*Senini-Tecnocanapa blocks have been used to insulate large building projects in the EU. Photo courtesy of Phelan Dalton*

By Jean Lotus

A Colorado-based company is now distributing an Italian-based block system that can shave almost 25% off the costs on a hempcrete build, the founders say.

Lafayette, CO-based Hemp Building Company has contracted with Monticiari, Italy-based Senini Tecnocanapa to offer an entire catalog of hemp-based building materials.

“Building with hemp lime blocks offers an easy installation of hemp-lime without having to wait for the material to dry,” founder Phelan Dalton told HempBuild Mag.

Dalton, who has hempcreted multiple hemp homes in Colorado with the “cast-in-place” method, has been looking for a quicker installation method that can cut labor costs and time, he said.

“Using a block system is about 23% cheaper than cast-in-place,” Dalton said.

Dalton and his team traveled to the Lombardy region of Italy in February to tour the factory, meet Senini Tecnocanapa leader Paolo Ronchetti and visit some hemp building projects in the region.

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The Hemp Building Company team traveled to Italy in February to see hemp block structures and tour the Senini-Tecnocanapa factory. L-R Paolo Ronchetti, Dom Blanch, Bob Dalton, Phelan Dalton, unidentified contractor. Photo courtesy of Phelan Dalton

As of now, the company will arrange the delivery of Italian produced products, including hemp-lime blocks, hemp and lime mortars and renders, pre-mixed lime renders, hemp insulation batts, probiotic catalyst and premixed hemp-lime in super sacs, the company announced.

The partnership is a first step in an eventual plan to create the blocks in the United States with US-grown hemp, Dalton said.

Until then, “We can offer a certified product that’s been proven numerous times all throughout the EU,” he said.

The Senini products even have an Environmental Product Declaration, which makes them easier to specify for architects and designers needing to meet specific CO2 targets.

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*Senini hemp blocks were used to build a 2,400-sq.-ft. new home in Charlotte, SC last year. Photo courtesy of Phelan Dalton*

Probiotic Catalyst Curing System

Unlike most US hempcrete recipes that call for an ash or mineral pozzolan to activate the lime and cure the hempcrete, Senini hemp blocks are cured with a unique probiotic ingredient. Adding a microbe to the recipe releases CO2 (similar to how yeast helps to ferment beer) and causes the lime to react and “cure from within.”

The set makes a stronger block that — while not load-bearing — is easier to work with and less crumbly, but is all-natural and doesn’t contain any Portland cement, developers say. The probiotics also feed on the bacteria that cause mold, preventing mold during the curing process, according to the company.

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SC Owner ‘Crazy About’ Block Home

Dalton first worked with the blocks last year on a home project in the Lowcounty region near Charleston, SC on a 2,400-square-foot home, on a crew organized by UK hempcrete expert Will Stanwix.

“This is one of the first hemp block homes in the United States,” Dalton said.

“I would say I’m crazy about the house,” homeowner Caroline Smythe told HempBuild Mag in an email. Smythe is a retired functional medicine doctor who wanted to avoid mold in the humid SC climate. “[The house] has such a solid feel, creates sound buffering, and most people who enter the house comment on how clean the air seems,” she said.

Almost all of the interior block was laid by local retired masons, Smythe said.

“[The block system] was quick to lay and easy to cut to size wherever needed,” she added.

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Proving the Market

Dalton said he’d like to eventually use US hemp to manufacture blocks in the United States, but the market hasn’t been proven and US-grown hemp is “too inconsistent.” Senini does have production partnerships in Australia.

Right now, Senini has “enough stock to build 100 hempcrete houses” using EU hemp that is considered an agricultural byproduct, which keeps prices low, Dalton said.

The Hemp Building Company is also working on a small hemp-building “kit” that would include a galvanized steel frame as well all of the blocks and mortars necessary to construct a pre-designed hempcrete home.

“We will be slowly-but-surely transitioning to a more local supply chain,” he said.