Hemp Fibers Revolutionize the Building Industry

Let’s face it… the materials we currently use for building and manufacturing won’t be around forever. Our continued demand for oil, concrete and paper will require us to find alternative solutions. Enter the hemp plant. Hemp seeds and hemp fibers can be used to create over 50,000 different products. For the building industry, hemp fibers could be the next greatest solution.

On the Hemphasis website we learn about the myriad of ways hemp fibers can revolutionize the building industry.

Hemp fibers can be made into any building material, including

Hemp Fibers – An Alternative to Concrete

In fact, in an article from Salon News, the reporter offers specific examples of how hemp fibers used as a concrete alternative have changed the building industry:

“Hempcrete,” a lightweight concrete-like insulating material that can be poured into molds or used in blocks, is made by mixing the hurds, the woody core left after the fiber is stripped off the stalk, with lime and water. An English brewer and wine society have built warehouses with it. At Clay Fields, a green affordable-housing project in the English town of Elmswell that opened in 2008, the 26 houses are built from hempcrete surrounding a weight-bearing wood frame, protected on the outside by about an inch of lime-render cement.

Lime Technology, a British green-construction-products firm that supplied the hempcrete for Clay Fields, touts it as a much better insulator than conventional building materials, reducing the need for heating in winter and air-conditioning in the summer. It requires much less energy to produce than regular cement, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it dries, and “site cleanup is easy. Simply till it into the soil.”

According to another April, 2016 report, “Natural Fiber Composites Market“, “The demand for natural fiber composites in the construction industry for outdoor deck floors, railings, fences, landscaping timbers, park benches, window and door frames, and indoor furniture has grown remarkably on the global platform. This is due to their superior strength-to weight ratio, recyclability, and low cost.

In Scott Blossom’s article: Rebuilding in a developing world, we learn more about the benefits of hemp fibers used in foundation materials:

Hemp foundation walls are 7 times stronger than concrete foundations, half as light, and three times as elastic, which means that these building will bend, but not break. Because of their superior strength and flexibility, hemp foundations are resistant to stress-induced cracking and breaking. Even earthquakes and other natural disaster cannot break or crack these structures.

 Hemp foundation homes and buildings are self-insulated, including thermal and sound insulation, resistant to rotting, rodents, insects, and they are fire proof, waterproof, weather resistant, and the walls breath so the rooms do not get stuffy. Hemp homes stay warm in the winter, and cool in the summer.

 So why are we not seeing more homes and buildings built using materials from hemp fibers? It is still illegal to grow and manufacture industrial hemp in the United States. We are moving in the right direction. According to the National Hemp Association we now have 29+ states with pro-hemp legislation on the books and in nine of those states farmers are legally growing industrial hemp.

At Hemp, Inc. we are making strides in manufacturing hemp fibers and kenaf plants. Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC (IHM) is a global company that produces quality natural fiber and other cellulose based products for major growth markets. IHM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hemp, Inc. and is based in Spring Hope, North Carolina USA.

IHM owns the largest and only hemp fiber decortication plant of its size in North America. We are focused on manufacturing hemp and kenaf fiber to produce natural sustainable products for worldwide markets.

Check out our video channel for updates of our hemp manufacturing plant. Visit Hemp Inc. Presents for the latest news.