[GSBN] earthquake-proof adobe walls-use hemp??‏

[Tom Woolley]

Dear all

I have been following the discussion of seismic issues with interest.
Our work on hemp and lime has made me convinced that hemp has great  
possibilities in terms of coping with seismic activity.
This is because of the fantastic flexibility it seems to have.
However as far as I know very little research (if any ) has been done  
on hempcrete walls in earthquakes.

Some of our post grad students at the Centre for Alternative  
Technology in Wales have been doing research on mixing hemp with  
earth instead of lime, but results so far have been inconclusive.
However I would encourage anyone interested in this area to look at  
the addition of hemp fibres and/or shiv with adobe type construction.

If you are interested to know more about hempcrete you can view a  
video on youtube of the hemp house we have been constructing in  
County Down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcctSvVFheA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6eMdqJbQI4&feature=channel_page

Tom Woolley



Tom Woolley

Rachel Bevan Architects
17A Main Street
Saintfield
Ballynahinch
BT24 7AA

tom.woolley at btconnect.com
028 44 830988


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20090819/ce42db02/attachment.htm>