How to Make Home Insulation From Recycled Clothing
Insulating the drafty spaces in the home is as old as ancient times when cotton, wool or animal hides were used to insulate homes, tents and cabins. In the 1930's during the Dust Bowl, families would insulate their homes from the dust storms using blankets, towels, and discarded clothing. Today, we have man-made materials which serve the same purpose.
Materials:
- Discarded fabric, R-value quality
- Putty knife
- Utility knife
- Dust mask
- Verify with the Department of Energy the R-value of the scrap clothing you are planning to use. If you have professional quality insulation in your home, do not replace it with clothing. The scrap clothing is only to add insulation where there are cracks and there is no insulation. This is intended to be a temporary measure until you can have building code grade insulation installed.
- Measure the area you want to insulate.
- Tear the cloth into strips if your area is a small space.
- Cut cloth into larger pieces if the area is a wide crack or gap.
- Holding the larger piece of cloth corner to corner making a triangle, hold the two ends whipping the tail around the center of the cloth creating a round tube.
- Stuff the tube under the door, into the crack of the window sill where the window is seated or into the wall air conditioning unit where it is inserted into the wall. Use larger jeans and shirts to plug these types of cracks.
- Tear smaller pieces of clothing into smaller strips for areas where the cracks are smaller in size.
- Use layers to properly insulate. When you are going out into cold weather, you layer. The same applies to your home. Insulating in layers will cut down drafts an keep your home warmer.