4 Eco-Friendly Insulation Alternatives For A Green Home
Insulating your home will significantly lower your heating and cooling expenses, provide resistance to heat flow and enhance the comfort at your home.
21/03/2022
One of the critical factors you need to consider when building your home is insulation. Insulating your home will significantly lower your heating and cooling expenses, provide resistance to heat flow and enhance the comfort at your home.
You’re probably wondering how insulation will improve comfort. Heat is lost during the winter season, so the heating system substitutes the lost heat. On the other hand, much heat is obtained during the summer season, so the cooling system eliminates the heat. Pretty simple right?
For many years, many new homes have been constructed using fibreglass insulation. However, this method can lead to health issues. When fibreglass is left open to moisture for a long, it ages quickly. Moisture provides perfect conditions for moulds to grow. Exposure to moulds can cause health complications such as coughing, wheezing, and allergic reactions.
Additionally, they can be life-threatening for someone with a chronic lung condition. The good news is that you don’t have to use fibreglass. If you’re looking to build a new home or undertake a makeover, try one of these eco-friendly insulation alternatives for a greenhouse to make your home safe and healthy:
Glass Wool Insulation
Glass wool insulation is among the most sought-after eco-friendly insulation alternative, especially for a person looking to build a new home. Moreover, glass wool insulation is economical compared to other insulations and is readily accessible. Regarding global warming, it’s ranked among the lowest in ratings.
Are you a fan of converting waste into reusable material? Well, glass wool is made from reprocessed glass material. Hence reducing pollution. Glasswool insulation also offers some brilliant features, for instance, sound insulation.
Cotton
You will bump into several natural and renewable materials out there. Still, cotton is one of the most sustainable insulation choices. You’re wondering how you can use cotton to insulate? Recycled jeans offcuts are torn or cut into shreds and reprocessed into large pieces of felted material fitted into your walls like fibreglass. Safety is a significant concern, so the cotton is treated using a borate solution to make it nontoxic for people and the environment. This is also to make sure the insulation isn’t combustible.
Another benefit of cotton insulation is that you won’t have to deal with strong chemicals that can lead to respiratory complications to get rid of insects. Insects can cause havoc, but luckily cotton is naturally an insect repellent.
Cellulose Insulation
Whether you’re on the hunt for insulation or simply thinking about what kind to use in your own home, it helps to know a bit of the science behind a quality product.
Cellulose insulation is also made from reprocessed materials, such as newspaper, timber, and cobs. It’s another reliable, eco-friendly option. This is slightly different because you’ll need a machine or a specific tool to blow into cracks and walls, similar to spray foam insulation.
This type of insulation is favourable because you can direct pieces of material around most barricades, such as cables and ducts, in walls and cracks when spraying. The most common type of cellulose insulation is blown-in insulation. Cellulose is also an effective clean air boundary material that serves as a fire barrier.
Sheep’s Wool
Sheep survive in freezing temperatures because their wool keeps them warm. In the same way, sheep’s wool ensures your home is warm and comfortable. Here is the spice; sheep’s wool is used to slow or stop the spread of fire or lessen its intensity so the firefighters won’t have a hard time in case of fire breakouts. Pretty thrilling right? In recent years, construction engineers have discovered that they can take advantage of the insulating features of sheep’s wool when constructing homes.
Sheep’s wool is highly compressed, and as a result, the fibres create thousands of tiny air pockets. What’s more, the outside layer is water-resistant. In contrast, the inside layer takes in or soaks up any dampness. This helps produce heat while stopping condensation, therefore ensuring your home is warm during the winter season and cool during the summer. Additionally, there’s also the benefit of saving your energy. If you use sheep’s wool, you won’t be forced to keep adjusting your heating and cooling system.
Final Thoughts
Insulation is a broad topic, and you will find many different insulation types in the market. You’ll realize that there’s no right or wrong choice during your search. But above are some of the top eco-friendly insulation alternatives for a green home with different qualities. It’s best to consider the qualities of each to settle on the one that works best for you and your home.