{"id":4565,"date":"2023-03-08T22:16:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T03:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/havenearth.biz\/2023\/03\/08\/you-guys-are-golden-or-commercial-hemp-build-passes-fire-resistance-test\/"},"modified":"2023-03-08T22:16:40","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T03:16:40","slug":"you-guys-are-golden-or-commercial-hemp-build-passes-fire-resistance-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/havenearth.biz\/2023\/03\/08\/you-guys-are-golden-or-commercial-hemp-build-passes-fire-resistance-test\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You Guys are Golden\u2019: OR Commercial Hemp Build Passes Fire-Resistance Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ashley Bice (L) and Karen Rugg (R) of Perennial Building. Photo courtesy of Perennial Building<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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By Mary Lotus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hemp-lime builders in Oregon are working on one of the first commercial hemp-lime projects in the United States for which their mock-up wall assembly passed a 1-hour fire-resistance testing.<\/p>\n

Karen Rugg and Ashley Bice of Sisters, OR-based Perennial Building, have received the local building department\u2019s approval to pursue building a mixed-use building in downtown Sisters after completing a small scale ASTM E-119 fire test.<\/p>\n

Last fall, members of the International Residential Code committee specifically mentioned<\/span><\/a> the ASTM E-119 fire rating when hemp-lime building materials were approved for the upcoming 2024 US building codes<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lot acquired by Perennial for the project was \u201cgrandfathered in\u201d for mixed-use and will have commercial space on the bottom floor with three residences on top, which they\u2019ll operate as short-term rentals. It will be called The Flora.<\/em> <\/p>\n

The intent with the short-term rentals is to get as many people exposed to hemp-lime as possible. There will be a website dedicated to the building and all the materials used in the build. The pathbreaking project will be among the first US hemp-lime commercial structures and should open doors for other hemp-lime builders.
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An early rendering of The Flora. The final building will feature a lime plaster finish. Photo courtesy of Perennial Building<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perennial\u2019s founders stumbled onto the health benefits of hemp building, but now are leading the way for its commercialization in the construction industry.<\/p>\n

Rugg and Bice started Perennial Building, their general contracting business, in May of 2019. They joined forces with the vision of contributing to sustainability via the built environment, they said. It wasn\u2019t until after the founding of the company that they were introduced to the idea of building with hemp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come from a commercial construction background and Ashley comes from a residential general contracting background,\u201d Rugg told HempBuild Mag. \u201cI\u2019m on the management side of things, while Ashley is boots on the ground building.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience of handling the toxic materials used in traditional construction left Bice committed to improving the health of both the builders and the occupants of these projects. The pair started Perennial knowing that they wanted to focus on both healthy and sustainable building practices.\u00a0
As a young company, their first project was a bathroom renovation, followed by larger traditional building projects. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile we were doing this we started researching and studying hempcrete,\u201d said Rugg.\u00a0 \u201cWe had a few clients interested in hemp-lime, but the premium to build with it prevented them from committing. We thought if we can\u2019t build this for someone else, we\u2019re going to build this for ourselves so that people know about it.\u201d In 2021, they purchased a house to flip in Bend which allowed them to buy a lot in downtown Sisters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally, the two\u2019s vision for The Flora <\/em>as a mixed-use hemp-lime building was shot down by the local building department. \u201cI think they were looking at old information. They didn\u2019t know about any of the ASTM-E-84 tests that had taken place,\u201d said Rugg. The ASTM E-84 is a standard test method used for assessing the surface burning characteristics of building materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rugg put together a package of information for the building department describing \u201ceverything they could ever want to know\u201d about building with hemp. \u201cIn the meantime, we met with the Sisters mayor, the Sisters community development director. We did our legwork to get people on board,\u201d said Rugg.<\/p>\n

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The Pacific Northwest is increasingly affected by wildfire, with 828,778 acres burned in 2021 as reported by the National Interagency Fire Center. A main concern of the Deschutes County building department was the need for a 1-hour fire rating on the materials being used for the project. Rugg and Bice contacted Washington based company Western Fire Center to arrange for the ASTM E-119 testing needed for the rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo prepare for the test we cast the wall, using the most vulnerable wall assembly that was going to be in the building. We built the wall with staggered blocking on both sides, 11-and-a-quarter inch thick wall with exposed blocking,\u201d said Rugg. They then let the wall cure and plastered it before bringing it to Washington for testing. Transporting the wall was a feat in itself, requiring the use of vehicle ramps as well as custom wheels built by Bice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the test chamber at Western Fire Center, the wall was exposed to a furnace blast of 1200 degrees fahrenheit for an hour. One aspect of the test was thermocouples placed on the back of the wall reading the temperature of the unexposed side. If the temperature of the back of the wall reached 282 degrees over the ambient temperature of the room, the wall would fail the test.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe watched the computer the entire time, and those temperature sensors did not raise above ambient. There was no heat getting to the back side of the wall,\u201d said Rugg.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe tech indicated he had never seen that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The char went only 1 to 2 inches back, and the structural studs were sitting about 3 inches back, Rugg said.\u201cWhen the fire protection engineer saw that, he said \u2018you guys are golden\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Hempcrete wall sample inside the chamber during the test heating it to 1200 degrees F. Photo courtesy of Perennial Building<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Having achieved the 1 hour fire rating, the pair hope that their project in downtown Sisters will raise awareness of the beneficial qualities found in hemp as a building material. They plan to include truth windows, unplastered openings in walls that reveal their internal makeup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur intent is to use HempWood and other materials that fulfill our mission. We want to get it as close to real net zero as we can, and that includes the embodied carbon and the operational carbon,\u201d said Rugg.\u00a0The company is also seeking other hemp-based products to use for the project, she added. <\/p>\n

They want to encourage others in the green construction industry to reach out to them for information on achieving a fire rating on a hemp building, hoping that with Bice and Rugg\u2019s insight, people \u201cmight not have to spend as much money as we did, or build a wall and transport it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bice told HempBuild Mag that on top of fire safety, \u201cthe biggest components in hemp building for us are healthy living and the fact that it is such a renewable resource,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you couple all of this together, hemp just seems like a no-brainer to ramp up incorporating this material into homes and commercial buildings,\u201d added Rugg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Test apparatus for ASTM E 119 fire rating. Photo courtesy of Perennial Building<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Offered as part of a special partnership between USHBA and HempBuildMag. HempBuildMag receives a commission through this arrangement.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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