One of the best ways to increase the energy efficiency of your home is to increase or add insulation, whether that be in the roof space walls or other areas of the building, however most common insulation on the market comes with a environmental cost. To combat this many are turning to more natural solutions such as sheep wool insulation because of its amazing properties.
It might be a premium insulation, but here’s why.
It’s a first class insulator!
It’s been tried and tested for thousands of years from being used for coats and blankets protecting us from the heat and the cold, the results are in and they are good! Thanks to the crimped wool fibres wool forms a great many tiny air pockets that trap the air and create a thermal barrier.
This is what gives it such a great thermal conductivity (the rate at which heat can pass from one material to another measured in W/mk – the lower the value the better insulator it is.)
Sheep’s wool can have a thermal conductivity between 0.035 – 0.04W/mk.
It’s a natural air purifier!
Sheep’s wool is made up of amino acid chains, many of which have a reactive side chain – But what does this mean? This is what enables sheep’s wools proven ability to absorb and neutralise harmful substances – including odorous substances such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur, through a process known as Chemisorption.
Its all very complicated, but the thing to take away from this is that using sheep wool really does have health benefits and is a positive addition for your indoor climate.
Keeps a handle on humidity
Sheep wool is absorbent, being able to absorb 33% of its weight in moisture without affecting the insulating properties. This makes it great for the loft space which typically can suffer from condensation through the changing weathers.
Sound insulation, keep the noise out, or in!
Again, thanks to its natural makeup sheep's wool is great at insulating the sound compared to your typical materials, which is why it is increasingly popular for busy buildings like offices and schools
It wont burn!
Thanks to its high nitrogen content sheep's wool is just about the only fibre to not succumb to the flames, so much so as soon as you take the flame away it will just go out. That’s not to say if you try it yourself there’s no affect, but it will simply singe and smoulder instead of creating a flame, unless it gets really hot. Somewhere around 560°C
It doesn’t Itch
If your installing, or ever had to crawl about in your loft space you have probably experience the itchy eye watering effects most common insulations have, usually resulting in your getting in and out of your loft space as quick as possible. With sheep's you don’t need to worry about that, you could sleep on it and it does not affect you, making getting the Christmas decorations down, and using your loft space less of a problem, and more of a plus.
Its sustainable
I think we all expected this one to be on the list, of course this is one of the main if not the number one reason for choosing sheep wool. Its 100% a natural product, it requires a minute amount of energy to produce compared to man made substitutes, with most of the energy attributed to the washing. Sheep's wool uses less than 15% of the energy used to make glass wool, it really is top of the pops for sustainability – a win for you and the planet.
