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House of straw and hemp withstands 1,000°C fire test

Friday, 20 November 2009

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A house made of straw and hemp panels passed a fire resistance test where it was exposed to temperatures over 1,000°C, a university said.

Balehaus@Bath - built of pre-fabricated straw-bale and hemp sections - has fire resistance "as good as houses built of conventional building materials", according to new research.

One of the panels used in the construction was exposed to the searing heat by the University of Bristol team.

To reach the required standard the panel had to withstand the heat for more than 30 minutes. Over two hours later - four times as long as required - the panel had still not failed.

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Save a forest...... Hemp is 100% Renewable 40 times faster than PINE forest and obviously
God’s truly gift to man with the “oils” that are also a derivative… WHEN do stand and say
“Enough of these Lies” from the Elitist who are the ONLY benefactors of keeping Hemp on
An “Illegal Drug” list, whether it be Produced under either name Industrial Hemp which is
Factually known has having no THC or just plain Hemp; NO ONE has ever died of either
Except by gunfire by drug gangs fighting over their product… take the money out of HEMP
And crime will go down. Why steal when one can grow their own in ANY local. Let WAKE
Up, its time to get up, WAKE UP, Its time to Get up and Unite for TRUTH.
Semper Fi, Drew Malone; Raines III, USMC, 1967-1977, Owner H.E.A.R.T. & Associates

Posted by Drew Malone; Raines III | 22.11.09, 12:18 GMT

Hemp. What can't it do? Seriously, we need to plant this stuff in the ground today and start reaping the benefits of it.

Posted by dick | 21.11.09, 13:24 GMT

Hemp has been made illegal precisely BECAUSE of its features as a building material, plastic and medicine. Proving it is any of these things, just reconfirms why big industry used ther influence in the government to make Hemp illegal in the first place.

Anyone who thinks it was because people enjoy getting high for the first few months of using it, (it soon drops off to less than the high from tobacco) is of course just one of the useful idiots which corrupt governments and corporations rely on to do their bidding against the rest of humanity.

By the way, at 46 I am a successful business owner and member of my community. I've smoked pot for thirty years, EVERY DAY and if you come into my office you know it!

I am getting tired of the cretins whose pathetic store bought opinions are being pushed as the "mainstream opinion" you clowns are no more mainstream the the Orange People these days.

Posted by Rabbit | 21.11.09, 09:56 GMT

Yeah, good stuff, bet there must be another million non polluting uses for the stuff.

Posted by Georg D. | 21.11.09, 08:26 GMT

So you are saying the WTC should have been built of staw!

Posted by wes parsons | 21.11.09, 07:36 GMT

huzzah!
how cheap does the fibre need to cost in order to compete with 'contemporary' construction methods?

Posted by ew_keane | 21.11.09, 05:34 GMT

After using alternative construction materials since the mid 1960's I certainly can attest to the structural integrity of straw and hemp bales when used in weight bearing walls, the added fire protection is another trait of these thick bails that has been known for decades, the shear compacted density of a bail of straw or hemp gives it an incredible tolerance against burning.

I can highly recommend there use in home construction but what this article does not state is that both straw and hemp bales are susceptible to insect infestation unless they are treated with an organic insecticide prior to being bailed, if not you will end up in a year or two with legions of insects invading your new "Green" home and leaving you powerless to do anything about it.

Posted by Lou | 21.11.09, 03:08 GMT

We should be looking at all materials which may be renewable for all purposes. Illegal uses of various materials can probably be controlled.

Posted by S. B. Bass | 21.11.09, 02:11 GMT

We should be looking at all materials which may be renewable for all purposes. Illegal uses of various materials can probably be controlled.

Posted by S. B. Bass | 21.11.09, 02:08 GMT

So I guess if the WTC was made out of hemp it would have survived the less than two hours of fire that caused the steel framed buildings to collapse?

Posted by Elvis | 21.11.09, 02:02 GMT

Natural straws/hemp, or chemically enhanced for the exposure?

Nontreated wood would ignite at 350 C (662 F), this would enhance the ignitionresistance almost 3 times.

Really old-teck becomes really new-teck??

:)

Posted by Trygve | 21.11.09, 00:27 GMT