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Title: Hemp homes are cutting edge of green building
Source:
USA Today
URL Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communi ... /hemp-houses-built-asheville/1
Published: Sep 13, 2010
Author: John C. Fletcher
Post Date: 2010-09-13 20:32:27 by Ferret
Keywords: None
Views: 712
Comments: 56
Hemp is turning a new leaf. The plant fiber, used to make the sails that took Christopher Columbus' ships to the New World, is now a building material. In Asheville, N.C., a home built with thick hemp walls was completed this summer and two more are in the works. Dozens of hemp homes have been built in Europe in the past two decades, but they're new to the United States, says David Madera, co-founder of Hemp Technologies, a company that supplied the mixture of ground-up hemp stalks, lime and water. The industrial hemp is imported because it cannot be grown legally in this country — it comes from the same plant as marijuana. Its new use reflects an increasing effort to make U.S. homes not only energy-efficient but also healthier. Madera and other proponents say hemp-filled walls are non-toxic, mildew-resistant, pest-free and flame-resistant. The home's bathroom has efficient lighting and water-conserving plumbing fixturesCAPTIONBy Peak Definition"There is a growing interest in less toxic building materials, says Peter Ashley, director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control. "The potential health benefits are significant," he says, citing a recent study of a Seattle public housing complex that saw residents' health improve after their homes got a green makeover. The U.S. government has not taken a "systemic approach" to studying chemicals in homes and instead addresses problems such as asbestos, lead, arsenic and formaldehyde only after people get sick, says Rebecca Morley, executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing, a private research group. She says green building so far has focused mostly on the environment, not the health of the people inside. Ashley agrees that federal attention has been "sporadic," but says an interagency group began meeting last year to tackle the issue more broadly. He says HUD is funding more research on the health and environmental benefits of eco-friendly homes. Some green-rating programs, such as the one run by the private U.S. Green Building Council, give points for indoor air quality. "We are taking the next step in green building," says Anthony Brenner, a home designer with Push Design who created Asheville's first hemp home. "We're trying to develop a system that's more health-based." Brenner says he's been searching for non-toxic materials because he wants to build a home for his 9-year-old daughter, Bailey, who has a rare genetic disorder that makes her extremely sensitive to chemicals. "We have to keep her away from anything synthetic," he says, or she'll have seizures. •Follow Green House on Twitter He says a hemp home can be affordable, even though importing hemp makes it more expensive than other building materials, because skilled labor is unnecessary and hemp is so strong that less lumber is needed. The hemp mixture — typically four parts ground-up hemp to one part lime and one part water — is placed inside 2-foot-by-4-foot wall forms. Once it sets, the forms are removed. Although it hardens to a concrete-like form, wood framing is used for structural support. "This is like a living, breathing wall," Madera says. Hemp absorbs carbon dioxide and puts nitrogen into the soil, so it's good for the environment, he says. Alex Wilson, executive editor of Environmental Building News, says hemp can be grown with minimal use of chemicals and water. He says it has a midlevel insulating value (R-2 per inch) but is usually installed in a thick enough wall system to make it appropriate for all but the most severe climates. The mixture, "Tradical Hemcrete," has not previously been used in U.S. homes, but in 2008 it went into a community center on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Badlands, S.D., as well as a small chapel and pottery studio near Houston, says Mario Machnicki, managing director of American Lime Technology, a Chicago company that imports hemp from the United Kingdom. Asheville's second hemp home will be finished in about six weeks, says builder Clarke Snell of the Nauhaus Institute, a non-profit group of designers, engineers, developers and others interested in sustainable urban living. Snell says the home, which has 16-inch-thick walls, is airtight and energy-efficient. He expects it to meet rigorous Passive House Institute standards, which call for homes to use up to 90% less energy than regular ones. "On the coldest day in winter, the body heat of 10 people should heat the home," he says. "We're basically building a European home." Snell says his group will own the 1,750-square-foot house, and its engineer will live there for a couple of years to monitor energy use. He doesn't know how much it will cost because, as a prototype, it was built with donations and volunteer labor. The owners of the first hemp home say it cost $133 a square foot to build, not including land and excavation. "That's pretty remarkable" for a custom home in Asheville, which is a pricey area, says Karon Korp, a writer who moved into the house in July. Korp says she and her husband, Russ Martin wanted primarily an energy-efficient home. They're not particularly sensitive to chemicals, but they were drawn to Brenner because of his modern aesthetic and green building enthusiasm. She says they're thrilled their house is made of a renewable, toxic-free material and hope it sets an example for the nation. "Hemp could replace tobacco if it were legalized," says Martin, Asheville's GOP mayor from 1993 to 1997. He says some area tobacco farms have gone bust. Martin says they have spent less than $100 a month so far to cool the home, which has 3,000 square feet plus a garage. It has 12" thick walls, Energy Star appliances, dual-flush toilets, high-performance windows and LED lights. Korp says they might add a windmill, because the house sits atop a mountain. They say they have fantastic views. "We seen the sun rise," he says. She adds, "and the sun set."
In Asheville, N.C., Anthony Brenner holds a handful of industrial hemp shiv, left, and a block of the finished hardened product after the shiv is mixed with hydraulic lime. He designed a home with thick hemp walls that was completed this summer and is currently working on another one that will use hemp on interior walls. 
The hemp home was built for $133 per square foot, not including land and excavation costs, at the top of a mountain. 
