Sheeps Wool Insulation, a Natural, and Environmentally Friendly Insulator

A friend recently passed me a clipping that she had kept from the Daily Mail newspaper, dated July 2008, about a lady who was living in an energy efficient house that she'd insulated with lamb's wool. This immediately captured my attention, as we are planning to insulate our house before the winter sets in. These days you have to do everything you can to keep the heating bills down, and living as we do, in a high-ceilinged Victorian House, that can be doubly challenging.

Anyway, I decided to do some research into this form of insulation as I like the idea of choosing a low carbon solution that comes from a natural and sustainable source. After all, even if it doesn't grow on trees, it does grow on sheep! Well, the more I found out about it, the more I liked it. Here are some of the benefits:

• It's very warm, and can also be used as an acoustic insulator, or for caravans, motorhomes, or baths.
• It's good at dealing with humidity or dampness, as it can absorb moisture from the air, then release it later, without going mouldy, and meanwhile it actually generates heat whilst moist. (A big plus for sheep?)
• It's fire retardent (Also a big plus for sheep!)
• It breaks down formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, into safe molecules. As many materials commonly used in construction contain levels of formaldehyde, this is very helpful.
• It's non-irritant (unless you're allergic to wool) so can be installed without special gloves or masks. The kids can even give you a hand! Have you ever tried handling the fibre glass alternative? Not so pleasant, believe me!
• It's available in a choice of thicknesses.

Sheep's wool has a very low conductivity, which effectively means that heat has a hard time passing through it. Laboratory tests have shown this form of insulation to be more effective than both Glass Wool or Mineral Wool. In a real-life situation, where humidity is also factored in, the results are even more impressive.

In existing houses in the UK, attics are required to have a minimum of 120mm insulation where sheeps wool is used. For new-build homes, this increases to 240mm thickness.

For internal thermal/acoustic purposes, www.sheepswoolinsulation.co.uk suggests a thickness of between 80-100mm between stud partitions, and for dormer/cathedral ceilings, a thickness of 200mm is recommended.

If you already have insulation in your attic, but it's been there quite a while, and it's the typical mineral wool or rock wool, the chances are it will have settled over time, and may not comply with new depth regulations.

If this is the case you can either take it up and replace it, or lay the new sheep's wool insulation over the top. Remember if you do take it up, it's a good idea to use gloves and overalls, and possibly a mask to protect against all those itchy fibres. Overlaying with sheep's wool has the benefit of not redistributing the old itchy fibres around the loft space!

Sheep's wool insulation has an extremely low environmental cost, unlike some of it's competitor products, so it's definitely a very 'green' choice, quite apart from all the other benefits.

Further information about sheeps wool insulation can be found in wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool_insulation