all time favorites
This is such a beautiful house. I wish I could see the finished product.
Industrial hemp currently being grown out here in West Texas.
about damn time. such an easy plant to grow, and so useful.. good source of potential income for many small farms
I was raised closed to Lubbock, Texas. Fabulous!
@@Moon___man Industrial Hemp has been grown in the US for a long time, but it has to sit for 2 years before it can be used to ensure no THC is present (not that industrial hemp has been bred to produce much THC anyways unlike it's siblings that have been bred for higher and higher THC amounts)
we use to produce a lot of hemp here in Murica till the lumber industry payed off some politicians to ban it because it was bad for THEIR business
Also recently made legal in New Mexico. Thanks, Gov. Luján-Grisham.
I'm a Masonry Contractor in Tucson and have been working with a supplier back east and love the compatibility with masonry, recycled styrofoam, haybail and other alternative building materials .
Hemp can save us and the world!
Awesome to see you do a video on this! It has becoming more popular in Canada over the last 5 years
Was wondering how this does in deep cold eg minus thirty for a week. How does moisture do? What about using mineral wool with it? A metal roof? Etc
You cannot believe the applications of Hemp. They are almost endless.
I liked that he was friendly as well as being very informative about his product. Some of the interviewees are so focused on their product they don't crack a smile.
As a life time drywaller wish I was younger and could be a part of this so exciting industry.
For everyone only commenting on what was seen here, there are companies here stateside that sell hemp-blocks, which are sort of Pre-cured and fit together like lego blocks or what you see from ICF builds. It cuts the labor down on-site considerably. But like all new markets for the US, it takes patience and a willingness to try said products. The construction industry isn’t well suited to new things in the US though smaller firms are trying these things all the time. I believe the first recorded house built with it was here in North Carolina in Ashville. And yes, hemp is hemp. It was not and never was marijuana. Again, more greed and misunderstanding to keep a product from competing viably with cotton, etc. Far more versatile and generally simpler to farm. Most of the rest of the world doesn’t have the stigma we do here in the US around it and therefore much further along in its applications.
A link to that company would be really helpful! :-)
What he said...
Indeed, that's what I used to retrofit/ insulate my home from 1847 in NL, almost as simple like stacking Lego blocks. Minor imperfections from my (total newbie to building) 'gluing' them together in my view add to the character of my old home.
@ATS599 interior (due to roof having no overhang and house already being on property line); indeed plastered it afterwards w earth variation (more for looks than additional insulation)
This was awesome Matt!! Thank you for showing us new and innovative stuff! Keep the interesting and new stuff coming! Hey is there any way you could cover kind of how house building has changed over the last century here in the states? Sheathing/insulation/finishing? I've seen double-bricked houses, straight 2by as the sheathing, plywood before OSB was invented, etc. It'd be great to have someone with your expertise and first hand experience sort of walk through the decades with mock-ups and explain how house building has changed over the years, pros cons of each build style, monetary incentives perhaps, etc. You're the man. Love the show.
not sure how well a double brick wall works for r value.. but grew up in a house that had walls like that. Seemed to stay ok. but I know I changed out and added an extra 2 tons of AC to that house. Currently am in a house with 1 x 4 heart pine t &G, that the entire house is sheathed (inside walls) walls and ceilings. Pre osb and yes pre ply wood. There is much to be said about many newer building products some good some not so much
Watching your video's I get SO encouraged!
This video and this home are awesome!
Yay Hempitecture!
I just finished insulating my Workshop/Boutique with hemp wool batting insulation.
Good to see more people discovering the different usages of hemp. You don't have to be a pothead to realise how incredible this plant is. And there are more innovations in the construction field. "Justbiofiber" in Canada is doing hemp blocks like LEGOs!
Probably the most professional interview to date on the build show.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing 💫 One could also use "Lego-Style" hempcrete bricks. Can't wait to build my first little hemp house in Germany 💗
There are leggo style blocks that go together amazingly. Too bad this is so expensive!
