Hemp Building Materials

Hemp (cannabis sativa) has course outer fibers and a shorter finer fiber on the inside,often called the hurd, The seeds from the hemp plant also can be pressed to get oil. These three main components of the hemp (cannabis sativa) plant can be manufactured into a variety of products that resemble wood, plastic, and even concrete like material. These hemp made products include but are not limited to plastic, fiberboard, wallboard, roofing tiles, insulation, paneling and bricks can even be made from the compressed inner short hemp fiber. The outer hemp fibers then can also be used like straw in bale construction paired with mud for an old-style cob building.

You can even make foundations from the compressed inner short hemp fibers. You fill a hemp plywood frame with the inner short hemp fibers, lime, sand, plaster and stone cement along with enough water to dampen the materials. It will set in a day and dry in a week. This hemp plaster/concrete is said to be half as light, seven times stronger and three times more pliable. Hemp reinforced concrete is also being tested and used to reduce the amount of concrete needed as well as gain the strength benefits of the strong long hemp fibers.

Homes can be made nearly 100% out of hemp materials. Pipes can be made out of hemp plastic. Walls can be hemp wallboard. Insulation can be made of hemp. It goes on and on… Hemp plaster, paint made with hemp oil, hemp carpet, hemp bricks, and even a hemp roofing material. We do not even list all the ones out there.

Building homes out of hemp will cost more than traditional materials until hemp is legal to be grown where you live but the outcome will be well worth the effort. Hemp building materials are better for you, withstand the test of time the same if not better than their non-renewable counterparts, and are easier on our environment.

Source: www.hemp.com