THE HOUSE THAT HEMP BUILT

I rent, so every once in a while I get the urge to look at real
estate ads and home decorating books and imagine what wonderful kind
of castle I could live in (in my dreams).

On the weekend, I happened to pick up a copy of Natural Living
magazine and I found out something pretty intriguing.

Hemp is already being touted as the ideal crop for many economically
damaged areas, because it's historic (flax), it's low-maintenance,
and it's resistant to a variety of diseases and pests.

It takes little water, grows in most soils, and stands up well under
a variety of weather conditions; also, experts say that it actually
adds nutrients and nitrogen to the soil it's planted in, improving
that land for the next crop in the rotation.

But did you know that hemp - yes, that stuff you make ropes out of
and that resembles marijuana - can be used to build houses?

While the fibrous ends of the plant can be used for paper, clothing
and food products, the woody stalk of the plant - called the hurd -
can be used in bricks, cement, and plaster. Builders have compressed
the hurds with glue and other natural chemicals and created particle
board and hemp-filled "wood" that can be used as building frames.

I thought this was kind of neat, even though I had a mental picture
of a papier-machee fort. But no! These buildings look perfectly
normal, and completely environmental, and are springing up all over
the world.

An office complex in Ireland has just been made using completely hemp-
based materials, for example.

The benefits, the magazine said, are many and some are pretty
unexpected.

Hemp fibres are very flexible and elastic - hemp bricks crack less
under pressure than normal bricks, hem beams warp less, and hemp-
based cement (called hempcrete) is stronger and more durable than the
regular stuff. In earthquake zones, hemp buildings have proven to
stand up longer and more securely than ones with stone-based building
materials.

And, no, that's not it. Here are the more amazing benefits: a hemp
house is better insulated - without any actual insulation being used
- - than normal buildings, and it is bug and mouse-proof!

Can you imagine living in a house that's unique, designed to your own
blueprint, inexpensive, environmental, strong, cozy, and keeps the
centipedes and mosquitos out on its own?

Yeah. I've got a whole new dream house now.