The March Hare: Winter '06
Issue 47

Every Little Bit • Knitting • Dignified Poncho • Cat House • Ask a Rabbit • Hey/Hay! • Roof Interview • Nature Corner

Q. What was your original idea for the roof of Ironweed Kitchen?

A. Our original idea was to use wool, stuffed into long sacks made out of lumber tarps to insulate our ceiling. . . with the finished ceiling itself being made out of fabric draped down in between rafters. Lumber tarps are waste products from lumber yards that we got for free.

Q. Why did you choose that process?

A. Because we wanted our rafters to show on the interior of the building. The normal way to do that is to build a whole other roof structure on top of the rafters to hold the insulation. This is wood intensive and we were also trying to reduce the overall resource input. Wood is hard to come by and costly.

Q. Why did you want to use wool?

A. We wanted to use wool because it was a local product that we thought was widely available. We also thought we would be able to give the farmers a better price than they normally get for their wool while still getting it very cheap. Wool is also naturally fire-resistant.

Q. What happened that made you change your mind about the wool?

A. We were unable to acquire as much wool as we wanted because our major source fell through, and alternative sources would have been too expensive. In addition, the process of cleaning and fluffing the wool enough to use it for insulation was too labor- intensive and time-consuming.

Q. (sort of) Please describe the procedure you ended up following for the construction of the roof.

A. We sewed fabric together until it was big enough to drape over the rafters for our ceiling. We sewed lumber tarps into long sacks, and filled them with blown-in cellulose, our second choice for insulation. We then stapled the sacks into place and installed wooden spacers on top of the rafters to give us more room for insulation. We installed purlins on top of the spacers to support the roofing metal. Then, we placed the smaller wool-filled sacks on top of the rafters. Finally, we mounted the roofing metal on top of the purlins.

Q. Why was cellulose your second choice?

A. Because it's easily available, it's made out of low-grade recycled paper, it's pretty easy to work with, and it has a high insulation value, or R value.

Q. What about its fire-resistance?

A. It's a commonly-used product, and so it meets all fire codes.

Q. Finally, do you think this process is viable in the world at large?

A. I'm not sure that it would meet building codes in the outside world. It might take more time to build than most people want. Apart from those two things, sure.

Every Little Bit • Knitting • Dignified Poncho • Cat House • Ask a Rabbit • Hey/Hay! • Roof Interview • Nature Corner •