Features

Million-dollar Kelowna house shows off hemp insulation

Published on April 18, 2025 by Pat Bulmer

Photo: Contributed

How would you like to live in a home covered in hemp?

A hemp-insulated house is now on the market in Kelowna. The $1.75-million house in the Wilden subdivision has been built by a company with a history of trying new ideas.

Johanna Eger, marketing manager for Wilden, said the idea to include hemp insulation came from a challenge to build an energy-efficient home with a lower carbon footprint.

“At Wilden, our CEO wants to be proactive and try new things,” said Eger in a news release. “We like to be on the leading edge when it comes to sustainable building practices.”

The hemp-batting insulation lowers the home’s carbon footprint, provides superior insulation, healthier chemical-free indoor air, better controls moisture and offers enhanced soundproofing, the developer boasts.

“By integrating hemp insulation, the home naturally absorbs and stores CO2,” a news release said. “Over its lifespan, this home alone removes 1,409 kg of CO2.”

It’s a natural product, which proponents say means healthier.

“It’s a way healthier product than traditional fibreglass,” Eger said during an open house. “The construction team doesn’t need to wear a mask when they’re working.” As well, “it’s a natural air purifier so having that in your wall is fantastic.”

Contributed

Kelowna-based HempWorks Canada supplied insulation

The hemp batts are sturdy and don’t flop over like other insulations. “It’s a great product to work with from what we’ve heard from our construction team. The storage may be a little more complicated, and the shipping, just because it takes up more room, you cannot compress it as much,” Eger said.

The supplier, HempWorks Canada from Kelowna, said it has a solution for storage and shipping concerns.

“We ship materials right to job sites, so that obviously excludes warehousing costs or anything like that. We ship all across B.C. and Canada,” said HempWorks owner Brandon Cochran.

The product has recently been approved by the Canadian Construction Materials Centre for widespread use.

“In 2024, the hemp batts in Canada became certified,” he said in a phone interview.  “The manufacturer of the hemp batts is in Quebec. I’m one of their distributors across Canada and so Wilden decided to jump on board with testing the hemp batts.

“It’s an easy alternative to switch to the hemp batts. The hemp batts are an easy replacement for contractors, developers. They have similar products specs to other conventional insulations,” he added.

Pat Bulmer/the oz.

Hemp insulation has potential for future growth

Generally, the hemp batts cost more than standard insulations.

Cochran said comparisons can be difficult with so many options and standards out there, but “we’re definitely competitive. I think Wilden mentioned it was about a $10,000 price difference.”

The costs of HempWorks’ batts are easy to find on the company’s website.

Eger says Wilden sees a future for hemp insulation.

“We do build our own multi-family projects, like townhomes. We will probably start incorporating more of that insulation in certain areas where it makes sense.”

HempWorks also makes ‘hempcrete’

HempWorks has been around since 2014. While the hemp batts are ready to take off, it’s a system called Hempcrete that is the company’s specialty. It’s a whole-house envelope system.

“When I started the business in 2014, I was becoming an expert in Hempcrete, which is the next level up to hemp batt insulation,” said Cochran. “The Hempcrete actually replaces batting, drywall, vapour barriers, exterior sheathing. It replaces all the toxic components. and is naturally fire, mould, pest resistant.”

Hempcrete isn’t CCMC certified yet, but is used under an “alternative solutions building permit.”

“Basically, we have to go through some fire testing to prove we are fire resistant.”

Hempcrete homes won’t burn in a wildfire, Cochran says.

“If a wildfire rolls through and a Hempcrete house is standing, there might be a little bit of aesthetic damage to the exterior, but the house will still be standing because the house will not burn. There’s really no point in continuously having our houses burn down, and building with the same materials just to be susceptible to fire in the future. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

And “it reduces your utility bills to pennies per day.”

Cochran said he’s been involved with 25 Hempcrete projects across Canada with his first one in the Okanagan slated to begin construction in Lumby this summer.

Wilden is the first house using the batts from HempWorks. Cochran has just shipped the insulation to another project in Vancouver.

HempWorks also sells HempWood, made in Kentucky, and hemp mulch for gardens, among other products.

The Wilden home at 278 Summer Wood Drive offers 2,430 square feet of living area with five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It also has an 847-square-foot secondary suite with its own entrance, located at the top of a cul-de-sac.