I am overjoyed that someone else sees the value of Hemp. Go for it man! 👍
Wow, Matt! I used to build those houses in Japan. Along with many other western stile homes back in the nineties. I'd love to be able togo and visit that jobsite. What a flashback
Please return when this is done so we can see how beautiful it will be
Thanks for this! Amazing insight into this process of construction!
great show Matt......well done...love the product and mattie is awesome
Finally going back to what worked for low rise dwelling for centuries.
only good for those who still live under a rock . Mix styrofoam beads with cement and it will be cheaper and better product
@@andreycham4797 You might be right but the object these days, in UK, is to build "green" so to speak. Concrete is avoided as much as possible in this type of build, only in footings perhaps.
Concrete now considered environmentally hazardous as in producing a lot of CO2 in its manufacture, as in greenhouse gases etc.
Ergo hempcrete ticks the green boxes as a natural plant material which "captures" said CO2.
Some UK builds use straw bales (2' X 2' X 1'). Held together with long wooden pins. Easily hacked into whatever size, angled reveals, whatever. Double glazed timber framed window fixed with pins.
Membrane and a cover material to exterior, lime plaster to interior.
Sort of a building material with no need for extra insulation.
Timber frame on top to support roof structure.
Obviously a "bit" more involved than my description but plenty of videos online if you interested to look.
One of the main "appeals" is it is a fast way of building.
Some other green builds have gone back to a timber wattle as an armature and mud/clay/chopped straw daub. Layers built up as necessary.
As for reducing the use of concrete, Norway now designing high rise timber buildings and Japan planning one 70 storeys high (and considered to be a lot more earthquake proof than concrete in that it flexes).
And of course your northern neighbours have already built one.
This was super interesting. Good video matt
@@t1n4444 concrete scare in the UK is a huge fad. Making that "Limestone binding agent" used for binding the hemp most likely has exactly the same CO2 impact cement has.
@@AntKardano 😂😂😂
Have a look at the chemistry. The carbon dioxide is cooked out of the calcium carbonate.
Plenty of info online if interested.
The limestone still contains the CO2.
I been waiting to see this in Texas :) so much love for this .. just think someday you can grow your home... and these fibers are basically the left overs from using the rest of it .. so in theory the more the other parts are used in other products and the more this needs to be discarded the cheaper it will be to source..
Excellent construction , both the ancient timber construction and the ancient hemp-crete beautifully merged. Seeing a hemp-crete home built (on video) a decade ago, I've wanted to have it ever since. Having a sawmill & ready to build, hummm
I’m glad to see this come to light I believe our future we will see more of this and the use of hemp products
Very interesting. Seems like a slow build but beautiful. Thanks for sharing
Thank you for showcasing Hemp construction materials! I think this will help raise awareness for an entirely attractive approach to building.
I've always wondered about this stuff, thanks for the video Matt!
That was my favorite episode yet.
Great video Mat! Can you go back and show us the finished product so people can see it after its done? We would love that, thank you!
No doubt, would love to see this structure in finished form!
"There's nothing here you smoke or get high on"
I guess no building material is perfect
What they did not tell you is, that you'd smoke the flowery, while they make paper and fabrics and hempcrete from leaves and stems (fibers).
so you can get high with your new house together ;-)
🤣🤣
But ignorant fed gov had hemp illegal for decades
i'm not an arsonist, i'm a drug addict.
@@liquidminds close, they make paper pulp, rope etc by the woody stems under the bark of the plant, the skin and leaves will have the crystals that you smoke, but the flowery part is where most of the crystals are.
You would never feel better in any other house.
Go hempcrete - stay healthy!
3d HempCrete Homes are the future! They are printed fast and super cool designs.
I wish people and governments would free the mass growing of hemp and save cutting down trees. Ford revolutionised hemp/ resin panels, nearly indestructible. They could smash it with hammer and it wouldn't dent.
I'd like to see a kind of ready mixed product us lowly plebs could use. Or at least bulk materials delivered on site that could be mixed and poured, not manually packed after mixing. Availability and affordability are the name of the game for those of us that can't afford to import 400 year old Japanese firewood.
I'm thinking in terms of a very simplified post & beam, a 4x4 post either side of each door/window opening, to double as door/window bucks, intermediate posts where necessary to keep the top plate span reasonable, and finally some Simpson Strongwalls to provide lateral resistance. Then the whole disappears inside the hemp wall.
