Hemp Construction with Jacob Waddell
With healthy homes and non-toxic building materials no longer being a “fringe” concept, homeowners and contractors are seeking out materials like hemp to use in constructions. But where are all the hemp houses in the US?
There is a lot of buzz about the potential of hemp to revolutionize everything from clothing to construction. But finding a “hemp home” is not that easy. For me I was interested to find a fire-resistant building material that could be used on a project in the high desert of Central Oregon where wild fires are becoming a seasonal norm, rather than an exception. That’s why I was interested to talk with Jacob Waddell, the Executive Director of the Hemp Building Institute.
The interview that ensued was educational to say the least. Hemp construction is still in its infancy in the US as a result of the plant being federally outlawed for decades despite the fact that hemp and the THC-producing cannabis plants are two completely separate things. Regulations have recently changed, and the hemp building industry is now in its infancy compared to the more establish European market.
On this episode of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast, I was fascinated about the history of where hemp building came from, the myriad of benefits including nitrogen fixing for the soil and the range of applications it is getting applied towards for building materials. The critical lesson that I walked away with is that in the future there won’t be any “hemp homes” so to speak, but that hemp will be incorporated into potentially hundreds of different building materials that will go into the construction of a home, from insulation to flooring.
If you are interested in creating non-toxic and high performance buildings using hemp as a solution, this is a great episode to tune into. And if you’re like me, you’ll be fascinated to learn that that hemp construction is getting used to help deliver affordable housing despite having the reputation that the material is more expensive to work with.
