Melburnians Sarah Corbet and David Bruce bought a 7.5 acre block of land in central Victoria with plans for their future retirement and a slower paced life. They engaged Altereco Design to design the house, ideally to be made with hempcrete. Sarah and David requested a ‘warm design’ that was functional as well as beautiful.
The resulting house is deliberately small, solar-powered, and features natural and recycled materials to be as sustainable as possible.
The hempcrete walls provide an inherent texture and warmth, giving them a natural earthy color, without using any paint. ‘Hempcrete exhibits remarkable resistance to fire, pests, and mould, providing a durable and secure building material,’ says James Goodlet of Altereco Design ‘Another noteworthy advantage of hempcrete is its ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere for the building’s lifespan. It can also be composted.’
Sarah and David also requested a home with all-electric appliances, a solar array, passive solar design principles, an insulated slab, and high performance windows. Considering that the solar panels are positioned on their shed roof, this provided the opportunity to kick the roof up quite aggressively to the north, creating a two story wall and space for the mezzanine, which also filters light through to the southern hempcrete wall.
Sarah and David were owner-builders on the project, constructing the house (and surrounding farm, based on permaculture principles) over 18 months (mostly on weekends around their full time work in Melbourne). ‘We were not just doing the project management or paying the bills. We did all the work ourselves that we could,’ says David. ‘We loved that hempcrete was doable for a handy owner-builder.’
Hempcrete has been used for decades internationally, but there was no local manufacturer at the time of this build in 2019. This created some challenges, especially over COVID-19 lockdowns.
‘David scheduled four months of leave to get the build done, but the ship arrived six weeks late… So [I] went on to Facebook and cried out for help!’ says Sarah. ‘We had a wonderful response and had people showing up to learn and help hemp the walls from all over Victoria.’
‘We also had enormous help from our building designers who were keen to jump in and bring their friends along, and quite a few friends from the local community jumped in to help too.’
Sarah and David built the majority of the home except for the electrical work, plumbing, roof, concrete slab, and staircase. ‘David built the house frame as well as making doors, kitchen cupboard fronts, and custom-built shelves to use up every little bit of space,’ says Sarah ‘So, it took us a bit longer to build and craft this house, but this allowed us time to think, plan and get the design and function right.’
In addition to hempcrete, the home features reclaimed messmate, Betta Stone recycled glass bench tops, Knauf Earthwool batts, and fire-resistant reclaimed spotted gum. ‘We dug clay from onsite to create clay plaster and milk paint for the inside walls,’ says Sarah.
Sarah and David are amazed at the feel of their completed home imparted through its volume, distribution of light, and warm materials. ‘We both feel super proud that we built this place with our own hands and created a beautiful, functional and cozy home that is more than enough for our needs. It demonstrates the value of building small, adequate and lovely,’ David says. ‘We are also proud that we had a very low waste build using natural materials and no paint.’
You can read the original article at thedesignfiles.net