Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Does Sheep Wool Insulation Smell?
Is sheep wool insulation safe? Sheep’s wool has good insulating properties, helping to keep heat in during the winter and heat out during the summer. Sheep’s wool insulation is perfectly safe to touch, causing zero irritation, therefore no specialist clothing to install it. The wool is very flexible and therefore very easy to install in the home.
Does sheep wool rot? As long as there is grass to eat, sheep will continue to produce wool. When wool is disposed of, it will naturally decompose in soil in a matter of months or years, slowly releasing valuable nutrients back into the earth.
Do you need a Vapour barrier with sheeps wool insulation? Sheep Wool Insulation absorbs moisture from the atmosphere during damp seasons and releases it during the dry seasons. For this reason, a vapour barrier is not required and the material can be placed between the joists, directly on top of the ceiling below.
Table of Contents
Sheep’s wool insulation has a higher cost product compared to its synthetic counterparts. Sheep’s Wool may seem like an expensive alternative, but if you don’t mind paying a little extra and you like the idea of a natural environmental material that is widely available in Ireland sheep’s wool may be the option for you.
Wool as an Insulator
These fibers effectively trap air, moisture and harmful chemicals. Using wool as insulation actually helps keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, while improving indoor air quality.
The most obvious drawback to sheep wool is the cost. This choice of insulation material is a lot more expensive than most other alternative methods and products. The rise in expense is expected and obvious considering its organic origin, and its common use within other industries and applications.
Internally, Sheep Wool Insulation is usually installed to 80mm or 100mm thick between stud partitions and from 100mm thick upwards between the floors for thermal/acoustic purposes.
Glasswool is more versatile & cost-effective at lower weights whereas Rockwool is 10% thicker to give the same performance. Rockwool is completely water-resistant whereas Glasswool may allow water to penetrate at very low density. This makes Rockwool a little better at insulating than fiberglass.
Sheep wool pellets have traditionally been used by organic gardeners as slug deterrents. The wool pellets can hold 1.5 times their weight in water. They slowly biodegrade, releasing valuable nutrients into the soil. You can also use them as a dense, nutrient rich mulch.
Sheep’s wool offers many benefits when used in a mixture as compost or mulch: as a source of slow-release nitrogen and other trace elements, in weed and pest control, moisture retention and temperature regulation. Wool may be used as a sustainable, renewable and environmentally friendly alternative to peat.
Sheep’s wool is a great material. It’s a natural insulator, locally grown, sustainable, and breathable, it dampens sound and is fire safe. This is due to the relatively high heat capacity of sheep’s wool that allows the insulation to absorb and store heat and release it much later in the day as temperature cools.
While, both unfaced fiberglass and unfaced mineral wool are noncombustible and help delay the spread of fire, mineral wool does have a much higher melting point than fiberglass, and as such it is often considered the more fire-resistant material.
If water vapor diffuses or infiltrates into the wall cavity and finds the cool surface, moisture problems can occur. Of course, you can have moisure problems here even without the exterior vapor barrier because of what Bill Rose calls the rule of material wetting.
Fiberglass (pictured) is the most common blown-in insulation, followed by cellulose. Mineral wool and real wool blown-in are less common but are healthier choices.
If you’re looking for a moisture-resistant form of insulation, mineral wool is the clear winner. Mineral wool is resistant to water, so it doesn’t get damp and provide good growing conditions for fungi, mould, mildew or other bacterial growth.
So with a long-lasting insulation like wool, the temperature and relative humidity of your wall cavity and living space is more easily maintained. The cumulative effect of wool insulation and less relative humidity makes for a tough place for mold to grow.
But is wool a better insulator than cotton? In dry conditions, wool is only slightly better at preserving warmth, but when both materials are wet, wool offers much better insulation because those scaly fibers allow for more air pockets to remain within the fabric.
The term for both types of this fibrous insulation is mineral wool. Mineral wool was the most common thermal insulation for residential use until the 1960’s, when fiberglass insulation become the standard. Since mineral wool is a man-made fiber, it does not contain asbestos.
The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors states that spray foam insulation, wrap tape and housewrap insulation can last for more than 80 years. At the same time, cellulose, loose-fill, foamboard, loose fill and rock wool insulation can last up to 100 years.
In many ways, mineral wool is a superior insulation product. It has a higher R-value per inch compared to fiberglass, about a 22-37% higher R-value. However, like many building materials, mineral wool also has its drawbacks. It tends to be more expensive than fiberglass, often between 25-50% higher in cost .