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Wool Improves Indoor Air Quality
The inherent construct of a wool fiber traps air and in turn insulates your home. It also does much more. Wool insulation removes dust particles which may contain harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide. The amino acids in wool irreversibly bond with these chemicals in both a chemical and physical manner. The former, called chemisorption is ~80% of the bond and is irreversible; the balance is physisorption and only unwinds at extreme temperature or moisture levels. No other type of insulation offers these unique capabilities.
Wool Manages Moisture
Wool fibers inherently manage moisture, absorbing and releasing it against 65% relative humidity. This allows for condensation to be minimized as wool generates heat from energy, thus making it warm when wet. Equally important, wool is a keratin and therefore will not support the growth of mold. These characteristics, on their own, make wool an outperformer as an insulator; on a relative basis it stands in a league of its own.
Sound Absorption
Visco-elastic properties of a wool fiber assist in the conversion of sound energy to heat. What’s more, a wool fiber is unique in its ability to simultaneously reduce air born sound, surface noise and sound transmission.
Resistance to Compression
Resistance to compression (R to C) is the force per unit area required to compress a fixed mass of wool to a fixed volume. Resistance to compression is related to fiber diameter and the form and frequency of crimp. For instance, high R to C wools have a harsher handle, are resistant to felting and are bulkier. Studies show the majority of wool finer than 28 as being in the middle resistance-to-compression range (53%). On the other hand, some 73 percent of the wool coarser than 28 micron was evaluated to be highly resistant to compression. Our wool is >35 micron.
Why Havelock Wool?
We source only the best fibers for use in our wool insulation. These decisions are driven by time, experience, science and technology. The fibers we use are a certain dynamic – we shear them from a specific breed of sheep best suited for insulation.
We don’t make our insulation from wool scraps. Instead, we process high quality wool fibers through our proprietary manufacturing process. This yields a uniform, high-performance, long-lasting product. Wool’s natural structure make it incredibly effective as an insulator.
Each fiber of sheep wool is composed of protein molecules (keratin) organized into five follicles. These fibers effectively trap air, moisture and harmful chemicals. Using wool as insulation actually helps keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, while improving indoor air quality.
Havelock Loose Fill Wool Insulation
Loose fill insulation is increasingly preferred amongst industry leaders in the built environment. Havelock Wool loose fill insulation is widely used in residential and commercial construction applications that require superior thermal, moisture and acoustic insulation.
We produce our loose fill following a proprietary and repeatable manufacturing process. This yields knops, or balls, that enhance our wool’s ability to trap increasing amounts of air. This process accelerates wool’s inherent characteristics and allows us to exceed the R-values of all other insulation mediums
What Is Loose Fill Insulation?
Loose fill or “blown-in” insulation is a more recent entrant into the insulation market. Installation begins with a membrane placed over open stud bays, or a hole poked in an existing wall, and insulation is blown behind.
Traditional batt insulation “slumps” overtime. This creates air gaps and a drop in insulation R-value. Loose fill insulation prevents this by filling your wall cavity more completely.
Loose Fill Insulation Benefits
Our product is all-natural, renewable and sustainable in it’s production, while being compostable at the end of an extended useful life. Wool is inherently self-extinguishing and manages moisture against 65% relative humidity. Our loose fill out performs most other types of insulation with an R-value of 4.3 per inch.
Havelock Wool Batt Insulation
We have applied our insulating technology to traditional batt insulation. Historically batts were made with toxic bonding agents necessary to create a low-cost insulating product with some ability to maintain shape. Our batts are made with 100% wool, no synthetic mix, and are bonded with a needle punch, not chemicals.
Unlike other forms of insulation our batts are easy to handle. They do not require protective clothing or safety equipment like respirators, gloves or heavy clothing to install: they are safe to the touch.
These characteristics have earned us the label as the ultimate in DIY for home insulation.
What Is Batt Insulation?
Batt insulation takes a rectangular shape and it is designed to slide into the cavity of your interior walls. It is the cheapest and most common type available in the market. The efficacy of batt insulation is increasingly scrutinized by industry practitioners though the ease of install will allow for its dominant usage to persist.
Benefits of Wool Batt Insulation
Our product is all-natural, renewable and sustainable in it’s production, while being compostable at the end of an extended useful life. Wool is inherently self-extinguishing and manages moisture against 65% relative humidity. When it comes to energy efficiency, our batts perform similarly to other forms of insulation with an R-value of 3.6 per inch. Unlike others, no protective clothing is required for installation and one can argue the process is even a bit of fun.