Technology

Construction Tech: House Built from Hemp

Posted on June 27, 2011 at 2:12pm by Christopher Santarelli
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If you are looking to build a home from a sustainable, inexpensive and quickly cultivated raw material, hemp may be the product for you. This new South African home was made almost entirely out of hemp, a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis. Carpets, cabinets, insulation you name it, almost everything in this home was built with hemp grown on only a few acres of land in just a few months.

Hemp cannot be used as a drug because it produces virtually no THC (less than 1%), where marijuana produces between 5 – 20 % THC.

TakePart:

This house is no unassuming, down-to-earth cannabis shack. The luxurious seven-room abode is considered South Africa’s most sustainable home.

The purpose of the house, reports Inhabitat, is to convince the South African government to remove legal obstacles for the commercial development of hemp. The country’s authorities do not currently distinguish between hemp and the “dagga” plant, or marijuana.

The overarching goal for Tony Budden and architectural firm Perfect Places was to ensure the house had the smallest possible carbon footprint. Unfortunately, explains Inhabitat, most of the materials for the Hemp House had to be imported since hemp is not available locally in South Africa.

See more pics here.

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Comments (18)

Jason Lanier
Posted on July 9, 2011 at 10:34am
This is cool Im a carpenter and I smoke.
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mossbrain
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 1:02am
I have made an igloo home out of my own poo, fast food wrappers and tin foil(to deflect the harmful comic rays). Give it a try people, just save up a bunch of your poo, put them in the clothes dryer set for high heat, and soon you will have your own decorative building blocks.
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Upthegut
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 6:25pm
Until most of the old guard on the religious right pass away we will have to deal with these close minded laws dealing with hemp/marijuana. They need to read their Bible, Gen 1:29 says “Behold, I have given you plant yeilding seed that is on the surface of ALL the earth…“ and I see no mention of ”except hemp or marijuana”. If God makes no mistakes and everything is here for a purpose then this plant is here for a reason and it is not to imprison people by outlawing it or enrich corporations by excluding it from the mainstream.
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hurricanerigger
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 3:11pm
WAKE UP GOP! This is mainly a conservative blog and the feedback is mainly Pro Marihuana. If you guys would relax a bit over the issue you would gain a lot more votes without compromising the principles of “WE THE PEOPLE”
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sWampy
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 2:24pm
Good god, it isn’t stupid people that keep hemp from being grown, well indirectly it is because we let the big business propaganda campaigns/bribes to congress are allowed to work. But it’s mostly big business, hemp grows quickly in very poor soil, with out need for pesticides, and fertilizer. This means small farmers all over the country could grow it employing millions that would make the profits off it rather than rich democrats.
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HiredMind Blog
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 11:17am
I’m sure seeing a lot of wood for a house supposedly composed of hemp.
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G.W. Dobbs
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 7:50am
We need to use COMMON SENSE; Jefferson and Washington grew Hemp for practical uses; Henry Ford expected his cars to be made and run on Hemp. Paper can be made from Hemp as can clothes. But, NO,
stupid people can not be practical, can they?
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KidCharlemagne
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 12:11am
Up until the crazy War On Drugs started, then Hemp had been grown and had been an instrumental part of the history of America for over 300 years…then all of a sudden in the latter part of the 20th century, the DEA proclaims that Hemp is now illegal to grow…

If the same laws that are in effect today were in effect back in the 1770′s (or even back to the 1620′s when Hemp was grown at Jamestown Colony, Virginia), then folks like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison would all be serving hard time in a federal prison somewhere as drug kingpins for growing Hemp.
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Gpgnyam
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 6:40pm
It would also be a fantastic replacement to farmers to lost their tobacco crops and to corn growers who don’t want to piss away all their time growing …….FOOD TO BURN!
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- Browncoat359
  Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:54pm
  I’ve thought and said much the same myself for years. It would serve better as a replacement crop for tobacco growers. They already have a non-food crop and this one isn’t even ingestible,so there’s zero loss of cropland that was intended for food.
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john1417
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 6:27pm
I stoped smoking pot years ago but I still never understod why we don’t use hemp. You cant get high from it and it is a very usefull plant.
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- fastfacts
  Posted on June 27, 2011 at 7:40pm
  SWEET BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE CATCHES ON FIRE… WOW…
  
  I don’t want to be there when that thing burns down but you will have some idiots trying to get high. Can you say… SAFETY HAZARD.
  
  Talking about safety hazards, did you happen to see the safety hazard that is surfing. There is a video that just came out of a shark jumping over a surfer, out of the water, way funny: http://tiny.cc/86ecr
  Report Post »
- the_ancient
  Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:27pm
  I dont understand why people in the nation still think we are free
  Report Post »
- the hawk
  Posted on June 28, 2011 at 12:59am
  You can only medicate with big farma drugs Not the ones god gave us straight from the ground !
  This is what Democracy looks like !
  Report Post »
- PrfctlyFrank
  Posted on June 28, 2011 at 10:50am
  Wonder what kind of papers they used?? Is this a Zig-Zag or Top, house?
  Report Post »
- mullet
  Posted on June 28, 2011 at 11:15am
  @the_ancient: Is “the nation” supposed to be South Africa? Or did you not read the article…
  @the hawk: You obviously were not reading the article…
  @fastfacts: Nice try, but the hemp is nonflammable. Check out my link: jk
  Report Post »
- Conservative Hippy
  Posted on June 28, 2011 at 1:20pm
  “DuPont Corporation, 1937 As a model of deception and orchestrated media manipulation, the anti-hemp crusade constitutes one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetuated on the American People. Few public relations campaigns in history can match its success in eradicating competition while transforming citizens into unknowing pawns of big business. The legacy of Reefer Madness lives on today. Industrial-grade hemp is worthless as marijuana since its THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content is so low, as little as 0.06%.”
  
  http://www.lightparty.com/Energy/Hemp5.html
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- sabrinacle
  Posted on June 29, 2011 at 2:56pm
  the feds are sooo stupid they dont even understand that if hemp were grown in the U.S it would be unbelievably hard to grow marijuana because the hemp would dilute/ruin the pot crop. But it was never about sense. Its always been about “cents”. As long as they keep the war on drugs going, they get federal money. Its always been about keeping a job for thugs
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