UK: House Of Hemp And Straw Passes Fire Test

Submitted by restore on Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:14

A house built from straw-bales and panels of hemp has passed an industry standard fire safety test which exposed it to temperatures above 1,000C.

By BBC News Writer

UK: House Of Straw And Hemp Passes Fire Test BaleHaus@Bath is part of a new research project at the University of Bath into how renewable building materials can be used for homes of the future.

The house is made from prefabricated cells of timber filled with straw or hemp, rendered with a lime-based coat.

TV presenter Kevin McCloud will officially open the straw house later.

During the fire resistance test for non-loadbearing elements, the panel had to withstand heat for more than 30 minutes.

Eco-friendly

After more than two hours it had still not failed.

A panel had previously been put through structural tests for loadbearing elements and had passed.

Researchers Dr Katharine Beadle and Christopher Gross, from the University's Building Research Establishment Centre in Innovative Construction Materials, will be monitoring the house for a year.

They will be checking its insulating properties, humidity levels, air tightness and sound insulation qualities to assess the performance of straw and hemp as building materials.

The technology was used last year by McCloud to build an eco-friendly house in six days for the Grand Designs Live exhibition.

"I expect the results will show people that we can minimise the use of highly processed materials in building and genuinely make use of such sustainable building materials," he said.

"It's vital that we encourage people to recycle, insulate and minimise the use of fossil fuels to keep our buildings warm."

The ModCell BaleHaus system has been created by White Design in Bristol and Integral Structural Design in Bath.

Note: The house will be monitored over a year to assess its performance. BaleHaus@Bath is part of a major new research project into how these renewable building materials can be used for homes of the future. Researchers from the University of Baths BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials, will be monitoring the house for a year for its insulating properties, humidity levels, air tightness and sound insulation qualities to assess the performance of straw and hemp as building materials. For more information visit: http://www.bath.ac.uk/features/balehaus/

Related: Straw house has good fire resistance
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/more-news/straw-house-has-good-fire-re...

Prototype straw panel house at University of Bath
http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/article.php?category_id=1&article_id...


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/8367237.stm

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Hemp- Lime building resources!

Submitted by Hemp for Victory on Sat, 12/12/2009 - 08:12.

This is inspiring to read of in the UK- while France has its own commercial products, and Canada can use hemp for building, we in the US can only read about it.

A recent book mentioned on www.dirtcheapbuilder.com on using hemp & lime was exciting to read as well: "Hemp lime construction
A guide to building with hemp lime composites" also produced in the UK. at 125 pages it is very thorough- ISBN: 9781848060333-
Abstract: Hemp lime is a composite construction material that can be used for walls, insulation of roofs and floors and as part of timber-framed buildings. by BRE Press, UK, and another booklet: "The use of
lime-based mortars in ew build" 39 pages, also BRE press; (may be free, no price shown) plus a Resource Guide CD on Lime, Clay Hemp is there.