*US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) uses a circular saw to cut the first HempWood board in the company’s new expanded facility. Photo courtesy of HempWood*

US Senator Attends HempWood New Factory Open House

By Jean Lotus

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the special guest at the opening of a second factory on the HempWood campus in Murray, KY on Aug. 5.

At the festive event, instead of a traditional ribbon cutting, Paul was handed a circular saw and sliced through a sawhorse-supported board labeled “HempWood” to much applause.

“We are thankful for our team, community and friends who joined us to watch Senator Rand Paul cut the first Hemp Board at our new HempWood factory in Kentucky,” founder Greg Wilson told HempBuild Mag in a message.

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The new expansion will increase the factory to 20,000 sq. feet. The new production line will expand HempWood’s offerings to include panels, furniture and millworks along with the company’s flooring products, the company said.

“HempWood is excited to enter the next phase of our growth in Murray, Kentucky. Our second factory will bring new HempWood furniture and mill work to the market!” Wilson said in a statement.

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*A new product line expansion at the HempWood factory in Murray KY. Photo courtesy of HempWood.*

In 2024, the company was voted the “Coolest Thing in Kentucky” in a contest by the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers.

“HempWood is the most sustainable, healthiest building material in the world because we use plants instead of petroleum in order to make a carbon-negative zero-waste zero-VOC products,” Wilson said in 2024.

The company was founded in 2018 with a mission to replace high-impact hardwoods with a clean, renewable, U.S.-made HempWood, Wilson said. “We do it with a plant that grows in four months instead of an oak tree that grows in 60 years.”

Additionally, the company uses a natural soy glue for adhesive instead of formaldehyde, making the entire product plant based and healthier to work with because it doesn’t release VOCs.

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*Greg Wilson, founder of HempWood poses at the New Jersey Home and Garden Show. Photo courtesy of Instagram*

Wilson is running the factory with almost no fossil fuels. The factory is powered with a BioBurner boiler/burner which generates thermal energy using waste from the mills, partially paid for with an $80K grant from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

The factory uses hydro-electric power from a nearby Kentucky dam and will soon be adding 50kw of solar energy.

The only fossil fuels used are for the “forklift and barbeque” Wilson told HempBuild Mag.

HempWood flooring has been specified in multiple Kentucky school districts, the Obama Library and corporate headquarters for Patagonia, Nike, Target and Urban Outfitters. Additionally, HempWood flooring was featured in part of the Hollywood showroom floor for a BMW dealership in 2021.

*Greg Wilson poses at the Beverly Hills BMW showroom with HempWood flooring. Photo courtesy of HempWood.*

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The product has an Environmental Product Declaration and is a USDA Certified Biobased Product.

HempWood is distributed in several overseas countries including Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Bulgaria, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy and has been used in projects in Australia, Japan and France.

The new factory expansion will increase capacity, improve lead times and expand product options, the company said in a statement.

“The addition of this facility underscores HempWood’s commitment to Made-in-America,” the company added.