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Torc · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 108 Location: North Clare

Hi Blowin.
Did you ever find the answer to your question?
Anyone out there ever use fleece as insulation?
I'm inclined to think that wool would last indefinitely if it was kept dry and fleas etc only inhabit it when it is on a living animal - fleas don't live in old jumpers, or do they?
Regards,

blowin · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:39 am Post subject:

Hi Torc ,
No , I didn't get anything more specific than Jaybee's comment . I did google "shoddy" tho' and it seems to be what you get in the process of recycling woolen fabrics back into yarn . It is the shredded up rags .
In the context of this discussion the significant point may be that the raw fleece has been heavily processed before it becomes used as shoddy insulation .
FWIW I asked a local farmer why fleece wasn't used as insulation in the old cottages . His view was that you could never get the bugs out of it .
Seems to me , tho , that the stuff in these modern sheep dips will kill practically anything so that shouldn't be a problem these days .
Fire Regs / Buildings Insurance implications , maybe ?
AFAIK fleece is about as fire-resistant as a natural fibre can get so I wouldn't have any concern about that .
I'm glad you re-raised the topic . It has reminded me to have a more serious chat with the farmer . I think the key thing will be whether they can be dipped very near to sheering time , to avoid reinfestation .
Are sheep normally pregnant at sheering time ? That could be a complication .
I'll use it in the barn conversion unless I discover a serious drawback .

Torc · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 108 Location: North Clare

Hi Blowin,
It is definitely worth getting to the bottom of this thing. Maybe in the old days, it was too valuable a resource to be used in house insulation and there never was a tradition of insulation when cottages were made of mud and the roof of thatch. They must have been like an oven inside.
I imagine any treatment could be done to the fleece after it is removed from the sheep. I have discovered that borax is the stuff to use for this but don't know anything about the stuff. Parasites only live where there is a food supply - such as on a living animal.
Farmers around here are practically giving the fleece away and wool insulation costs €14.90 per square meter.
I've been inquiring at the RiverCottage website and will pass on any info I get. Please keep me posted on how you get on yourself.
Best regards,
Torc

Torc · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 108 Location: North Clare

PS To save you looking it up. Here is a bit on borax from Wikipaedia:

"Borax has a wide variety of uses. It is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes. It is also used to make buffer solutions in biochemistry, as a fire retardant, as an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass, as an insecticide, as a flux in metallurgy, and as a precursor for other boron compounds."

Sounds like the right stuff all right

blowin · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:44 pm Post subject:

I haven't come across Borax for years ( 30 !! ) but used to mix it with Salt Petre then sprinkle it onto eg rabbit skins to preserve them . From memory it worked pretty well -- they went like cardboard and stayed that way forever .

It came as a powder so I guess the drawbacks would be dust falling out of the fleece and/or it would absorb moisture . We can't even keep salt dry in this house so that is an issue but I am sure there will be a suitable liquid insect & fungicide . Maybe that green wood-preserver would do ? It is expensive but presumably it would protect both the fleece and surrounding joists at the same time ?

How heavy is a natural fleece compared to the processed insulation , I wonder ? Could that be a consideration ?

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1165 Location: Campile. Wexford

God this place gets cold. I should have read the signs when I brought the place. Radiators every where, far more than you would expect and all heated by a solid fuel open fire with a back boiler Crying or Very sad

expensive to run of course. So a new boiler < cant decide what sort>. I have decided to fill the cavity with Eco beads. Apparently these beads stick together and so has no problems with settlement. Sheep's wool in the loft should much improve things. Our forty sq mtrs extension is well under way and according to build regs we must use "Kingspan" cavity boards at about three times the cost of polystyrene Crying or Very sad

Cheers

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