Features

Okanagan’s first hempcrete home well underway

Published on October 3, 2025 by Pat Bulmer

Photo: Contributed/HempWorks Canada

The first home in the Okanagan to be built with a new hemp mix is reaching a construction milestone.

The house under construction in Lumby will be smothered in hempcrete, which is essentially a mixture of hemp, lime and water. It’s a non-load-bearing building envelope that removes the need for insulation, drywall and exterior coverings.

“I believe they’re close to finishing the hempcrete installation,” said Brandon Cochran of Kelowna-based HempWorks Canada, which supplied the materials, some equipment, training and expertise for the project.

“They’re just currently finishing the interior walls and then they’re going to start looking at putting the lime plaster on the exterior,” he said.

Hempcrete is fire-resistant, non-toxic, regulates moisture and reduces carbon output.

HempWorks Canada is one of the top suppliers of the product.

“Hempcrete is a cast-in-place, in-fill insulation that is the solution to all the issues we see with the building envelopes of today,” said Cochran in a phone interview last month.

Why use hempcrete in house construction?

The homeowner, Kathy Haslett, has cited its fire resistance as one of her key reasons for building and insulating with hempcrete.

“Hempcrete with the lime plaster on the exterior doesn’t burn down,” Cochran said. “So hempcrete doesn’t require any fire retardants (or) other chemicals as a retardant.”

Fire resistance isn’t its only feature.

“It creates a healthier interior living space,” he said. “You’re replacing all the toxic components.

“Hempcrete also solves the moulding issue of conventional walls. Something like 75% of homes globally deal with mould issues. Hempcrete is naturally mould resistant. It helps to regulate the interior humidity level of the house, which leads to a healthier home.”

Discrete hempcrete is invisible once installed

Once a hempcrete house is built, you won’t be able to tell it’s a hempcrete house, Cochran said.

“Most people, if they’ve seen in hempcrete project, they wouldn’t even really know what’s in the wall. So, you can have all the modern finishes. You’re basically just upgrading the insulation of the house.

HempWorks Canada has been involved in more than 30 hempcrete construction projects across Canada. Cochran has a few hemp suppliers around the country.

“We did the first hempcrete passive house in Leduc, Alberta,” he said. “A passive house is a higher building standard. It’s going to get them a higher R value, basically keeping their utility bills to pennies per day.

“We have a great project in Saskatchewan and we’ve built hempcrete homes in almost all provinces across Canada. So we know it works well for all the different climates or microclimates across Canada.”

It’s a bit more expensive to use hempcrete

Cost-wise, you’ll pay a little more.

“We’re probably anywhere from 6 to 12% higher in cost,” but there are cost savings once the insulation is place, Cochran said. “We’re getting close to being on par with some of the more high-performance conventional envelopes.”

The expectation is you won’t need to run your furnace and air conditioner as much – and some conventional building materials can be skipped with a hempcrete installation.

“As we scale HempWorks, as the industry grows, we’re going to get closer to parity with conventional builds.”

We first met Cochran when his company supplied hemp-batting insulation to a new home on sale in Kelowna.

“If a person is wanting low carbon, a healthier product, that is certainly a great way to insulate your house now. Hempcrete is just the next level. from that,” he said.

And hempcrete isn’t just for new homes.

“If you’re looking to renovate your house, increase the insulation and have fire protection, hempcrete is good for that too,” Cochran said.