Eco Wool, Warmcel instalation tested and compared.

10-10-20

A while back I was in here asking for guidance/information on insulating a difficult to reach and unusual space in my attic.
I have a bunch of poorly aligned joists running over the top of the hot-press, complete with noggins and the wiring-centre for my alarm system.
The area is not floored, very tight, so it's not really suitable for installing rigid insulation batts, and rock-wool would have to be placed down in inefficient lumps instead of being a snug fit. As well as this, rock-wool isn't nice to work with in a very tight space, even with a mask and gloves.

Ideally I needed a loose-fill insulation, but I was having difficulty in sourcing this in Ireland. I was reluctant to employ a contractor to install blown-insulation as the area isn't significantly large and the ROI would be negated.

While in B&Q, I found some "Eco-Wool Insulation" which is recycled plastic bottles. It's non-itch, so I figured that it would be easy to install to my requirement. On the brochure, you see a photo of a girl rolling out layers of this stuff - so it must be easy!
Anyhow, it's not. The material being plastic, is very tough. It doesn't cut with a household scissors; you can't use a knife on it; it won't tear easily and you can't trim the pre-cut width to suit different joist sizes. What you can do with this stuff is roll it on top of existing insulation. I also have a feeling that it's not fire-resistant - I don't see any fire-rating on the label or website. My 6 bags of Eco Wool are wasted.

So, back to plan-A…

Talking to an uncle in the trade, he mentioned that there was a company who used to import wood, but had moved over to alternative insulation (MacCann and Byrne) and may have what I needed. I managed to track them down and found that they had recently added exactly what I needed to their portfolio. I purchased 15x 8Kg Warmcel 100 of cellulose (pulped newspaper) bales.

Installing this stuff needs a small amount of preparation. The 8Kg bags are compressed and almost double in size when the product is 'fluffed'. 'Fluffing' is the problem. The manufacturers recommend that you loosen the cellulose with your hand as you remove it from the bale. The problem with this is that you won't be able to loosen a handful due to its clumping nature. It just falls out of your hand in compressed lumps and these won't trap the air within the cellulose. It really needs special attention.

Professionals get around this problem mechanically. They use a mincer-type machine and a blower to pump the product down a pipe which is dragged around the attic space to fill the voids. I wanted to achieve the best insulation rating for this product, so I needed to find a method better than 'hand loosening'.

From my wasted effort with the Eco Wool, I had a large, very strong, polythene bag left over. I decided to used this to encapsulate the Warmcel and break it and fluff it. This would also avoid another problem with Warmcel which I failed to mention to this point in time - it's a very good source of fine but harmless dust!
Back to the polyethylene bag… I threw in a couple of handfuls of compressed Warmcel, grabbed the top of the bag tightly trapping air in it, and started shaking it vigorously. This served to loosen the cellulose sufficiently that it will now pour straight out of the bag into the joist spaces.

So, my results can be seen in the photos attached.
http://pix.ie/10-10-20/644425/size/800
http://pix.ie/10-10-20/644424/size/800


I will add that even though Warmcel is treated with a fire retardant, it would be wise to install piping around any electrical wires which are submerged. As you see in the photos, I still need to complete this...

10-10-20

Oh, and here's the link to McCain & Burne...
http://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/products/warmcell/

(I have no affiliation to the above)