“Is it bad for your health to be around insulation?”
Let’s start with the short answer: it can be, but it isn’t always.
The truth is, that exposed insulation absolutely can be dangerous; but the risk to you is COMPLETELY DEPENDENT on the type of insulation you’re dealing with AND the way that you are exposed to it.
In fact, the vast majority of time, insulation is completely safe. However, it is important to understand when insulation could be dangerous and how to make sure you don’t unintentionally put yourself at risk.
So, let’s take a look at the dangers that insulation can pose, how to recognise and avoid those dangers, and when insulation is at its most dangerous…
When COULD Insulation Be Dangerous?
1: When You’re Handling It
The VAST majority of potential dangers you’re likely to run into with insulation will require you to physically handle the insulation itself. And that makes handling insulation the biggest risk for potential harm.
What kind of harm, you ask? Well that’s going to depend on the type of insulation. So let’s take a look…
Is This A Risk With…
Mineral Wool? Yes. It may be surprising, but the tiny shards of stone that mineral wool sheds can be quite jagged and could cause irritation and damage to the skin when handled directly.
Glass Wool? Yes. Since this is essentially tiny strands of glass, physically handling glass wool can lead to skin irritation and other minor issues.
Cellulose? No. Cellulose is widely considered safe to handle and doesn’t pose any particular risk to installers.
PIR/PUR Boards? No. PIR/PUR Boards are non-reactive and pretty much as safe to handle as you could hope for.
Spray Foam? Yes. Spray foam insulation can be harmful to handle, especially during installation and if the foam isn’t cured properly. The main reason for this is the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals that makeup the foam itself.
Multifoil? No. In general, Multifoil products are made using non-hazardous materials that pose no harm to you when handled directly.
How Can You Minimise the Risks:
Now that you know the dangers, let’s cover a few steps to keep safe when handling insulation:
- Wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). After all, if something is dangerous for you to handle, then the best thing you can do is make sure you’ve got some quality protective equipment between yourself and what you’re handling.
- Keep Things Quick. If handling insulation is going to be potentially dangerous to you, then a great way to minimise the risk is to keep things quick. Don’t rush, but don’t linger around the insulation unnecessarily either. That way, you can keep the chances of things going wrong to a minimum.
- Clean Up Afterwards. Once you’re done handling the insulation, your next step should be to take off and clean what you’re wearing — and ideally yourself too — since that will make sure any lingering traces of the insulation are cleaned up and can’t pose any risk to you.
Again, a lot of this is going to depend on the type of insulation you’re using. In fact, many of the steps we’ve suggested might not be necessary at all if you’re using the right type of insulation. However, if you want to minimise the risks you’re taking, then following these steps is a great way to do exactly that.
2: When You’re Breathing It In
There are very few substances in the world that you want to be breathing in, but unfortunately that can be a risk when working with several different kinds of insulation.
What Types of Insulation Does This Risk Apply To?
Mineral Wool? Yes. The nature of mineral wool insulation means that there are often fine fibres and powders shedding off of this product and into the air, which could lead to all kinds of health complications.
Glass Wool? Yes. Glass wool has a similar issue to other mineral wool products where it sheds material into the air; however now we’re talking about breathing in tiny bits of glass; which could, among other things, cause irritation and eventually long term damage to the lungs.
Cellulose? No. While cellulose does produce some dust, it isn’t particularly harmful to breathe.
PIR/PUR Boards? Yes. When cutting or sanding these boards to size, a lot of dust is produced which can be a significant irritant and may even lead to longer-term health issues.
Spray Foam? Yes. In particular, while it is still curing, spray foam can emit harmful fumes (often referred to as off-gassing).
Multifoil? No. Multifoil products are typically made using wadding and metallised polymers, none of which are at significant risk of being breathed in accidentally.
How Can You Minimise the Risks:
The best way to manage that risk of breathing in insulation is to make sure you are wearing a suitable face mask when dealing with insulation and to limit your exposure time as much as possible.
After all, the shorter your exposure time, the lower your risk of running afoul of any potential harm.