The posts and the beams here are fantastic.
Amazing!!! Thank you for sharing this information.
Finally going mainstream on “natural” building materials. I wouldn’t call it as natural as cob but at least it’s a start.
It is about time people start reverting back to building materials and techniques that last 400+ years such as quality timber framing techniques and natural infill such as cob or strawbale. These techniques and materials have stood the test of time in most past Europe and middle eastern nations.
Spot on AvR!
In UK we are (re)trying all sorts of techniques from history. Cob being but one; cut and cover subterranean homes but with an entire triple glazed wall for passive heating.
Straw bales covered in clayey mud are perhaps my favourite as cheap materials and cheap labour if you enrol friends and family.
Some commenters might be amazed but some truly excellent buildings built from straw bales and mud right there in US.
Some US builders into rammed earth technology, using old tyres as an armature. Walls about 3 or 4 ft thick, so presumably R numbers in the millions.
Just a case of doing a search of YT to find plenty of videos.
No problems with using hemp at all but why bother? You must have the odd straw bale or two knocking about following a harvest.
In fact American readers might care to have a squint at "Solarwise" in Colorado.
Their site provides construction costs for comparison purposes. However, typing from UK, cost comparisons of stuff in US don't mean a lot here as you might suppose
Might be worth a squint, might not.
100% !!!!
I’d like to see a comparison show between hempcrete and rammed earth
@@zlmdragon. - Well, rammed earth is also used as insulation (well, more cited as such while also being used as support), although, from my understanding, it's often not as efficient as other materials - I say this just because some people misrepresent it.
Beautiful house and build! Nice to see hempcrete given some TLC... 👍👌🌟
This was amazing!!!
This has to be the future.
Over the span of 5-10 years the hemp and limestone will be rock solid, literally transforming into a stone!
The miracle plant Hemp!!
Really neat building material.
So glad you got round to this subject! I’ve been watching the slow growth of the use of this material for a few years now. So it’s nice to see it being highlighted in this way. Apart from fire proofing and insulation I love that there is not heavy reliance on various kinds of membranes and “plastics” and so on. One property that I have come across is that Hempcrete is said to continue to sequester carbon for years to come. Apparently the wall just gets more solid as time goes by. I’d love to hear more about that and have it verified.
Making It Through - all my research confirms what you say.
The US Constitution is on Hemp!
Very informative! Thanks for the video!
Interesting. Thank you!
There is now a structural LEGO preformed Hemp and Lime Mortar brick that you just stack , no skill, no drying time required , and they are pre drilled so when stacked the holes always line up so you can run cables down the wall internals .
Great sounding product.
Saw that but trying to figure out how they do window lintels with hempblocks
I love hempcrete it is a wonder material, a few things he forgot to mention about it that are nice to know, hempcrete is not only fireproof it's earthquake-resistant as well since hempcrete doesn't crack like concrete, you can hit it with all sorts of things and it won't break. It also gets harder over time it's a very old building material it was used even way back in ancient Rome, there are still structures today build out of it still standing that's one reason we know it lasts so long. Another thing is it is actually very sound resistant, unlike concrete it doesn't transfer sound very well so you can use it to make some sound resistant structures and help keep the noise out. It's also lighter than concrete.
Lastly, I'm glad he mentioned that it is different from its cousin, so many people mix them up. They are in the same family but grow in different regions. Hemp is native to coastal areas, it's cousin is native to the mountains, and because it grew so well in coastal areas a lot of early ships were made from hemp. In fact, that is where we get the word "Canvas" from its from the word Cannabis which is its family name. Very amazing material I wish we used it more. It's one downside though is that it does take about 45 days to fully cure, unlike concrete which is much faster, as such even most hemp structures are still built on concrete foundations since no one wants to wait 45 days for the foundation to cure before construction.
Very cool loved the video!
So, NOT hemp, just cellulose. Could do this with nothing but the cellulose insulation found in the attic and walls of every house in the USA... PS: Hemp is the outter fiber of the plant. This is nothing but corn stalks in reality and you could use corn stalks just as well. Seems like a whole lot of wasted effort. Just buy rockwool. Its fireproof and goes on a hell of a lot cheaper.
w8stral I applaud your determination as you have copied and pasted your same comment numerous times throughout these comments. I believe there is something uniquely different about these fibers compared to corn as some have noted. Additionally, hemp is grown using far fewer resources than corn and can return far more harvests per year. Even if you are correct, what is the harm in having additional methods/products available if this method has so many upsides?
