Hemp Renovation for Nebraska Historic 1911 General Store
Tina Jones of Denton, NE-based General Hemp Construction poses with the exposed laths after wall demolition in the historic 1911 General Store she’s renovating with hempcrete blocks. Photo courtesy of Tina Jones
By Sarah Derouin
A long-abandoned General Store in Denton, NE. is being transformed, thanks to a new owner and a giant delivery of hempcrete blocks. The restored building will be a space for the community to gather and shop, while showcasing the latest hemp construction materials.
The project in a suburb of Linclon, NE, is a labor of love for Tina Jones, owner of General Hemp Construction. She has long-been involved in the world of cannabis, including spending a decade helping people write their testimonies for medical cannabis applications. But after years of wrestling with the political environment in Nebraska, Jones wanted to try something new. “I decided to try and stay in the industry but find a different avenue to pursue,” Jones told HempBuild Mag.
Originally, Jones wanted to acquire a plot of land where she could grow CBD. While she was looking for the perfect place to set up her new business, she visited an existing hemp farm in the northern part of the state. During her tour, there happened to be a presentation on hemp construction materials. As the presenter started speaking, “he stuck a torch against a mocked-up hemp wall and let it burn while he talked,” Jones said.
The experience was pivotal, she said. As a former real estate agent who had worked with builders for years, she knew she wanted to get into hemp construction and put this material to work. She started General Hemp Construction and found the perfect place to start her new career chapter: Denton, NE.
The property, 15 minutes from I-80, had land, a couple of houses (including the first house built in Denton), and a gem of a building—the old General Store that used to be a staple business in the community. It had been sitting vacant since 1978, and Jones said she wanted to give it new life as a spot to showcase and promote hemp construction materials.
The inside of the Denton, NE General Store before demolition. Owner Tina Jones has plans to insulate the walls with hempcrete blocks, as well as adding bathrooms and a small kitchen. Hemp block installation is scheduled for August. Photo courtesy of Tina Jones
The Right Hempcrete for the Job
But in the meantime, Jones knew she had some work to do on the building.
“I was having structural inspections done and found out I had to reinforce the entire basement,” she said, adding that the inside also needed a ton of work, including electrical, plumbing, adding bathrooms and a kitchen, and replacing the plaster walls.
Jones had to break through plaster and lathes in the store to get the walls ready for rehabbing with hempcrete blocks.
“My original plan was to cast-in-place hempcrete the walls,” but a medical emergency set her back. And she knew that the process was going to be messy and labor intensive. She reached out to the hemp building community for ideas. “The hemp building sector really understands the need for cooperation and sharing information because the only way we’re going to further this industry is by sharing and working together,” she noted.
She talked with Alberta, Canada-based Dion Lefebvre of Divita Blocks about ideas, specifically hemp blocks. Hempcrete blocks can be fitted to existing framing, are resistant to fire, cut down on acoustic noise, reduce humidity, and are a green building material. Compared to cast-in-place hempcrete, blocks are cleaner and easier to place, especially for one person. “Also, because the blocks are precured, there's virtually zero downtime waiting for the hempcrete to dry before finishing & plaster,” explained Lefebvre in an email.
But there was one issue. Jones needed blocks for walls, and the new partitions for the bathrooms and kitchen—a LOT of blocks.
Just a few of the hempcrete block pallets from Divita Blocks. Thirteen pallets will be making their way from Alberta to Nebraska for installation. Photo courtesy of Tina Jones
They calculated Jones would need about 1,600 sq. feet of blocks for all the rehab and new construction at the store. Lefebvre started making the blocks in April—he just finished the order in mid-July.
“He’d never produced this many blocks for anybody—it’s 15,600 pounds of blocks,” Jones said. In fact, 13 pallets of blocks will be delivered to Denton.
“We had to push the limits of our equipment and get creative with space to meet the quick turnaround,” Lefebvre told HempBuild Magazine, adding that the General Store production was their largest precast project to date, and their first in the United States. “We had fun with it and our team really enjoyed the challenge,” he added.
In August, members of the industrial hemp community are heading to Denton to hold a dual workshop and an old-fashioned building party. “I’m hoping to call it ‘the store that hemp built,’” she said.
Multiple hempcrete experts are arriving in Nebraska from seven states, Jones said. These include Micaela Machado of Tucson, AZ-based Old Pueblo Hemp Co, Angel Romero of Fort Dodge, KS-based Stuc-Go-Crete, Danny Desjarlais of Morton, MN-based Lower Sioux Industrial Hemp Construction, and Ken Meyer of the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Association.
“It's truly amazing to have such a knowledgeable group of professionals coming all the way to Nebraska to learn and build together," said Jones, who is also working with several local businesses throughout the project.
Local tradespeople will also be there, to see how they might use hemp materials in future projects.
“The Divita Block System allows hempcrete to be adopted easily by existing trades,” added Lefebvre. “The blocks are designed to fit into standardized 16" framing. This will streamline the engineering and permitting process for new builds, and it makes things super easy for a hempcrete renovation in your existing home.”
Ease of fitting into existing construction plus no downtime for hempcrete to cure means efficient building. “Contractors can get the job done faster and move on to the next project quicker,” Lefebvre said.
“The Divita Block System will help take hempcrete construction out of a ‘niche cottage industry’ and bring it into the mainstream,” he added.
Offered as part of a special partnership between USHBA and HempBuildMag. HempBuildMag receives a commission through this arrangement.
Community Building and Industrial Hemp Education
A soon as Jones acquired the store, curious community members started popping in to ask about her plans. She leaned into the visits, organizing coffee and doughnuts from a local bakery and coffee roaster as a way to get people in to talk and hang out. Eventually, she hosted a weekly farmer’s market, which was popular with the locals and brought a ton of people to the store. Jones has even organized an annual Halloween Market in September to celebrate the season.
Jones sees the store as a place to promote eco-friendly building practices and showcase the benefits of hemp as a renewable construction material. Seeing hemp construction materials in person can make all the difference to the hemp-curious.
“I think once someone gets into that space and can experience what it's like in a hempcrete structure, it's going to make so much more sense,” she said.
When the retrofit is complete, the General Store will not only serve as an event space but will also be a distribution point for people interested in purchasing hemp building materials.
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