3 (little known) Benefits of Rockwool Insulation

I first learned of the superior benefits of Rockwool from you, Matt. Yes, Rockwool is more expensive than fiberglass, but the superior R-value, water repellant benefits, sound properties, and fire blocking benefits make it hands down the better option. I have insulated my first house completely with Rockwool, and I will never put fiberglass insulation in my house projects ever. Thanks Matt!

The difference between 80 db and 40 db is 10000x. Not half. Awesome product.

I am an audio engineer - for anyone who doesn't know, 2" insulation absorbs down to about 500Hz, 4" thick down to about 125Hz. If you use acoustic panels with an air gap behind them or as baffles, you double the efficiency of the absorption generally speaking. Safe n Sound 3" works pretty well, but double that up to 6" to start absorbing frequencies under 100Hz. Their product is 3" thick usually going in a 4" stud bay and the air gap helps absorb more sound, however it is a trade off because 4" of insulation absorbs to lower frequencies.

When we were getting work done on the house--new havoc and abatement of old ducting--we realized our blown-in insulation was about 3" deep. That was it. We wanted our 30 year old romex gone (the old knob-and-tube wasn't connected anymore). For that, we wanted the pitiful insulation gone--had it vacuumed out. We put pieces of subfloor up in the attic so the electricians could move around up there, and made sure they put in some lighting, as there's a lot of room up there. Once they were done, we needed to re-insulate. My husband saw your channel and other sources touting Rockwool. Our local Home Depot put it on sale, so we were getting pallets-full at decent prices. We weren't so worried about hitting R39. We laid down R15 between the joists, shoving it in to very narrow spaces and building it up to the right depth, and up the side gables. No need for baffles as no overhang, which is not uncommon in our neighborhood. A second layer of R12 went on, perpendicular to the first, over all areas where the subfloor pieces were not going to stay. At the edges of everything went a third layer of R12. On a 100F+ day, our interior ceiling went from 98F (no insulation) to 78-80F (with insulation). One area only got one layer so far, because of work that had to be done, is about 85F. It is far easier to cool down a house that is 80F than one that is almost 100F. And it was EASY to instal! And Rockwool had a monthly drawing for "best review"--which I won! $200!

Love the channel, guys! Clarification on dB scaling - the decibel scale is logarithmic, so for every reduction by 3dB, THAT'S "half as loud." A reduction of 10dB means 1/10th as loud. The reduction noted from 80dB to 34dB would be 0.000025 "as loud."

In my opinion rock wool is best insulation ever invented

That sound absorption demonstration was impressive. This would be incredibly beneficial for a home office space. If not every room.

In iowa where I live spray foam is hugely popular. 2” thick is most common. This leaves a huge open cavity in the walls where the wiring is. Electrical fires spread super fast and mixed with the fumes from the foam causes huge problems. After my neighbors shop burnt down due to that very thing I insulated my new post frame shop with Rockwool. So glad I did.

Matt, love your approach to informing the masses. Together with Travis you connect us with a full gamut of feature benefits. Your enthusiasm for these type of events and keen eye for curation help us learn so in a conversational way that bypasses a sales pitch. Here's to hoping the algorithm spreads more of these type of videos and you get more exposure! Thanks for the expert level content.

Great chemistry between you guys. Explanations never skip a beat. Thanks for a great presentation. I will be installing rockwool in my van for the awesome insulation, safety (fire resistant) and, of course, sound proofing.

I've Switched out my Pink to Rockwood back in 2016! Dropped my Utility Bill by 1/3!

Great info and glad to see Travis representing KC again like he does at the builder symposium at BLVD Brewery the last few years. It’s good to see builders who genuinely have an interest in better building science, construction techniques, and an overall better home!

50 years ago my family was blowing Rock Wooll into houses attics and walls. Great stuff. Never had one problem with it. My dad did presentations where he melted a copper penny in his hand packed with Rock Wool.

Love this stuff, as a homeowner, and far from an expert, this stuff is so awesome to work with. Ease of cutting and fitting and installation. I have bats like this in my furnace room roof for just some sound dampening. And because it doesnt have fibres coming off, it can stay there unfinished

Lebanon, Tennessee. My own DIY home improvement project for 2022. I removed the blown in insulation from my attic. Some places didn't even have any insulation or very little. Then I air sealed all of the penetrations with spray foam. Then I used Rockwool R30 insulation batts, and a second layer of the batts perpendicular to the ceiling joists. In effect I should have an R60 now for my attic. I can already tell a greatly improved comfort feeling within my house. Now that the summer months are here, lets see how the utility bills are for A/C. I'm really enjoying the Rockwool insulation!!!! Thank you Matt!

Hi Matt, it is great to see a channel like yours dealing with well insulated long lasting buildings. I live in Japan and it was a major headache trying to find builders who were competent in using the materials and techniques that you present. I had to hire an architect to design my house, because none of the the housing construction firms knew or were willing to use anything but the standard Japanese system which hasn't changed much in over 100 years. I hope you can convince more people to put in a little more up front for the long term benefits it will bring. Best of luck. Karel

Matt, great video with the Rockwool plant. I have been using Rockwool since 2008 when we had to special order it from Home Depot in Arizona for our home. That is when we learned how much better it performs than our 1987 Centex home's paper faced batt... after that I got Rockwool into a property for a Phoenix area Catholic charity. Next we will be using Comfortboard on our first exteriors in Metro Houston. When allowed, I spec/ buy Rockwool for projects I work on.

I've been using Rockwool for about the past decade to (slowly!) replace the insulation in my house. I put it everywhere, and I love it. Easy install, blocks fire, holds itself in place, deadens sound, superior insulation, won't compress like glass insulation, no off-gassing like foam. It's an awesome material. If I were building a new house, Rockwool would be everywhere.

This product rocks. I've used this in my floors, walls ceilings and the heat and noise disappeared. plus I like the idea that a electrical short in the walls would essentially snuff the flames. Another bonus I notice no bugs migrating from the floors or walls. Rock on

I have just finished, even moved in , to my new timber framed house and was so reassured by this video as we fitted Rockwool inside and outside of the whole structure, including the roof . The wind is howling outside yet inside is a sea of tranquility . we used rigid outside then silicone colour coat rendering on top . I taped every seam , edge and joint to keep it airtight and we live without heating . I used 100mm XPS under the wood floors to keep us off the slab , so no underfloor heating needed. I struggled to get builders to understand the theory , now they want to know how to do it and would I fit an off grid system for their clients ! Rockwool is such an amazing insulator I even filled the interior walls with it and it helped create a peaceful interior .