Mineral Wool Insulation. Sheep wool offers fantastic acoustic insulation – far better than comparable insulating wool materials. Our friend Lisa (@vacayvans) has had great success with sheep wool, and wrote an extensive blog post covering sheep wool insulation. Overall, cellulose is the best loose-fill insulation material Knauf Earthwool, Fletcher Pink Batts and Bradford Insulation are among the most popular glasswool brands available in Australia. Unlike fiberglass, sheep wool is biodegradable after use as insulation and has a zero ozone depletion factor. Renewable Insulation. Sheep wool insulation is a non-flammable product, making it great for most homes. Trying to keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer is and should be the goal when choosing insulation. Knauf Earthwool, Fletcher Pink Batts and Bradford Insulation are among the most popular glasswool brands available in Australia. You may be surprised to learn that glasswool insulation works in a very similar way to natural sheep’s wool and down feathers. Prices can vary at any time, but expect to pay around $0.10 more per inch for mineral wool versus fiberglass. See: Fiberglass vs. Natural hemp insulation. Affordable Insulation: Fiberglass However, sheep wool is a bit more expensive than other insulation materials. When looking at mineral wool insulation vs fiberglass insulation, we are looking at two genuine contenders for the most common type of loft insulation product. Much like sheep’s wool, hemp insulation is produced from a naturally produced hemp fibres. As the construction industry moves away from toxic materials and closer to eco-friendly materials, insulation has not been left out. Sheep wool insulation requires treatment (usually with borax) to make it suitable for use in our homes. Fibreglass Batts – Like Sheep’s Wool and Down Feathers. They can be used elsewhere of course, but you are more than likely to find these in your attic space. Sheep wool offers outstanding sound insulation. Hemp is an incredibly versatile crop that has been used for thousands of years to produce rope and clothing, but is now being used to produce biodegradable plastics, fuel and insulation. Mineral Wool. After shearing wool might be sent to another country for preparing and manufacturing before being carted back to where it started from for sale in the shops. The core of the sheep wool fibre is hygroscopic, meaning that it will absorb water vapour – making it perfect in the loft space where you tend to encounter more condensation. Sheep wool insulation has a thermal conductivity of between 0.035 – 0.04 W/mK, where as typical mineral wool has a thermal conductivity of 0.044 W/mK. Fibreglass Batts – Like Sheep’s Wool and Down Feathers. Sheep wool purifies the air Sheep wool is proven to absorb and neutralise harmful substances – the wool is a natural protein made up of a number of different amino acid chains (18 to be exact!) Only, all these concerns apply in one way or another to every insulation product. Bulky materials resist conductive and -- to a lesser degree -- convective heat flow in a building cavity. Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or you hire a professional, there are important things to consider about the actual insulation process. Rigid foam boards trap air or another gas to resist heat flow. Natural hemp insulation. So first off, what is the main difference between them both? Sheep wool is also very breathable and doesn’t hold as much moisture as other wool insulation. Builders are experimenting with cellulose (shredded newspaper), sheep’s wool, hemp, and denim insulation. Mineral wool insulation or rockwool typically costs more per inch than fiberglass insulation. I am left with trying to split fiberglass batts or consider a treated sheep wool alternative. In many ways, mineral wool is a superior insulation product. When considering wool vs fiberglass insulation, know that sheep's wool is an elegant solution to a natural problem. The sheep wool type is all-natural and more efficient than fiberglass. Sheep wool insulation has an R-value of approximately 3.5 to 3.8 per inch of material thickness, 0.3 to 0.6 points higher than fiberglass, cellulose, or mineral wool. Mineral stone wool insulation batts are slightly better insulators than the off-the-shelf fiberglass batts sold at most lumberyards and home centers. Sheep wool is the BEST non-toxic insulation for your camper van conversion– it’s sustainable, naturally fire-resistant, breathable, doesn’t retain moisture, easy to install, and it’s literally sheep wool, so there are no toxic chemicals. Hemp is an incredibly versatile crop that has been used for thousands of years to produce rope and clothing, but is now being used to produce biodegradable plastics, fuel and insulation.