Restoration and retrofit - The Hempcrete Topic: Designing and Building with Hemp-lime - page 482

“We stripped out all the asbestos, repaired the frame and cast 240mm hempcrete around
it.” The frame was positioned on the internal surface of the new walls, and wood wool
board fixed to it as an internal permanent shuttering. Hempcrete was then cast between
the vertical studs and around the outside of the frame. Leah's planning permission also al-
lowed her to build two small extensions, to make the T-plan house into a rectangle. Since
these were built in the winter, when using hempcrete would have been difficult, she used
hemp-fibre quilt insulation in the walls instead. Finding herself unable to stop, Leah went
on to convert an old shed in the garden into an 'annexe', where her teenage daughter now
lives, using natural materials in that conversion too.
The hempcrete in Leah's house is finished in a mixture of home-made lime-hemp plaster
and lime plaster in different places around the building, in the spirit of trying different
things to see how they performed. A locally grown larch cladding was used on the gables.
Most of the plaster hasn't been painted, as “it was a lovely finish without anything being
added to it”. Where it was painted, a lime paint was used. The bathroom was finished in
gypsum plaster, the surface brushed to give it a rough look and three coats of wax applied
to simulate a Moroccan tadelakt look.
Hemp Lime House sits up on a hillside nestled in a lush garden.