Apricity Vineyard
Supposedly the FIRST "commercially permitted Hempcrete project in USA, retrofitting an existing "barn" with Hemp/Lime non-structural infill, including some natural oxide pigments added into the mixes to create something unique.
The contractors onsite removed all the crappy interior drywall and petrochemical insulation in the 2x6 walls, as well as all the acrylic painted vinyl lap siding on the exterior.
The acrylic painted vinyl lap-siding has been removed from the OSB shear on exterior and will be replaced with nominal 3/8" (10mm) Magnesium Oxide (MgO) boards to then apply 3/8" lime plaster render with natural okie pigments added so as to avoid regular painting maintenance and added costs.
Hemp Technologies ran a couple 2-day on-site training courses to teach others how to install hemp/lime.
Walls look great but then we have the weather to deal with - relative humidity of +70% and outside temperatures of -50F and with +2000 gallons of water in the walls Houston we have a problem - high humidity = longer to dry out before we can lime render the exterior.
Typically, Hemp/Lime walls will dry to ~7-8% moisture content and vary only slightly between Summer to Winter. This does not pose any problem to the wooden studs that typically have 12-16% moisture content within a typical "conventional" wall system.
Building and Safety are pushing back on the R-Value, Weatherproofing, Moisture and "Flame Spread" properties of Hemp/Lime.
After 30+ years of a renaissance building with Hemp/Lime in several countries now - INCLUDING all the projects HT has done in USA/Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, including fire insurance discounts Building and Safety need "more" information to approve these materials.
Hemp/Lime does not burn - let alone "flame-spread". Yes, there may be some charring but definitely NO "flame spread".
Come see for yourselves this coming Earth Day (April 23rd, 2018) in San Diego where we have permission to subject our hemp classroom on wheels to a full day of fire to prove that hemp/lime just does not burn.
Apparently there are no rules for "alternative materials" in commercial construction.