ADSactly Hemp Health: Hemp Homes – Earthbag

adsactly (80)in #life • 4 years ago

Earthbag homes are a concept that I find very intriguing as with a lot of materials we wouldn't think to use in home building, bags that are commonly filled with sand, known also as sandbags for holding back floodwaters in flooding areas, used in war barracks that shielded soldiers from bullets, could also be used to build homes.

When researching more about earthbag there are many variations in size, materials, shapes, cost there seems to be no end to imagination.

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Some articles state earthbag homes are earthquake, rot, flood resistance it would all depend on the way the materials used, the way the structure was built as there are a lot of factors that come into play.

With house costs running up into the hundreds of thousands could you imagine building a house from $300, or under $7000 it may be tiny, rallying in friends or family to help maybe sourcing free items others consider trash, give away that could be used in another way.

Looking at these unique homes a question came to mind could they be made out of hemp?

|Sandbags are either made from hessian (burlap), which is made from the skin of the Jute or Sisel (agave) plant, polypropylene.

|Solid-weave polypropylene is most popular, available around the world to transport rice or other grains. Polypropylene is low cost and resists water damage, rot, and insects. Tubes are often available from manufacturers who sew them into bags. Mesh tubes of soft crocheted poly fibers are also used, although stiff extruded mesh or woven mesh bags can also be used.
Organic/natural materials such as hemp, burlap (like "gunny sacks") can be used. Since these may rot, they should only be used with cohesive fills (containing a significant proportion of clay) that form solid masses when tamped.
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Coming across a blog post that discussed this question going thru the comments also, it would be possible to use hemp bags but like the burlap bags they may rot, for filling hempcrete mortar could be possible to be used also like a straw, cob filling, a hemp mortar like a plaster over the bags, haven't found any information on anyone using hemp alternates in earthbag homes it would be interesting to see this in a use case.