Description
Oregon Shepherd Loose Sheep Wool Insulation – 5# Craft Box
Oregon Shepherd’s made-in-the-USA 5-pound loose sheep wool insulation craft box is handy for small projects!
Loose Sheep Wool insulation allows you to fully fill an enclosed cavity, so you will generally achieve a slightly higher R-value, for example, R-21.9 for a 5.5″ deep wall cavity as opposed to R19 for batt or roll insulation.
This product is a mix of raw sheep wool from U.S. sheep farms, and pre-consumer recycled content from natural woolen mills (textile scraps, no synthetic dyes included). The percentages of raw wool and recycled content vary over time depending upon input streams.
Here is a blog from one of our customers who set out on a journey of home maintenance full of investigation, research, and surprises resulting in a holistic approach to renovation: Love Laugh and Make Lemonade – How to Knit Your House a Sweater
Coverage
5 pounds of loose sheep wool, when fully ‘fluffed’ for maximum coverage, will yield over 5 cubic feet for horizontal applications such as ceilings or floors, and will yields about 4 cubic feet at the optimum density for vertical applications such as walls.
When installing larger quantities in a house, an insulation blower will ‘fluff’ the insulation for you.
When installing smaller quantities by hand, you may want to order a little more to allow for variations in the ‘fluffiness’ you are able to achieve.
When installing in a van, you may want to:
- (a) Install at a higher density to avoid settling due to road vibrations.
- (b) Leave a removable 1×3 or 1×4 at the top of your van walls so that you can occasionally check for settling and add more.
Netting may be included at a nominal cost to hold wool in place.
Installation
Loose sheep wool insulation may be placed by hand, or it may be blown in much the same way as is done for loose fiberglass (don’t do it!) or cellulose (okay as long as it doesn’t get wet).
If placing by hand:
- You may want to order a little extra, as it is trickier to get the proper density
- Your wool arrives in a box packed to about 6 times the installation density, so each cubic foot of packed wool will need to be ‘fluffed’ to about six cubic feet.
- One trick is to put portions of the wool in a large plastic bag and using a shop-vac on reverse, insert the nozzle into the bag and fluff the wool.
When blowing in loose sheep wool:
- You can expect a 10 foot projection of the material from the end of the hose.
- There is not much that you have to do differently for sheep wool versus fiberglass/cellulose:
- Sheep Wool is more dense than fiberglass and cellulose.
- Don’t run your airlock wide-open. Keep it about 2/3rds open.
- Run your air wide open.
- Don’t attempt to dense pack with any hose diameter smaller than 2″.
- The folks at InsulationMachines.net recommend the CM2400 for sheep wool.
- However, John mentioned that they prefer the FibreForce blower by Intec for the best application.
Soundproofing
Wall, ceiling, and floor insulation is often used as a component of soundproofing. Any insulation product will improve your soundproofing compared to a hollow cavity.
However, if you are attempting to address a serious sound control problem that is impacting health or relationships with family or neighbors, you will want to educate yourself on the intricacies of sound control problems and the corresponding solutions. We recommend you start by visiting our friends at the Soundproofing Company as they are the industry experts.
Sheep Wool Insulation Prices
Sheep Wool Insulation Prices
