wool upholstery fabric as insulation

[Dragonstar]

I've been reading this forum with interest and am now sourcing materials. Got a question I can't quite get my brain around. I have access to a decent supply of this fabric on 48" rolls:


https://kvadrat.dk/products/1200?colorway=0462


It is a 100% new wool, but isn't designed to be

insulation

. It feels about the same weight as wool coat fabric, maybe a little thicker. I can get it at $3 a yard, or maybe less if I buy it all. Here's the burn test certificate for it:

https://static.kvadrat.dk/assets/pdf...l-117-2013.pdf


Would this be good for an

insulation

layer, and if not, would it be a good inner layer? I happen to like orange-yellow a lot, so that's lucky I guess.

[Bob Rowlands]

Hmmmm.....$3 a yard seems incredibly cheap for new wool. Cotton canvas is about twice that. For sure I would ask them to send you a sample. I wouldn't buy a roll sight unseen. I'd give it a test wash by hand to see how durable it is. It it as cheap as I am thinking it might disintegrate in a clothes washer. Just a guess, I could be wrong. At any rate, best of luck.

[Dragonstar]

Originally Posted by Bob Rowlands

Hmmmm.....$3 a yard seems incredibly cheap for new wool. Cotton canvas is about twice that. For sure I would ask them to send you a sample. I wouldn't buy a roll sight unseen. I'd give it a test wash by hand to see how durable it is. It it as cheap as I am thinking it might disintegrate in a clothes washer. Just a guess, I could be wrong. At any rate, best of luck.

Thanks for the reply Bob, and I appreciate your caution. This wool comes from a creative reuse center that I'm a former board member of. Discards from a high end architectural design firm nearby.


I actually bought some of the wool today. 120 yards of primarily 100% new wool upholstery for $160, so I couldn't pass it up. Some of it is 70% wool 30% viscose. I am absolutely certain it is legitimate unless someone is out there faking KVADRAT labels. The wool is heavy, like an army blanket. I got some damp and it smells faintly of llama. Burn test was good.

I haven't fully grasped the yardage math but my guess is this will be enough for one layer in a 30' yurt. I wish I could have gotten consistent color scheme out of it but for less than $1.50/yd I'll take it. There is more yardage available that I might go back for but first I wanted to figure out whether this is even appropriate for a yurt lining. What do you think?

https://photos.google.com/u/1/photo/...6MnW9Kf0ClwOfg

[Bob Rowlands]

Wool looks decently thick. Glad you know what you are buying. So heck yeah- hang it and see how it works. Being a board member you just might have got yourself a screamin' deal.

A bit off topic, but, from what I have seen on 'army'wool blanket reviews on youtube, some of the cheap wool army blankets for sale are pretty mediocre. And some really suck. I guess I had in my head when I typed the last post that possibly your wool might be similar. At any rate, that wool looks thick and worth trying out. Good luck.

[Dragonstar]

Originally Posted by Bob Rowlands

Wool looks decently thick. Glad you know what you are buying. So heck yeah- hang it and see how it works. Being a board member you just might have got yourself a screamin' deal.

A bit off topic, but, from what I have seen on 'army'wool blanket reviews on youtube, some of the cheap wool army blankets for sale are pretty mediocre. And some really suck. I guess I had in my head when I typed the last post that possibly your wool might be similar. At any rate, that wool looks thick and worth trying out. Good luck.

I hear you on that. The "army blankets" on sale now don't inspire much confidence in me. Not like the itchy green blankets I've been lugging around since the seventies.

But its still a good point: would nice quality wool army blankets be effective in a yurt? That's basically what these are. Really long army blankets.

[James]

upholstery wool is to make things look smooth insulation is crap one it, but wool is still a great insulation for yurt, if you can keep the birds from taking it for there nest, good luck and enjoy your yurt

[Bob Rowlands]

Dave Canterbury (wilderness outfitters-youtube) did a multi part series entitled 'journal of the yurt' many years ago. Last I checked the series was still on yt. Dave bought a 12' yurt and had it erected on his property in Ohio. He filmed the series during the late fall and winter with the yurt as a shtf post apocalypse dwelling. I particularly liked the series because his yurt and mine were identical in size and construction.

Dave lined the interior wall with army blankets to help hold heat during the wet Ohio winter. He kept it pretty warm

heating

with a small wood stove and the wool army blankets. However there were no blankets atop the rafters under the canvas. Plus the smoke hole was wide open with only the stack penetrating it. Covering that with a china cap and having wool material like yours, atop the rafters would have kept it quite warm.

[James]

I love that series to I wish he would do another one like that but this time cover the top of it.

[Bob Rowlands]

Dave is good at making things, so I couldn't figure why he left the top wide open in the winter? I just bought a piece of flat sheet metal flashing from Depot and made a china cap from that. Worked fine for keeping weather out.

[Molly Robertson]

Well, after many failed attempts to communicate, I am happy to be here.

Thank you so much Bob, for your email and for hosting! I will look into the information you shared about the open smoke hole with a china cap.

Dragonstar, I am very impressed with the wool fabric that you have found, and love the colors. The burn certificate is also very encouraging. I am living in a friends' 21' homemade yurt. It would greatly benefit from having the wool fabric over the plastic that partially covers the canvas ceiling at this time, and around the insides.

It seems the website posted does not serve the United States. I am going to try to contact the Danish number for Kvadrat that they have given. That said, if there are more rolls available from your source, I would jump on it!!

Thanks again, Molly