Thursday 21 January 2010

insulating the loft - sheeps wool insulation

Today M came over to start on the work in the loft. We have two fair-sized attic rooms, a box room in between them and eaves which lots of junk or "fond memories" depending on your frame of mind.
M is going to put in a bathroom in the box room and then insulate our roof properly. Insulation has moved on in the last 10 years, when the roofers laid mineral rockwool layers in some parts of the roof an not others.
Our insulation is going to be a bit of a patchwork as some of the spaces we have between roof and ceiling are very narrow, but the aim is to make it a whole lot better than it is currently, so the rooms are not freezing in winter and insufferably hot in summer. The other issue is to maintain circulation of air, so that the rafters don't rot.
Today I have been researching the best insulation to use.
B&Q had a fantastic offer on their sheep wool insulation, but it was out of stock.I rang them up and they told me I could order in store they would get some in.
We had a discussion about sheep's wool at out last Transition Town meeting, so I thought I should just clarify. The material from B&Q is 55% natural sheep's wool, 35% recycled plastic and 10% polyester and it is moth- proofed. Apart from that I cannot find any technical details about this product. It is supplied by the John Cotton Group and is called "Sheep Wool Insulation" on the packaging.
The other products I have been able to find are Thermafleece and Thermafleece PB20 by Second Nature, and contain 85% and 60% sheeps wool respectively and there are pro and cons to both products. There is a very useful comparison chart on the Second Nature website. Both moth-proofed based on ISO 3998 and treated with fire-proofing agent.
The price at B&Q make this a no-brainer choice, but I would be interested to receive any comments on this.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice to read your blog, Yvonne, and to appreciate all the work you are doing and keep up to date with your news about it - I wonder if the product is protected just for moths or are there other things in the loft also interested in the wool?
    Bye for now, Wendy

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