The kitchen has clerestory windows for natural daylighting and Energy Star appliances. 
The home's bathroom has efficiency lighting and water-conserving plumbing fixtures 
A 2,ooo square foot with thick hemp walls was completed this summer in Ashville, N.C.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
#2. To: Ferret, wudidiz, christine, CadetD, farmfriend, Eric Stratton, Flintlock, all (#0)
This is basically a variation on a centuries old building construction material called Cob. It has been in use for centuries, and some of the cottages built from it centuries ago are still standing and livable. Oregon, if you were not already aware, is a hub of Cob Cottage Construction. Cob Cottage Co. Cob houses can be built very cheaply and are very thermal efficient and long lasting.
I like straw and cob houses. Ironically, even though some have been built locally, more have been kept from being built because the building codes don't have guidelines and standards to go by in order to authorize them. Which makes me suspect that conventional building material producers might be deliberately using their economic pull to prevent these buildings from becoming common place. Much as mattress manufacturers have been able to dampen the popularity of water beds by spreading rumors and fear about the weight they have per square foot, or damage they can cause if they leak catastrophically.
Such is the tyranny of good intentions taken over by the interested parties to hobble or eliminate competition. That is much how "medicine" is in this country. A real problem, slipshod construction and collapsing houses in the post-war building boom of the early 50's - which the building codes were designed to protect against were then taken over by the industries they were designed to protect against. Such as it is with hemp - interested parties in private business were able to make their competition illegal - both the petrochemical industry and the brewers - who were the big forces behind making hemp illegal. That illustrates the pragmatism of my opposition to big government and regulation. It is not that I am against protecting people but the historical reality that ALL regulatory schemes are in time taken over for someone's private aggrandizement. That is why I prefer a weak central government and strong laws against fraud - including the business death penalty of suing a business into bankruptcy. However, putting the soap box away, going back to construction. Yes there are technologies which are people friendly, durable, inexpensive, and environmentally sound. Of course there are other options, but Cob is easy to come up with, all you need is a heavy clay soil, which in Oregon we have in abundance, sand, and straw. It offers a way to put a roof over someone's head for much less than a conventional stick house and it is every bit as sturdy if not more so.
Cob lasts a long time too. When I was in Europe I saw cob buildings that have been around for hundreds of years. Which says a lot for that material. When I was looking at pictures of the devastation in Florida and other southern states caused by hurricanes where much of that was to blame for shoddy construction and inferior materials, one of the first thing I thought of was things like old cob buildings I saw in England and Ireland.
When I was looking at pictures of the devastation in Florida and other southern states caused by hurricanes where much of that was to blame for shoddy construction and inferior materials, one of the first thing I thought of was things like old cob buildings I saw in England and Ireland. Current, recently built homes are built with the cheapest materials that meet the antiquated codes, and often of materials, such as ureaformaldehyde foam insulation, that make people sick. Natural materials are much healthier. There are several building technologies and styles that are superior to stick built homes, and they are all cheaper - without using a lot of lumber i.e., a lot fewer trees. Not that I am a hugger, but I am a conservationist and a lover of the wilderness. At least I resist taking on the label "hugger" too much other baggage with it that I do disagree with. ;-) Another technology is monolithic domes, which would be ideal in Florida. They are basically formed structures made of rebar and concrete. They are stronger than stick built homes. A low dome with an aerodynamic surface could withstand a Class 5 Hurricane. Again environmentally friendly and extremely durable. I would like a stone block house but the cost is, at least for now, prohibitive.
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(Located in Coquille, OR) "Earth is probably still the world's commonest building material. The word cob comes from an old English root meaning a lump or rounded mass. Cob building uses hands and feet to form lumps of earth mixed with sand and straw, a sensory and aesthetic experience similar to sculpting with clay. Cob is easy to learn and inexpensive to build. Because there are no forms, ramming, cement or rectilinear bricks, cob lends itself to organic shapes: curved walls, arches and niches. Earth homes are cool in summer, warm in winter. Cob's resistance to rain and cold makes it ideally suited to cold climates like the Pacific Northwest, and to desert conditions.
Cob has been used for millennia even in the harsh climates of coastal Britain, at the latitude of the Aleutians. Thousands of comfortable and picturesque cob homes in England have been continuously occupied for many centuries and now command very high market values. With recent rises in the price of lumber and increasing interest in natural and environmentally safe building practices, cob is enjoying a renaissance. This ancient technology doesn't contribute to deforestation, pollution or mining nor depend on manufactured materials or power tools. Earth is non-toxic and completely recyclable. In this age of environmental degradation, dwindling natural resources, and chemical toxins hidden in our homes, doesn't it make sense to return to nature's most abundant, cheap and healthy building material?" 
Fanciful Cob House, USA
Traditional Cob Cottage, Devon, England
Modern Cob House, USA
Traditonal Styled Cob House, USA
#5. To: Original_Intent (#2)
#7. To: Ferret (#5)
(Edited)
I like straw and cob houses. Ironically, even though some have been built locally, more have been kept from being built because the building codes don't have guidelines and standards to go by in order to authorize them.
#10. To: Original_Intent (#7)
#12. To: Ferret (#10)
Cob lasts a long time too. When I was in Europe I saw cob buildings that have been around for hundreds of years. Which says a lot for that material.
Replies to Comment # 12.