Rockwool/fibreglass insulation

[SuperPav]

So I'm stripping out the loft insulation (50 and 200mm rolls of earthwool/fibreglass) from our bungalow as the roof needs to come off (approx 140sqm @ 150-200mm thickness on average).

The plan was to keep this, and reuse however much of it I'll need for the new timber frame garage walls and roof, but I'm baulking at the bulk of it and as the roof is coming off the entire footprint, I can't keep it dry while the roof is off (and until the new floor/roof is on).

 

I wanted to avoid chucking it as I suspect it will take up several skips on its own (which will cost me nearly £500), and I'll then need to spend £500 on new insulation for the garage, so I'd be £1,000 down. It also doesn't seem particularly environmentally friendly...

 

My questions therefore are:

1) Would leaving the insulation out in the weather (to get wet) in the footprint of the building for a month or so and then letting it dry out be at all a go-er? 

2) If not, any clever ideas for how to compress it? It seems even chucking hardcore on top of it in a skip doesn't compress it as much as I'd hoped...

 

I guess an alternative would be to find someone who could reuse it to just take it away, but I'm not sure how feasible that is given it'll probably take up a full 20ft container's worth of volume.

[saveasteading]

Good on you for wanting to do the sensible and logical, but harder work, thing.

 

1. When wet it smells awful, and takes a very long time to dry.

It soaks up water like a wick, especially from a puddle.

Yes you can still use it after fluffing up.

 

2. Keep it off the ground, using pallets or battens.

Try rolling it and squeezing into rubble bags. You can cut the lengths to get the size .Even if you don't use all of it this will make it smaller in skip.

Cover with tarpaulins or similar.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by saveasteading

[George]

If it's the old nasty fiberglass I'd be tempted to chuck it - I think it slowly breaks down over time anyway.

 

If it's the newer/less itchy stuff then do keep it. I would have thought a series of dumpy bags with a tarpaulin over the top would have been enough.

[SuperPav]

Thanks both - so that's a no to getting it wet!  Enough bad smells in here as it is....

 

It's a combination - the stuff between the rafters (very compressed, thin) seems to be the old stuff, the top up stuff on top I think is from about 2010, and is much fluffier. Still itchy, mind, but feels more effective and mildly less itchy.

 

Good ideas, thanks I might try to keep the "better stuff", and try and somehow cram it/stuff it into bags (uncompressed it's just unmanageably bulky).

[saveasteading]

It smells of the pee of hundreds of tomcats. It is the glue apparently. Had some damp stuff in the car once and it was foul.

Also had some got wet on a site, had to spread it on the floor for several days to dry it. Fortunately we had a huge floor.