Tom Kraeutler: Hey, we’re at Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia. On the floor, we had a chance to meet with the experts at Roxul. Now, Roxul’s a product we’ve talked about on the Money Pit before. It’s a mineral based insulation. It’s different than the type of insulation that you’re used to seeing, and it has a lot of interesting qualities. It’s fire resistant. It’s moisture resistant. What we’re learning about today is it’s very, very sound resistant. With me to talk about that is Meghan Billingsley with Roxul. Hi, Meghan.
Meghan Billings: Hi. How are you?
Tom Kraeutler: Just give us an overview of some of the qualities of Roxul?
Meghan Billings: Roxul has a lot of really great features and benefits. You mentioned the fire. You mentioned the sound, and we’re also water resistant. We’re mold and fungus repellent. Vermin hate our product, so we have a really good niche market in, say, supermarkets or cold cellars. Really sound and our sustainability messages are what we’re focusing on at the show today.
Tom Kraeutler: All right. Now, I wanted to do this interview with you, because you showed me a really interesting demonstration. I want to describe your booth. You have sort of what we can call a small hallway constructed. It’s open on both ends. It’s surrounded in the walls and the ceiling, with frame walls that are filled in with this Roxul insulation. We’re standing out in the main trade show floor here. There’s a fair amount of noise. Let’s take a step into this hallway, and see how the decibel level changes. Okay?
Wow. Now we’re inside. It got totally quiet in here. Again, we’re just standing in a hall that’s about 3 feet wide with walls and a ceiling covered with Roxul. What is it about this product that makes it so sound resistant?
Meghan Billings: Our density is really our competitive advantage when it comes to our product and our sound attenuation. Because it’s a highly dense product, we absorb more sound.
Tom Kraeutler: Now, where would be a good location to use this if you were concerned about sound?
Meghan Billings: Safe’n’Sound is a pretty versatile product when you put it in any interior application. It would be a media room, a sound studio. You could insulate a children’s playroom, bathrooms. We get a lot of requests for bathroom installation.
Tom Kraeutler: Why do they always run the drains for bathrooms through the dining room?
Meghan Billings: I’m not exactly sure, but I have the same problem and I’ve insulated it with Roxul.
Tom Kraeutler: Yeah, and it’s interesting that a lot of folks think that any type of insulation will stop sound. It’s really not the case. You need to have insulation that’s designed specifically to absorb the sound wave, to diffuse the sound wave. That’s what this product is doing, correct?
Meghan Billings: Yes, that’s what this … It’s diffusing the sound waves. It’s absorbing the sound. In this sound tunnel, it’s not even a complete system. It’s not even a complete wall system, and it’s reduced the sound from outside to inside about 20 decibels.
Tom Kraeutler: Very impressive. Meghan Billingsley from Roxul. Thanks so much for the information. If you’d like to learn more about Roxul, you can go to their website, which is Roxul.com. It’s spelled R-O-X-U-L.
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