Cob: Questions about wool

[D.J. Henman]

In a different place I lived I remember that moths ate wool or at least 
my cloths in the closet.   I have found that moths have found my wool 
suit/clothes to be very delicious.   One specimen  had what looked like 
mini swiss cheese holes.   Was it the wool content of the suit of 
something else that the moths were enjoying.   

Darel

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David Atmoweg wrote:

>C and L;
>
>Some tangential experience regarding your queries.
>
>We ordered batts of clean, carded, borated wool insulation from 
>(as far as I've found) the only source for the stuff on this continent: 
>Custom Woolen Mills, in Western Canada.  They make great thick 
>socks, too.  The stuff is pleasant to work with, reasonably priced, 
>and has suffered no insect damage, despite being exposed.  Of 
>course, it's not anything like as cheap as raw wool.  
>
>A friend of ours who raises sheep in Vermont is stock-piling raw 
>wool for a building project that he keeps putting off.  In his 
>experience, the stuff can sit around forever unwashed and be 
>ignored by pests, for whom the sheepiness is simply 
>overwhelming.  It might be overwhelming in your home, as well, 
>sadly.  If you were to use it in a closed attic, say, I think you could 
>sprinkle a pound of borax here and there and it would outlast your 
>home, but your attic would smell very mammalian.  We're living in a 
>two-hundred-year-old cabin, where space is at a premium, and so 
>we needed something we could live next to.
>
>We used light-straw insulation downstairs, and had planned 
>panels of the same for the ceiling, but the stuff might be 
>light-straw, but it isn't light.  I had tried to find a non-New Zealand 
>source  of wool insulation for months without luck, and then 
>Custom Woolen Mills appeared, and not a moment too soon, as 
>we just had the worst Catskills winter in easily thirty years.
>
>Good luck with your project.
>
>-d.
>
>www.flamingbunny.org
>
>---
>  
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>>I am trying to complete my research as to whether or not to use 
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>raw wool in
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>>my ceiling. I would very much like to hear from people using wool 
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>as to
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>>whether it has been worth it and what problems they have 
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>encountered and how
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>>they overcame it.
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>>I have access to sufficient wool that is currently being stored in a 
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>wool
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>>warehouse in plastic perforated wool tubes. Some of my initial 
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>research is:
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>>a. Corresponded with Jan Stern's mom Rita in South Africa. They 
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>placed wool
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>>into garbage bags with a cup of borax. She no longer lives in the 
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>house but
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>>after five years no insects have penetrated the bags and no borax 
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>has
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>>spilled out. She was not able or willing to open the bags which is 
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>what I
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>>really wanted to see the condition of the wool sitting in plastic 
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>bags-not
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>>breathing so to speak.
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>>b. spoke with the wool cooperative manager and he is skeptical 
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>about the
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>>wool not being consumed by moths as they get moths in their 
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>warehouses and
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>>bees nest in it. In speaking with a wool grower she felt that flies 
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>would
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>>not be interested in wool sheared from the animal, unless they 
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>are after the
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>>manure embedded which by the smell of the sample wool I have 
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>it manure has
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>>some presence there. I heard a story from a friend who stayed in 
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>a cob
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>>cottage over night and he woke up to tons of flies and he was 
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>told it was
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>>from the wool.
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>>c. In speaking with another wool grower she says she doesn't 
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>have moth
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>>problems and some wasps have entered the bags that are 
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>open. She hangs her
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>>bags from her rafters in a barn. She feels part of her solution is 
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>the cool
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>>Wisconsin winters help.
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>>I am wondering whether raw wool will be embedded with moth 
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>larve? I was told
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>>you can kill critters by exposing them to 130 degree heat or 
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>extreeme cold
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>>temperatures. Cleaning the wool isn't an option for me....too 
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>much wool, too
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>>much work big time.
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>>d. I spoke with an Irishman who put washed wool into his attic 
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>and was quite
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>>please. No mention of bugs, he did treat it with borax. Another 
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>wooll grower
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>>thought that by not washing the wool and keeping the lanolin 
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>percentage high
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>>it would help keep away moths.
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>>I had a thought of placing the wool inbetween my trusses and 
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>then placing
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>>typar/tyvek over the wool and stapling this material to the sides of 
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>the
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>>trusses and slanting it toward drain vents. Place extra fine bug 
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>screening
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>>over the vents and make sure the ridge vent openings were 
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>screened as well,
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>>since we would have air space above the typar for venting. My 
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>thought was
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>>this could act like a bag keeping bugs out. This wool has quite 
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>an odor too
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>>it so I imagine it to be a powerful attractant to bugs. The other 
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>purpose of
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>>the typar would be to catch any condensation that may form on 
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>my plywood
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>>sheathing and send it to a drain.
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>>I have also thought of using tight weave burlap bags instead of 
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>plastic
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>>bags. Bags in general make me nervous as I wonder how 
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>difficult it would be
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>>to get an effective insulation coverage. I imagine I would need to 
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>have them
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>>be relatively thin and overlapping each other.
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>>Thats the extent of my research and I need further info from you 
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>all to help
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>>me conclude some things. Too wool or not too wool! I am on 
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>digest and often
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>>working too long so please forgive if I don't get back right off.
>>Chuck in Wisconsin.
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