http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-/hemp-can-build-your-house_b_3333979.html
Hemp is conceivably best known for its Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids
that make it an excellent addition to a healthy diet, or perhaps as a
cotton substitute used in the manufacturing of ecologically-sound
clothing. But it can also be manufactured into a vast array of
resourceful, environmentally-sound building materials.
Hemp is typically categorized as a long or bast fiber crop with its
stem consisting of an outer skin that contains long, strong fibers and a
hollow wood-like core or nucleus. When the stems are processed it
results in two different types of materials: hurds and fibers, both of
which possess properties that make them extremely useful in building
construction.
The hurds themselves are derived from the inner short fiber and are
capable of being used in the manufacturing of numerous wood-like,
earth-friendly, long-lasting building materials, such as fiberboard,
roofing tiles, wallboard, paneling, insulation and bricks.
A material of stone-like strength that is commonly known as
"hempcrete" is also produced using the hurds of the hemp stalk which is
claimed to be up to seven times stronger than the traditionally used
concrete, half as light and three times as elastic.
The added bonus of using the superior strength and flexibility of
concrete manufactured with hemp hurds is that foundations which are
constructed using these particular types of materials are resistant to
stress-induced cracking and breaking, even in earthquake-prone areas
such as the state of California.
The hemp-based building material is known for its self-insulating
capabilities; also for the fact that it is resistant to rotting, rodents
and insects; and extraordinarily fireproof, waterproof and extremely
weather resistant.
You can also manufacture manmade hemp stones by merely wetting the
stalk's cellulose, and forming it into a hard black rock, which can be
cut, drilled, cast, carved or formed into any shape and used as an
alternative to natural resources in applications such as landscaping.
Maybe California residents should consider building a Freddie Flintstone
style house that is constructed entirely with hemp-based concrete; just
a thought.
When hemp hurds are mixed with a combination of lime products, they
can produce a light weight insulating plaster, which can be cast around a
timber frame or even sprayed against a wooden or stone form. In France,
the use of hemp plaster is quite common, partly due to its high
insulation properties, but also because it works very well in old stone
buildings.
The hemp plant's bast fibers offer numerous manufacturing
possibilities as well such as being used in textile production and in
oriented hemp board panels, in making interior panels for automobiles,
rope, paper and much more.
In order to produce textiles using hemp's bast fibers several
successive procedures are involved, but may be combined in one
mechanical process with the proper equipment.
Traditionally hemp was retted, or wet treated with microbes to loosen
the lignin binding the fibers, then it was scutched to separate the dry
fiber from the rest of the stalk, hackled to comb the fiber, which
aligns and separates bundles of cellulose into strands, then drawn five
passes to make a continuous strand, called a sliver. The sliver was then
roved to twist it slightly before being spun, woven and dyed.
Back in 1919, a man by the name George W. Schlichten developed an
all-in-one machine that combined all these procedures and produced a
soft sliver from dry unretted stalks.
In difference to this high value processing procedure which Mr.
Schlichten's machine-made possible and is essential to producing
textiles, the use of hemp in building materials can actually utilize the
plant's lower quality fiber such as that left behind from hemp seed
grain production, and the amount of processing to reach the final
product takes only a few stages.
Farm processed cellulose would run through a hammer mill or fluted
rollers, much like gears, to mechanically decorticate the hemp, which
separates the hurds from the long bast fibers and adding the
farm-conducted procedure would offer the farmer an opportunity to reap
further benefits from his final harvest. Ah, what a fantastic sight that
would be, to witness United States farmers working fields of hemp once
again.
The hemp plant's advantageous attributes to mankind appear to be
endless with new discoveries continually being made worldwide. It offers
an abundance of astounding building material possibilities, the
capability of producing numerous earth-friendly textiles, a plethora of
nutritious seed foodstuffs and the fact that it possess the potentially
lifesaving molecule Cannabidiol, which may quite possibly be the hemp
plant's most vital aspect of all.
Keep in mind that you are the only person keeping your voice from
being heard, so become actively involved at a hemp roots level and help
bring an end to this antediluvian war on a substance that could indeed
have a profound impact on our society and economy.
