As we’ve written about before, there are major issues with only using R-Value to assess insulation and your overall thermal envelope. In this post, we’ll dive into the idea of Diminishing Returns of R-Value because there is misinformation and confusion about how R-Value actually works.  To recap, R-value measures an insulating material’s capacity to resist heat flow. Higher R-value means more resistance to heat flow. It’s a standard number that we all use to compare insulation and it’s a common part of building code. Insulation manufacturers will state a product’s overall R-Value. For exa ..read more

Stefan Milkowski and his family care deeply about building structures that are functional, durable, and beautiful. So when the time came to design and build their own home in Alaska, they were intentional with every aspect of the project, including the insulation. Here is their unique story. When my wife and I designed our house, we knew we wanted to use natural and non-toxic materials as much as possible. Years of working in mostly commercial construction had left me wary of common materials and ways of doing things, many of which seemed bad for the environment, bad for the worker, or both. W ..read more

[Please note! We here at Havelock Wool are wool experts, not tax experts! If you have any questions on this tax credit please do your own research and/or consult with a tax professional] Did you know you can get up to 30% back on the cost of Havelock Wool residential insulation per the IRS 25c tax credit? Here is what you need to know Starting in 2023 the federal government established the 25c tax credit to encourage energy efficiency by reducing the amount of taxes you owe if you install qualifying upgrades in your existing home in the United States. This includes building envelope componen ..read more

If you are using spray foam as an air seal for your home, you will have problems down the road. Spray foam should never be confused with a durable air seal. This of course runs counter to all the marketing messages we get from the foam manufacturers and installers. Indeed a simple Google search shows this : “Info quality may vary”…. indeed! Don’t Believe the Hype The products themselves are often referred to as “sealants” which would make you think it’s insulating and sealing… truly a magical product! The reality is that spray foam is a widely used insulator in today’s building environment ..read more

The importance of using high-quality window covers in a van conversion cannot be understated. Their use is four-fold: temperature regulation, sound dampening, privacy, and theft deterrence.  TEMPERATURE REGULATION When traveling in cold and hot climates, insulated window covers help keep the heat in or out. Glass is a great conductor of heat… and most vans have a lot of glass! The windshield alone transmits massive amounts of thermal energy. Although the rest of the van may be well insulated, it is very easy for heat to leave and enter your van through glass. Simply snapping covers onto y ..read more

It is hot, getting hotter, in the summer, cold and incredibly snowy at times in winter and torrential rain seems to feature in the news cycle now more than ever.   To avoid these extreme weather events, or any weather for that matter,  what do we do as humans?  We build a structure to protect ourselves.  In lots of places we equip these structures with heating and cooling units and as the conversation evolves we at times search for the most efficient ways to achieve a comfortable living space.   What we don’t do is spend enough time considering the actual lay ..read more

In the insulation world, we all get caught up on R-Value, despite its shortcomings (of which we’ve written before). Another thermal performance measure worth attention is U-Value, a close cousin to R-Value but with some key differences.  A Quick Review R-Value is the main metric used to judge a thermal insulation layer’s performance. The higher the R-value, the better the product’s insulating ability. Total R-Value for insulation is calculated by simply multiplying the R-Value per inch by the thickness of that layer of insulation :  5.5 inches of Havelock Wool Blown insulation with a ..read more

Yestermorrow implements Havelock Wool in Vermont and Utah Editor’s Note… The Yestermorrow Design Build School is one the coolest places to learn how to build healthy, high-performance structures. We recently partnered with them on two of their certificate programs, one in Vermont, and the other in Utah. Not only did we learn a lot about how they build but we made some good friends along the way. Read below (in their own words) for more about their mission and their thoughts on Havelock Wool.  This spring, Yestermorrow was given the opportunity to explore and create with Havelock Wool ins ..read more

We get this question a lot. The immediate answer is “You can!” We’ve gone to great lengths to make our insulation DIY friendly, especially our blown-in product. We’ve got a full how-to video and we’ll provide an easy-to-use blower as well as insulation mesh.  But there are still folks out there that are uncomfortable doing the work themselves…. or they just don’t have the time. So the next option is to ask a professional insulation installer. Unfortunately, this is often a dead-end. There are some insulation professionals willing to learn about new products but many can’t be bothered. Typ ..read more

You asked, we listened. Here are detailed architectural drawings for some common applications for Havelock Wool insulation in your home. To produce these drawings, we worked closely with our good friends at HAABITT (a full-service design firm based out of Portsmouth, NH focused on healthy building solutions for all types of projects). The goal is to show you how Havelock Wool fits into the proper assembly of a few common applications – unvented roof (cathedral ceiling), masonry walls with and without rigid insulation, and vented and unvented basement/crawlspace. These drawings depict the ideal ..read more