Alternatives to Fibreglass wool attic insulation

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aircobra19

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After a leak in an attic, I've had to lift large sections of the Fibreglass wool insulation which got wet. Its seems to hold the water and I'm thinking take forever to dry. I hate the stuff, and I'm wondering what are the alternatives to using this stuff. I intend tidying up the plumbing and electrics in the attic as it was done without much care, badly even by the original builder. Then I hope to lay some non fixed flooring and make it easier to use for storage. So I might aswell consider the insulation while I'm at it.
 
Hi,

the alternatives of which I have experience are hemp and wool insulation. Both lovely to work with and non-toxic but you do need to wear a mask with the hemp as it is a bit dusty.
I haven't done a full cost comparison but wool is about twice the price of fibreglass and hemp may be a bit cheaper. Only one supplier of wool, that I know of, and they do all the shows.
To my knowledge, there are two hemp suppliers in Ireland. One is well known and very commercial and again does all the shows but tends to be a bit more expensive. The other is a much less commercial operation but better technically...on hemp.
There is a wood pulp type insualtion which I have only seen in sample form. Big advantage of this is that it is more rigid. Another advantage of this is that there is more mass to it(?!) which means that when it gets the sun, it holds it for longer. I am open to correction on this and would welcome others comments!
Of course, the big plus to my mind with these products is that they are so much friendlier to use than fibreglass, use of which can't be good for one. Personally, I'd rather clean a blocked sewer than work with it, even for five minutes.

Good luck.
 
aircobra19 said:
After a leak in an attic, I've had to lift large sections of the Fibreglass wool insulation which got wet. Its seems to hold the water and I'm thinking take forever to dry. I hate the stuff, and I'm wondering what are the alternatives to using this stuff. I intend tidying up the plumbing and electrics in the attic as it was done without much care, badly even by the original builder. Then I hope to lay some non fixed flooring and make it easier to use for storage. So I might aswell consider the insulation while I'm at it.
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If your going to take it up and lay flooring it would be foolish to ignore the insulation. Instead of fibreglass go for Rockwool it's more durable. I would say 150mm to 200mm at least and it will last much longer it will be a few euro more per roll but not much. I would however say to measure the joists as you don't want to compress the insulation to much but putting flooring on top of it. It is that simple so don't allow yourself to be confused.
 
owenscorning.com,this site has the latest in insulation products,pink panter for sound insulation etc,ask your local retailer if this product is available in ireland.
 
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