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:
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Hemp produces more biomass & absorbs a greater quantity of CO2
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Hemp has great insulation, thermal and acoustic properties
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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.
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Hempcrete is a combination of hemp hurd, binder and some water in a betonniere (pan mixer).
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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.
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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.
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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
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)
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.