Trending
Over two years ago, I did some research on insulation for the house my partner and I are building. At the time, we needed insulation layers for our earthen roof.
Back then, I wanted to try hemp insulation, although I spent time seriously considering sheep wool insulation. We ended up with mineral wool due to cost and availability.
We still need more insulation for our attic and interior walls, and we kept coming back to sheep's wool.
The only USA manufacturer of sheep’s wool insulation I could find is Havelock, located in Nevada. They import the fleece from New Zealand. It seems silly to ship fleece around the globe when we have sheep farmers in our region who end up throwing the fleece away.
When I was in the height of researching insulation, we considered trying to buy some local wool, and processing it into insulation ourselves. Although I am always up for a DIY project, especially if it is eco-friendly, uncharacteristically I was the one who said no. My partner, not one for crafts or tedious projects, surprisingly was on board, and said we should consider it.
Eventually, we circled back to buying it. Then we again decided to go with mineral wool. Now, we have flipped back to sheep’s wool once more and now are both fully onboard the DIY insulation train.
After hearing a segment on NPR about Appalachian sheep farmers and professors at Virginia Tech trying to make sheep's wool insulation to utilize the by-product of local sheep farming for meat, I emailed one of the farmers interviewed in the segment.
I hoped there might already be a prototype that we could purchase, but alas, their project was not that far along. However, the farmer did say he had plenty of wool I could have, and gave me the contact info for the person he works with at Virginia Tech.
I called the professor, and he gave me suggestions for prepping the wool. He said he washed the fleece with dish soap twice in hot water without agitating, and then again with just water. After cleaning, he said to air dry the wool and then use a picker to fluff it up (more air trapped makes it more insulative).
We discussed adding borax to the last rinse, to keep pests out of the insulation.
Although I know it will be an incredible amount of work, because of the quantity we need, somehow it sounded doable.
We have been considering various ways to set up cleaning - from washing the fleeces in a bathtub to collecting stream water and organizing a fleece washing work session with friends to try to knock out large quantities at once.
To insulate our attic, we will need a bit under 2000 square feet of fleece, eight inches thick. I have no clue how many sheep fleeces it would take to cover that amount, but hopefully in the coming weeks I will learn.
The instructions on the Havelock loose fill wool insulation said to secure netting over the area to be insulated, and then use a blower to get the fluffy loose wool in. The loose fill has a better insulation rating than batts of insulation, due to more air trapped between the fibers.
I'm trying to stay cautious and not overly optimistic for the sheep’s wool plan as I know we may have to pivot back to a previous plan. Still, I am excited to give this new project a try, to keep my family cozy warm with all natural and local materials.