Planning the build - The Hempcrete Topic: Designing and Building with Hemp-lime - page 189

This new-build community centre, cast during an exceptionally wet summer using a slow-setting
binder, was rendered a year after the hempcrete was cast.
Since drying times are affected by weather conditions, it is important to work with the sea-
sons to speed up drying as much as possible. It is, in any case, not possible to use lime-
based binders in temperatures lower than 5 ℃ , and for most hempcrete binders 10 ℃ or
more is recommended. Casting hempcrete towards the end of the autumn is not, therefore,
advisable, and even if you get away with it, you are certainly unlikely to be applying render
finishes before the spring. Of course there is nothing (except scaffolding costs) to stop you
plastering the inside of the building during the winter, where you have control over the
temperature, and applying renders in the spring.
With the best will in the world, virtually every build gets delayed, and at Hemp-LimeCon-
struct we are often booked to come and build hempcrete walls in May, which then turns
into June, and then into July and August, as more and more delays occur on-site meaning
that clients are not ready for us. This is not necessarily a problem, as long as everyone