Chicago Historic Retrofit to Feature HempWool Insulation

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Written By Jean Lotus

Pink Hats Construction & Development founder Traci Quinn stands in her Chicago warehouse with pallets of hemp batt insulation. Photo courtesy of Traci Quinn

Chicago Historic Retrofit to Feature HempWool Insulation

By Jean Lotus

A Chicago-based women-owned construction company is insulating one of the largest projects in Chicago so far with hemp building materials. Pink Hats Construction and Development is renovating a 16,000 sq. foot historic brick former convent on Chicago’s West Side which is being turned into a recovery house for women. The project will use around 50 pallets of US-grown and manufactured HempWool batt insulation, from Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc.

“I am so excited to use the hemp insulation in comparison to the regular ‘Pink Panther,’ fiberglass insulation,” Pink Hats founder Traci Quinn told HempBuild Mag. “Number one, we it’s not toxic. You can handle it with our bare hands without having to put on the PPE. The pink insulation is an irritant to your clothes, skin and lungs,” she added.

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The solid three-story brick building, built in the early 1900s in the Austin neighborhood, 37th Ward, has 30 rooms which will house women recovering from substance abuse as part of the Phoenix Recovery Group. Formerly, the building held another women’s recovery center called “Sister House.” It was formerly the convent for Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic church, closed in 2005 by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Quinn has used hemp insulation in her own home and has also insulated a South Side Chicago church greenhouse addition with the materials. With this project, the hemp insulation will be used on the outer walls and also in walls between rooms with 5-inch R50 panels to improve soundproofing between rooms, she said.

Quinn insisted on hemp insulation when bidding the project,  Phoenix Recovery Group co-founder Celeste Gildersleeve told HempBuild Mag. 

“Traci is such an advocate for hemp. We were talking about insulation, andI asked, ‘Well, is it gonna be foam or what?’ She said, ‘No, no, no, we're gonna use hemp.’"  Quinn was concerned about having the healthiest environment for the residents, Gildersleeve said. 

A 30-room 16,000 sq. foot former convent on Chicago’s West Side will be insulated with HempWool insulation. Photo courtesy Pink Hats Construction & Development

Natural Materials are Appropriate for Historic Buildings

Hemp is a good material for historic renovations, said Hempitecture co-founder Mattie Mead. 

“Natural fiber insulation, like HempWool, has incredible potential for historic retrofits,” Mead said in a message. “While it may feel like a futuristic material in the United States, hemp insulation has deep roots across the globe being used for many years.” 

It’s best not to break tradition with materials that would not have been available at the time of a building’s construction, Mead points out. 

“This makes materials like spray foam incompatible with retrofits and makes natural materials much more appropriate,” he added.

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Hempitecture’s Idaho HempWool manufacturing facility. Photo courtesy Hempitecture, Inc.

Incarcerated for Cannabis and Now Building with it

Along with renovation of one of Chicago’s subway stations, this is one of the biggest projects so far for Pink Hats, Quinn said. Quinn says she’s focusing on hiring as many women contractors as possible including subcontracting female plumbers and insulation installers.

She also wants to possibly hire women who graduate from the Phoenix program because she wants women to “have a second chance.”

Quinn’s own second chance came after she was working as a nurse and was incarcerated in Tennessee for transporting medical marijuana from California, where it was legal. Caught in the war on drugs and tangled up in the inconsistent prohibition laws of the United States, she served multiple years in prison.

But she says the experience gave her a closer connection to God and inspired her to repair and renovate underserved neighborhoods. She credits her success in Pink Hats to “God’s glory” and wants to make sure that other court-involved women can explore their full career options.

Traci Quinn of Pink Hats Construction, packs hempcrete at a Chicago workshop. Photo courtesy Jean Lotus


Quinn credits Michigan hemp advocate Katie Thomas who introduced her to the concept of hemp building materials.  In 2023, Quinn and Thomas hosted a Chicago hempcrete workshop with Canadian hempcrete pioneer Calgary-based Dion LeFebvre. Dozens of union trades workers got to experience hempcrete first hand. 

“If we were to utilize hempcrete in the urban areas and underserved communities, it would be better to help people living with mold and pests,” she told HempBuildMag at the event.

Hemp batt insulation installed at a greenhouse in Chicago. Photo courtesy Traci Quinn, Pink Hats Construction & Development

Quinn is now the Chicago distributor for HempWool and hopes to see more contractors using hemp insulation batts to renovate Chicago’s historic built environment. 

“The cool thing is as a developer, I’m choosing the materials I use in my projects. So I’m not getting any push back,” she told HempBuild Mag. “Being able to combine innovation, sustainability, and social impact in one project feels like the epitome of a “win” for us—and we can’t wait to see where hemp takes us next!”

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Jean Lotus
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