Photographs by the author.
E T A D UP
FROM THE NORTHLAND
HEMPCRETE HOUSE!
Working solo through COVID19 By Toby Ricketts
W
ell, it has been a rainy, rainy winter in Northland but because of our large eaves we are protected from the rain on all sides and we were able to keep working. The only problem was that Covid 19 arrived and stopped our hempcrete workshops cold. With no one able to come and help, I continued the building solo, making slow progress by mixing up around 200 liters of hemp and lime at a time and making steady headway on the exterior walls that will require roughly 50 cubic meters! Hempcrete work can be quite meditative, especially when working in an area that is easy to access and uncomplicated. The 24
SPRING 2020
process of opening bags, starting the mixer, adding water, carrying buckets, pouring, spreading and lightly tamping the hempcrete is easy to do whilst listening to audiobooks or podcasts, and the time really flew by. The work is now beginning on the interior walls, which differ from the exterior walls in that they are only 200mm thick – 90mm framing and 55mm of hemp on each side. These walls will have thermal mass and will also act as moisture sinks, regulating the temperature and humidity of the house - storing heat from the day for overnight, and absorbing the moisture we create and expelling it when humidity drops. You can
really see why they say these natural houses ‘breathe’. One of our ethos for the house was for it to be able to breathe. The materials for each system in our house have been chosen for their moisture permeable properties: for the flooring substrate we’ve used 20mm thick Maglok dragonboard flooring, which is made from glass reinforced Magnesium Oxide – a strong, non-toxic, completely breathable material that is also fire and heat proof, plus doesn’t swell or distort when wet. Apparently, they offer a squeak-free guarantee that the floor substrate will not creak either! Under the floor we have used Terra Lana
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