The consensus on forum posts that I can find is that sheep's wool insulation is much more expensive than cellulose (warmcel etc). Usually by as much as 3 to 4 times.

I have just received some estimates for a job in Ireland and the prices seem very comparable. The Warmcel installer wants €16 (£11.22) per m2 (including VAT and installation) to do the walls (145mm thickness).

I can buy sheep's wool from here:

http://www.sheepwoolinsulation.ie/products.asp?cat=11

for €17.50 (£12.28) per square metre at the same thickness. This price is even better than it seems as the warmcel price is total m2 and includes the area covered by the timber studs. The sheep's wool excludes the timber area. As I can install the insulation myself the sheep's wool works out about the same price in the end.

Am I missing something here? Is cellulose much cheaper in the UK? Has the sheep's wool got much cheaper?

Which would you use? I know that cellulose can potentially fill even the tiniest voids - but I worry about slumping and mould.

Comments appreciated

Tom

wanting to use sheepswool, but not wanting to pay retail price, I found a welsh sheep farmer. He complains no one wants his fleeces, so he gets £2 each. Does anyone know what processing is needed to turn fleece off the sheep into wool batts? Are they just cleaned and fragmented? For £2 each I could save a lot of money.

a local farmer has fleeces for 15p each.

He compares shearing to weeding; non profitable but essential.

Thanks Ted. I thought so. Mad isn't it?

Clearly we need to buy the black wool. It will absorb heat better