Don't know if it is Countrywide but the big orange DIY store is doing 2 for 1 on sheeps wool in Chesterfield. I think is was about £23 for a 200mm x 1.1m roll.

S.

I dont know!, all I went for was a hinge.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10647763&fh_view_size=10&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372016%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372050%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372230%7d&fh_refview=lister&ts=1254833250261&isSearch=false

B&Q if the link does not work.

S.

You can also check here - npower were doing £1 per roll for loft insulation, but this seems to have expired, but they are now doing 2 for 1 deal. Shame they show nice wolley sheep on their web site with the Rockwool logo underneath. Seems they may be trying to pull the wool over consumers eyes


Anyway, you can check it out here - you never know there may be a sustainable option on their site somewhere http://www.npower.com/web/diyloftinsulation/index.htm

Guys,
I insulated my hen house with the real stuff! Farmers have to have the sheep sheared once a year. It costs them to do it and there is almost no value in the fleece. Find a friendly sheep farmer who will give you lots of fleece for very little hard cash. I got a 1 tonne bag full to the brim for free from my sheep farmer. Chickens are now nice and cosy and condensation free! The only down side is the stuff is smelly. I encapsulated it between the metal roof and plywood to keep the moisture out and the smell in. All the edges of the ply were vapour sealed and the ply was painted. Works a treat!

Use of raw(er) wool at CAT:

"Three tonnes of Welsh Steel wool has been donated by the British Wool Marketing Board in support of the Centre's pioneering work. Scoured (to wash off the grease and dirt) and carded (to align the fibres), the fleeces are sprayed with borax on site to protect the wool from fire and insects."

J

http://www.cat.org.uk/news/news_release.tmpl?command=search&db=news.db&eqSKUdatarq=10340

Best deal I found was from SIG at £6.14 per sq m (excl VAT) for 100mm depth. At that rate it is becoming cheaper than many other alterntive insulants.

Welsh Steel wool is, more or less, the same colour as the stuff from herdwicks & thus of not much use for textiles.

Interesting info in the CAT release states that much wool insulation in the UK is produced from Ausssie or Kiwi wool.

Not quite as 'green' as I thought!

S.

Skywalker - the CAT release was dated 2000. I think a few things have changed in the UK wool insulation industry since then, but to what degree I am not sure.

The wool from SIG was in rolls. I took delivery of 200sq m worth of the 150mm deep stuff with no charge. Didn't realise that it wasn't 100% wool though. Will go and look at the label.

Just been looking at the safety sheet on the B&Q website. It says there is only 50% wool in the product, yet the packaging doesn't state this. The Trading Standards office would have a real problem with their labeling.
Thought I would checkout SIG, their web site says that it is wool and deosn't mention anything about plastic. spoke to the local branch, he said it was 100% wool. I said I heard it wasn't. He checked and came back to tell me it was in fact only 60% wool, he didn't know why SIG didn't tell the truth on their web site. Wonder what the Trading Standards would say of SIG. Found out that they get it made by the same company as B&Q - Cottons. Must be the same product but one says one thing the other says another.
Got the bit between the teeth and phone Thermofleece, they said they had two products the rolls have only 60% wool their batts have 85% wool. They said they put plastic in for transport savings, they also said there was significant price difference between their two products - think we have now found why everyone sticks lots of plastic in ! They do state the facts on their website though. They get theirs made by Cottons - interestingly they all claim different thermal performance.
Thought I would try one more Black Mountain, spoke to a local distributor he said they had their own factory. decided to call the factory, the girl said they have min 85% wool and that they make it themselves they have the only dedicated factory in the UK. she passed me to the boss, I asked him why did he have 85% wool and others didn't. He said that others were trying to get the costs lower sinc ethey had others taking a slice of the cake. Aksed him how could I be certain that he din't have lots of plastic in the product. He invited me to the factory, said I could drop in uninvited and have a look at the formulation they have dialed into their production computer. Invited me to take any roll from their stock and unroll it to check the gauge, said I could look at their termal testing and invited me to bring some material with me to have it tested in front on my eyes. Aksed him to comment on the otehrs he said that thermofleece batts were good quality. He thought all the rolls from B&Q etc had the same formulation but hadn't tested the competitors product for a few months, his view was that if you want plastic buy plastic if you want wool buy wool from them or Thermofleece.
I am going to Chester on Monday so I am going to take him at his word and drop in before I decide who I buy from. will let eveyrone know.

Interesting david2686. please report back.
The Black mountain product tears easily across the roll, but not down the length of the roll, so had presumed the plastic was laid across the line of the wool fibers to hold it together a bit better.

Without being at all funny 85% wool is still 'wool rich' rather than Wool isn't it?

I appreciate the 'need' to add other materials but they stop the product from being Wool (100%).

A bit like 100% recycled paper toilet roll or toilet roll which contains a proportion of recycled material. They are different products.

I'd still use it if I could by the way, I'd just rather the contents were right 'in your face'.

S.

Please could you ask him why it does not specify anywhere on the front page or in the technical data or the product details section of his website that his product is in fact 85% wool & not Wool as it claims.

S.

Just to inform everyone of my visit to Black Mountain
Decided to call ahead and ask if it was OK to visit, they said absolutely. Met the boss Andrew Evans who took me round. Very modern big factory, highly automated not what I was expecting. Asked him about the wool and polyseter argument, he explained that to make the insulation they need to glue the wool fibres together or they will compact. The adhesive they use is a polyester that melts in their big oven which then sticks the fibres in place.
He said they only use it as a adhesive not as a cheap filler like some other products. He actually changed the formualtion for a few mintues to show me the result at the end of the machine, the product fell appart. Don't worry all the material was recirculated to the front of the machine. I was convinced they use it as an adhesive not a cost reduction.
He also said they were running tests on other adhesives made from corn (I think he said) said it will take time to do all the test to ensure the product lasts 100 yrs.
They had lots of charts on quality control and I saw them feeding product back into the machine which wasn't good enough, i was convinced that thye were serious. Also showed me daily charts on gas and energy said they were passionate about embodied energy. He asked me to choose a roll from their stock which hethen laid out in the room they use for comparison between products, had lots of rolls laid out. from glass fibre to green polyester.
That was really interesting, they had a B&Q roll from a year ago and a B&Q roll which they bought last week, for a 100mm product the one year old was only 50mm thick. The one from last week was only 65mm thick. laid out the roll we took from stock it was 90mm, he gave me a fresh roll to take home and said leave it few hours and check it again. Measured it today sure enough 100mm +. He was careful with his words regarding B&Q, wouldn't comment on SIG said they were made by Cottons also and that he thought they were all the same formaulation but couldn't confirm this. He said Black MOuntain only made product for themselves and thought the were the lowest price since they didn't pay anybody else a slice, didn't need to add plastic to get the price point. He said only Thermafleece batts and their product were real wool the rest were poly cotton sheets in his mind.
He also asked me to walk up and down on the various rolls, to show recovery, the wool products recoverd almost immediately, the glass fibre was rubbish you could see deep foot prints.
Showed the reason why it tears across but not down the roll, it is because the fibres of wool are combed in one direction to a very thin layer and then the layers are built up to make the product.
I was impressed, nice people it was worth taking the time to visit especially sinc ehe gave me a roll free, only another 99 visits and I can do my project for free.

Cheers David, very interesting
I also had a long and helpful chat with Andrew earlier in the year which resulted in us buying from them.
Simple to fit and easy to work with.
The blokes helping were very impressed, even if only because they didnt itch after