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HEMP BUILDING AUSTRALIA

 Hemp Building Australia – is a team focused on hemp in the building industry to create aesthetically pleasing,   environmentally-responsible, functional habitats. Sanctuary Magazine Hemp House features walls constructed by   Darren Christie (IHAV)  & Andrew Luxton (IHANSW).

FAQs about Hemp-constructed walls as Carbon (CO2) Sinks:

  • Hemp produces more biomass & absorbs a greater quantity of  CO2

 

  • Hemp has  great  insulation, thermal and acoustic properties

 

  • Construction of Walls -are constructed by setting out the form-work to plan. Post & beam walls are preferable to stud walls as they use less timber & decreases construction time.  A typical wall is 300mm thick - recommended by the Building Code of Australia  (BCA), Australian Standard HB 195-2002.

 

  • Hempcrete is a combination of hemp hurd, binder and some water in a betonniere  (pan mixer).

 

  • The mix is poured into the form-work & tamped by hand using wooden tools. The firm, manual, manipulation of hempcrete in this way compresses the hemp mix together, helping it to bind & to give a pleasing finish. It is also soft enough to allow millions of air pockets to form within the wall between the hemp hurd. These air pockets act like double-glazing, increasing the insulation properties of the wall & act effectively as thermal mass - absorbing heat during the day/releasing it at night. 

 

  • The lime-based binder is absorbed into the hurd - when left to cure, lime (CaO) binds with silica (SiO2) within the hurd, creating calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H). As the calcium silicate crystal grows it connects with other crystals. Calcium silicate crystal within hurd binds with those same crystals found within the binder to form a very strong, calcified structure when dry. After curing is complete, the form-work is removed, the walls left to dry & either left raw (textured) or rendered with a lime and hemp mix with similar properties.

 

  • Hemp hurd & binder used by Hemp Building Australia is 100% Australian. While in France Andrew Luxton has been assisting a hemp-builder from Canosmose heritage

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Melbourne sanctuary hempcrete rammed ear
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THE AUSTRALIAN HEMP MASONRY COMPANY

 

The Australian Hemp Masonry Company has been working in the hemp construction industry in Australia since 1999.

All our products were developed and tested over a six-year period at the Australian Centre for Construction Innovation at the University of NSW and then for a further six years in the field. As a result of this extensive testing, we now have Hemp homes all across Australia’s varied and extreme climates.

Our Lime Binder, Hemp-lime Render and Insulation products are manufactured in Sydney, Australia.

https://www.hempmasonry.com.au/

OVERSEAS BUILDING LINKS

  Prefabricated walls for hemp houses from the Netherlands

 

  Video of the first completed hemp house in France in contemporary 1992:
 

  Hemp blocks - video ( documentation section)

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Klara Marosszeky-First HempCrete building in Singapore. 

 

The gallery will be Singapore's first zero energy Green Gallery. Using innovative design, the development will cause minimal disruption to the site. Using two eco-innovative features that are introduced in Singapore for the first time - the biomaterial known as Hempcrete (largely made from the hemp plant), and a prefabricated modular system.

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