3: When It Isn’t Installed Properly
While this may not be dangerous in the traditional, immediate sense that first jumps to mind; improper installation of your insulation is far more likely to endanger you than any of the other scenarios we’ve discussed so far.
After all, improper installation could lead to any number of problems, ranging from a simple reduction in the effectiveness of your insulation, all the way up to potential fire hazards.
What Types of Insulation Does This Risk Apply To?
All of them.
No insulation is entirely fool proof, which means there is always going to be a risk that your insulation could be installed improperly; which is why it’s so important to make sure that yours is!
Which brings us to the question of…
How Can You Minimise the Risks:
There are two reliable ways to avoid the risk of your insulation being improperly installed.
- Work with a trustworthy installer. If you are working with a reliable, trustworthy professional, then the risk of improper installation of your insulation drops dramatically. After all, you want to be sure you can trust the person installing your insulation; which is one of the main reasons why we established our SuperFOIL Approved Installer Programme.
- Make sure you can recognise proper installation. This will help you to spot issues when they do crop up and is one of the main reasons why we, and many other insulation manufacturers, make a point of providing Installation Guidance for our products.
If you can do both of these things, then you’ve done all that you can to keep the risks to a minimum.
The MOST Dangerous Insulation Can Be
We’ve explained some pretty significant dangers already. In fact, you might think that you’ve already heard all about the biggest dangers that insulation can pose. However, you haven’t heard about the situation that makes insulation as dangerous as it possibly can be. So…
When IS insulation at it’s most dangerous?
When it’s doing nothing.
You may think that’s an exaggeration, so let us explain exactly how serious we are right now.
You see, good insulation can do A LOT for your home, but broadly speaking there are two absolutely essential things that your insulation should be doing for your home.
- Your insulation should help to manage temperature;
- Your insulation should help to prevent condensation;
While those two things are a far cry from the only things your insulation could be doing, they are also absolutely essential in making your home a safe place to live.
In fact, they protect you from the top 3 health hazards (Damp and Mould Growth; Excessive Cold; Excessive Heat) outlined in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) which is a comprehensive assessment of 29 housing hazards and the effect that each could have on the residents of the property.
Or, in other words, quality insulation is absolutely essential in making your house into a safe place to live. So, what does that mean when you live in a home where the insulation is doing nothing to prevent those hazards?
And this isn’t a hypothetical issue.
After all, the UK has some of the worst insulation in the world, with a recent assessment of the insulation quality of homes across the UK finding, among other things, that over 12 million UK homes have ZERO wall insulation, despite the fact that an average of around 35% of heat loss is lost through your walls.
So, like every other risk in this post, let’s tell you how to minimise the risk that the insulation in your home is doing nothing at all: speak with the professionals.
Whether you want advice on how to upgrade the insulation in your home, or you want to find out if you have insulation in your home at all; it’s best to get the help of an experienced pro to make sure you don’t leave things to chance.
If you’d like those professionals to be us, then we’d love to hear from you. All it takes to get in touch is to book a free discovery session by clicking here, send us an email at [email protected], or call us at 01636 639900.
Or, if you’d prefer some alternative options, then there are plenty of brilliant professionals out there, all you need to do is find them. And here are a few suggestions on how you could do that:
- Ask Around. There’s a good chance that someone you know has some experience working with a skilled insulation professional, so asking your friends and family for suggestions is a great place to start.
- Visit Your Local Trade Merchant. As the primary place where the majority of tradespeople are going to be gathering tools and materials for any work they’re doing, this is always a useful place to find your local professionals; especially if the staff are willing to lend you a hand.
- Ask the Internet. Last, but not least, there are plenty of platforms online that are dedicated to helping you find professionals in practically any trade. So, if you’re having trouble finding an insulation professional to help you out, then you should give one of these professional platforms a try; just remember to do your due diligence so that you know who you’re dealing with.
That’s All From Us…
We hope that this post was a helpful guide to recognising and avoiding the potential dangers of insulation; and that it helped to give you a better understanding of when and why insulation could be dangerous.
At the end of the day, staying safe when dealing with insulation is pretty similar to safely handling almost any other material, it all comes down to understanding the nature of what you’re working with.
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