Hempcrete is a building product that ticks all the boxes and at Sowden Building Solutions. It is our choice for building material as it is an extremely sustainable way of building, creating a breathable wall system which is monolithic in structure. 

 

It has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, is termite and fire resistant and controls the humidity in your home preventing damp and mould – thus improving air quality.

 

It also has high insulation value and has some thermal mass which is fantastic during winter as it will hold some heat in the walls so that you are not continuously heating the air as you would in a highly insulated lightweight structure. As it is of a monolithic form it is reasonable air tight – again meaning that you don’t need to heat air as much as there are not as many air changes as there are in a ‘normal’ build.

 

The acoustic performance is exceptional when ceiling and walls are done - perfect for jobs in Sydney’s Inner West which are under a flight path - the performance will exceed the requirements needed.  

 

For each cubic meter of Hempcrete placed it will sequestrate 108kg’s of carbon – making it unlike most building products.

 

Industrial hemp is grown locally in Australia which is fantastic for the farmers. Hemp is beneficial as a rotational crop and grows to about 4m in 3 months. Unlike many broadacre crops, hemp fibre crops can be grown well using organic farming methods, without herbicides and needing fewer fertilisers than most currently produced crops in Australia, as well as considerably less water. Whilst growing it will regenerate the soil and has been used to take heavy metals out of the soil which are stored and broken down in its roots. It also re-fertilises the soil as the plants compete for sunlight, dropping their leaves which feed nitrogen back into the soil. Many people think of hemp as bushy plants, but industrial hemp is planted at very high seeding rates (250+ seeds per sq m), to produce a tall woody biomass with leaves only at the top as a canopy.

 

Industrial hemp is highly regulated by the authorities. Only varieties with a THC level of 0.5% or less can be planted. Recreational cannabis is around 20%.