Thermafleece

[Anonymous]

It is a good way of using poor quality, kempy fleece like the Herdwick, but I have to say it does seem hugely expensive. We get £1.50 a fleece for the wool from our flock if we're lucky and the WMB's sorters haven't dismissed it as too kempy or too shot with black (Time was when black wool commanded a premium, but not any more. Not enough mourning, I say!). If that's the case, the price can drop to 50p a fleece - and *that's* the stuff that Thermafleece buys up for processing.
I appreciate that scouring and pressing the wool adds cost, but I was aghast to pay £80 for enough Thermafleece to insulate the walls of a guest bathroom I put in only to realise that the actual fleece cost (looking at the density of fibre) would have been around £8.
I would dearly love to be able to use the stuff to insulate the attic, but unless a long-lost aunt dies and leaves me her stash of copper sheeting it will have to remain a dream.

 

[Anonymous]

OK then Gervaise, you're near CAT - whats the problem with doing whatever they did with your own wool?

Out of interest whats the cost of cleaned/carded wool from wmb ? Or do you have to buy from a processor?

 

[Anonymous]

Its not quite as simple as stuffing wool into the wall cavity! (Although a patent does exist where wool is stuffed into hollow bricks). One of the processes which allows Thermafleece to be produced in its roll or batt format relates to the insect proofing (See link to patent below). Other variants on the theme are Boron treatment or sealing the edges of the material with an insect proof strip.

Another interesting patent involves stuffing scoured wool into net stocking material - steady there, Mr Grimsdale!



Thermafleece Patent

 

[Anonymous]

If you want to use your own fleece you have to contract out from the WMB, which is a process deliberately designed to be protracted and difficult to discourage producers from even thinking about it.
It's feasible, though - but what would be tricky is the processing of the wool. I assume one would need fairly large drums or vats in which to churn the fleeces to remove dags and grease (not to mention large quantities of lye or urine or whatever is used these days to achieve that) and then a tenting area to dry the fleeces before carding. In ye olden times, when labour was cheap and land was available, none of that would be a problem. In ye moderne times, we look to machines to do that, and it's not economical for me to acquire an industrial washer/dryer scouring and a carding machine. I think I'm going to go down the recylced cellulose route with the attic...

Actually, looking at the Thermafleece batts, I don't think it is carded - it looks as though the wool is simply scoured at quite a high temperature so it almost felts and then dried in a press, as the staples hang together but in all different directions.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, the 'description' tag in the link to the patent explains exactly how it's made. I still can't quite see the justification for the price, though.

 

[Anonymous]

Give 'em a ring and ask?

It may be that if more of us buy the price will come down...

 

[Anonymous]

If you want to use your own fleece?!!
If you think Thermafleece is expensive you want to try buying it on a sheep's wage!

I have just done a standard Welsh cottage for around £550: cheaper than Kingspan. Very easy to fit; just hangs in between the rafters (until I have boarded over it) and everything they say it is. I have to say though, I does smell of sheep a bit!