@@marvinbernard2566 No harm in using waste products: Just hate lies saying it is hemp. It is not hemp. You may as well buy straw bales and use that as it is the exact same thing.
The ol' trope of "hemp using less resources" is in fact a lie. Why? No one actually knows for Hemp as it is barely commercially grown and in modern context is laughable to claim that as the productivity of corn has doubled in last few decades and inputs have drastically dropped and corn is quite likely going to increase in productivity by another 50% in the next decade . Now maybe A commercial modern hemp can be hybridized to come up to par, but currently Hemp is nowhere close unless you still are reading BS from the 1950's and pretending this is a comparison. Corn is being grown outside of its normal habitat requiring said resources, just as hemp would be if it was grown outside of its natural growing areas. Difference is there is $$$ to made in corn, and not in Hemp. THus the use of resources. As for the essential ban on Hemp? Yea, stupid. Was grown for centuries and ppl were not smoking it left and right .... why? It reeks and you have to be hardcore to smoke that crap.
@@marvinbernard2566 I agree with your statement. From what I have understood unit for unit hemp is stronger than wood pellets. It is true that the cellulose used in hempcrete is the outside husk of the hemp plant. However, saying all cellulose is the same thing is just wrong. If that is true then is there any difference between a chest made from pine, or a chest made from oak. Both are cellulose but the strength varies from tree to tree and plant to plant. You can't just lumpsum every plant into one category and say it's all the same, and as a result, therefore, say you can substitute anything you want. And sure you can use Rockwool I use Rockwool all the time but aren't options great? If it insulates it insulates, we could use snow if we lived in a cold climate to insulate. It's just another option, one with a lot of potentials. The main reason they use hemp it that it is really easy to grow (you don't need a lot of fertilizer), scale-up, and grows relatively quickly.
w8stral if I remember correctly acre per acre hemp produces the most usable cellulose compared to even wood. It beats out corn by a mile. That’s why it’s being used in majority of eco building materials in europe. Hemp is also less picky which soil it is grown in. It’s more resilient to drought. Does not require as much fertiliser and other agro chemicals. Therefore does not degrade soil as much compared to corn or wheat. It actually has a positive impact on the top soils. Which btw scientists are warning that we have to stop industrial fertilisation of soils as it’s leading to desertification all over the world of arable soil.
OSU has researched HEMPCRETE and is selling it to developers. Need more advertising!! It’s GREAT!!
Hemp saves our forests, bamboo, too!
I do believe how they built that. It's a great building material. There are several good TED-talks about hempcrete and industrial hemp.
Lots of talk, but nobody ever discusses cost. Even deep-pockets would think twice...
With the price of lumber these days I wonder if this will become more common to build with. Some of the new subdivisions where I live are "zero lot line" and the houses are 4 feet apart. If there is a fire in one it usually jumps to at least the houses right next door. This seems like it would be ideal to use in those neighbourhoods.
I needed to find this - TY so much
Fascinating, thanks for sharing.
can hempcrete be formed into boards or sheets and used like dry wall? also, what are its structural specs? how much sheer, crush and impact forces can it sustain?
Many thanks for finally getting around to covering an alternative building method Matt. Also for covering a fireproof material. We definitely need more videos like this.
Suggestion: next time you talk to Mattie ask him about how to handle humidity in a structure built with a moisture permeable strategy. Other things to point out: termite proof and vermin proof.
I also heard that it is insect proof.
You don't have to "handle" humidity, hempcrete is extremely breathable which is one of the main reasons it started being used for walls. I'll put it to you this way, an architect built his home in the rainforests of India with the stuff
Termites don't go near it and neither do insects, just like hay bales
So awesome...thank you for sharing and great work...love this ❤💪🏾🌎
environmentally safe sustainable building material ,The future is hempcrete.
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Always appreciate your support Kevin! Still hoping for that collaboration!
@@buildshow Can't wait!!
