Does hemp make a better building material than wood?
Does hemp make a better building material than wood?
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wordsmith
Hemp makes two different kinds of fiber: the one used for fabric and paper (fine bast) and the woody hurds (also known as shives) which are strong enough in order to be used in building. For thousands of years, hemp has been recognized for its useful building properties. Hemp has the capability of replacing wood but it was not yet proven if it makes a better building.
azure619
Interesting question. Hemp can have quite a few different uses and makes for a great alternative to many other materials used for other products. I looked around on wood and it seems there are companies experimenting with wood replacements and that it does look promising. However since it’s pretty newly legalized in the US i doubt it will replace tried and true building materials anytime soon.
ellen
Since the time the US government has made the cultivation of industrial hemp legal, the quest to turn the hemp fiber into the wood has risen. This initiated the use of the hemp in architecture in place of wood. There is a number of different ways in which the hemp can be employed in the architectural processes.
The most common of all the products is the hempcrete, which is used for filling purposes. It is made from the hemp hurds with the right amount of other binding materials like the lime-based binder and water. The hempcrete blocks will become a common choice for building walls.
Hemp fibers have the capability of replacing wood. By vigilantly doing reverse engineering, the hardness and the stability of the wood can be mimicked with the plant fibers. The hemp plant can proficiently do this job with the help of the protein-based binding agents present in it.
The recent studies have shown that the reverse engineering ahs enabled the scientist to overcome the density issues of the hemp fiber, and the researchers have finally achieved the engineered wood that is 20 percent more dense than oak.
Once the desired density of the hemp fiber is achieved, there are fair chances of the complete replacement of wood by hemp fiber.