The Ultimate Guide To Glass Wool
If glass wool is a super-hot material, wool is more practical and much warmer. But glass wool comes at a steep price. The glass wool, made of quartz glass, is so hot in a glass wool ceiling, at least under full sun, that it can burn the skin.
Wool ceilings, on the other hand, are often woven into a pattern on an industrial fabric, similar to wool batting. This helps them adhere to walls. Wool fabric, much like glass wool, is extremely warm. Wool is good for storing the heat of sunlight, and is highly absorbent, absorbing 40 times as much heat as an ordinary cotton sheet.
Wool ceilings are much cooler than glass wool ceilings.
While glass wool is hot at all times, wool is much cooler, only mildly warm to the touch, and only slightly warmer in the dead of winter. Wool, on the other hand, insulates in a way that glass does not. A glazed glass roof is only warm to the touch, while wool insulates when it gets colder.
The warming potential of glass wool is much greater than the warming potential of wool, and glass wool has a much cooler warming potential than wool. Wool is warmer in the dead of winter when the heat of the sun is gone, and glass wool, once heated, is only slightly warmer in winter, though it can hold much more heat for several hours.
The greatest difference, however, is in the mid-summer.
Glass wool melts and dries quickly, and is much more likely to stick to walls, which makes it less useful during mid-summer and late fall. The shape of wool is much easier to install. Glass wool, once it is installed, does not move or move much during warmer seasons. Wool is softer in the shape of the shapes that it can mold.
Glass wool is heavier and may slide more easily.
Wool is generally preferred for residential use. Glass is lighter and more flexible, though also more fragile. Wool is easy to apply, though it is more expensive.
Glass wool, like glass wool ceilings, can be tricky to clean.
Glass wool, when cleaned properly, tends to come off of walls, but if left out of the sunlight too long, or if it gets too hot during a warm day, it will stain, leaving it difficult to clean. In this way, glass wool ceilings are more likely to suffer from stains, while wool is less likely to stain.
With glass, it can get stuck to the walls. Glass can be scratched and cut, leaving large gouges and cuts that may grow, or freeze and form icy patches on the surface. Wool has very low heating and cooling potential. Glass is more easily heated and can cool more quickly.
Glass wool’s cooling potential is so low that it has a larger potential to freeze than wool. For instance, when glass wool gets extremely cold, it can trap heat that would normally be sent into the air, with the heating and cooling occurring in wool being relatively small.
Glass wool may contain small bits of glass or areas where glass has broken, while wool contains only wool fibers. Wool insulation is often applied when the walls are cold, and it tends to be more successful than glass insulation in warmer climates.
The Glass Panorama
Glass wool ceilings have a unique glass mosaic, created by adding decorative patterns, surrounded by extra insulation. The glass mosaic is more likely to freeze or adhere to walls. The glass mosaic tends to build up in cracks or corners in colder homes, due to the colder temperatures.
Glass wool ceilings, being a much lighter material than glass, tends to slide more easily, and have a smaller heating and cooling potential than glass, so it is not as good for heating large areas. Glass wool ceilings can have one or smaller pieces of glass embedded, which can increase the heating and cooling potential.
Glass wool ceilings, in contrast, tend to stick to the walls in warmer homes, since it has a warmer warming potential than wool.
Glass wool tends to stick to the floor, so it is best to install it facing the floor, rather than parallel to the floor. Glass wool’s warming potential is so low that it can stick to the floor unless it has been cleaned properly. If the floor is damaged by glass wool sticking to the floor, the wood of the floor may have to be removed to reduce the potential damage.