Make it happen gents! :)
@@buildshow found yourself a bro who loves you enough to emoji you
funny i’m subscribed to both of you
18:20 - "Yah, so, really the easiest way to incorporate plant-based building materials into your home is probably using hemp wool."
Wood: "Am I a joke to you?"
Trees take decades to grow
This is on a cycle of months
So it still stands
we use to produce a lot of hemp here in Murica till the lumber industry payed off some politicians to ban it because it was bad for THEIR business
Plastics industry. DuPont to be exact.
@@tommysanfilippo3165 plastics paper rope and gasoline actually
All took shots at hemp because it would replace all of them
Most informative, well presented, well done, thanks.
Thank you Matt for showing this material as a new option or solution to standard building materials, enjoyed it.
This seams much easier than rammed earth. I should do this on my next project instead
Jay Schmidt I know of rammed earth builders that have switched to hempcrete because it ticks many more boxes.
Rammed earth does not need to be plastered, so the beauty you pay for is something you get to keep.
Watching Matt's rammed earth video was pretty discouraging as far as that technique went. They used enough lumber just framing the forms to build 3 houses.
@@HappyBeeHoney Yeah but then the farming material can be reused. I agree that the rammed earth video looked like way to much work but imagine what you could if you had like a few different kinds of well built easy to work with steel forms and then used a lot more machines. The client can mix and match between the 10 different forms (windows, doors etc) and then you can reuse the forms. No more building a new wooden form every single time.
@@Lappmogel oh yeah I see how that can work in an adapted market where it's done frequently, but as far as what I'll be able to do myself within the next 10 years, I could see hempcrete but I think rammed earth will still be a long way from affordable.
LOVE THIS VIDEO MATT! ---> I've been an advocate of Hempcrete for many years, as it has been used for decades all over the world, from Alaska to Australia... from Europe to China... the same is true with hemp-insulation (which is the best insulation on earth) to hemp-wood and other hemp products. Hemp can replace so many inferior materials, and is actually better for both the user and the environment.
Yeahhh hemp is a super plant like bamboo a planet saver !!!!!! 👍👍👍🙌💚
hemp technology stands on its own utility as a sustainable local resource
I'd love to see more videos from you on eco-friendly/smart methodologies/materials. A lot of "green"/energy efficient practices are misrepresented. Pros and cons.
I agree, anything that's labeled as "green tech" has me on full alert for bias propaganda. Knowing the simplicity of the materials and their characteristics, I'm wondering how this product will hold up to fluctuations in humidity/dryness that many places have as part of their climate. If I'm guessing, I'd say both the interior and exterior "plaster" finishes will be a high maintenance issue, and depending on the materials applied, there will be substantial cracking and spalling in areas where wind, sun, rain, frost, and dry cycles will wreak havoc on the organic earthen materials.
Hemp also grows well on marginal cropland. Seems like hemp fibers could be mixed with rock wool.
Not True as Canada studied and found out back in the late 90's. Its like saying wheat, corn etc can be grown on marginal land... Well yes, they all can be grown on marginal land, but the crop yield tanks(less than 1/3 via Canada study) making the expense of planting/harvesting far outweigh the cost of selling the product. Likewise it literally cannot be grown in heavy clay soils. Plants literally rot in place. Also hemp must be babied when it is young unlike corn/soybeans, but once it gets established requires much less water. So, like everything, has good points, has bad points.
@@w8stral Tilling in lime can improve clay soils
Just keep asbestos out of rock wool.
wow nice thanks for showing
I love this Japanese kominka take on it.
Matt, Thank you so much for showing alternative building materials. This was really interesting and the Rep was very informative and knew what he was doing. I really hope this takes off in the trades. Thanks again.
Thanks for the push down this rabbit hole Mat. I'm now part way into a hemp masonry course with hands one classes starting next month. This stuff is amazing and so well suited to our climate down here in Tasmania.
As someone who owns a concrete block house, I don't envy the person that has to get access to the framing or utilities embedded in that wall
Utility channels are embedded in the walls for any maintenance access. Just as in brick walls - if there is a need though - it can be cut into and then patched up.
I absolutely support this. I'm sure this would make great and cheap sound insulation for apartments!