ᐅ Insulation and Health – Which Option Is Best?

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask for your advice.

We are currently renovating the first floor of my parents' house. Now we need to insulate the sloped ceilings and the ceiling itself.

The carpenter offered us Knauf insulation wool. However, it is known that this type of insulation may not be entirely safe from a health perspective. How does this affect the installation of vapor retarders, counter battens, and drywall panels? Is there still a risk of fine particles circulating in the living space? What about bedrooms and children's rooms? Is there still some health risk involved?

What natural insulation materials could be used instead? And what insulation is recommended for interior partition walls constructed with drywall?

I am quite uncertain and hope you can provide some tips and advice.

Thank you very much in advance.

When installed properly, insulation fleece is completely safe. Alternatively, there are insulation materials made from wood fibers, hemp, and similar options. These are more expensive, provide less effective insulation, and come with different challenges. However, if you feel more comfortable with those, of course that works too; your carpenter will likely supply those materials as well.

It should not be forgotten that often the dust itself poses the health risk, not the material.

I would worry less about that, especially since the vapor barrier/vapor retarder will be sealed tightly anyway. I don’t see how any insulation could get into the living space.
Off-gassing from the vapor retarder would probably be more harmful, although I think that idea is nonsense.

Hello you two,

thank you very much for your answers.

So nothing will pass through once everything is plastered and so on? A friend made me uncertain because he said that the materials still expand and contract, and even the smallest crack could let particles into the living space... So I don’t really have to worry about that, especially in the bedroom and children’s room?

Yes, I have read about insulation with wood fibers and so on. I will then talk to the carpenter about insulating the drywall partitions.

Would you use fiberglass insulation batts in the children’s room?

Mineral wool. Yes, of course, I would use that (we also have it in the ceiling of the upper floor).

Me too, including where necessary between the walls. I don’t see how fibers could come out of the wall since everything is sealed with plaster.
It would take a real hurricane sweeping through the apartment for anything to happen there.

Ultimately, you could look at what is used in ecological construction. I believe they use wood fiber or even paper (blown-in insulation or some kind of folded cardboard).
Whether these materials are the right choice, I cannot say.