Cork Insulation and Siding - I've never seen this! 

I'd be interested in that as well.

Spoiler-alert, it looked like shit at install and looks even worse after 5 years.

@@Gzus LMAO. As much as I would like to believe otherwise, you're probably right.

There are several videos of homes in Italy with this, looks exactly the same years later.

I can imagine kids bouncing balls off of this stuff and destroying it. I wonder what intense Texas summer sun will do to it.

What about smell? I guess it's also very expensive.

Sounds cool, where's the house?

Pretty tacky 😁

@@timmmahhhh Lmaf🤣

@@timmmahhhh Touche'

I am going to install cork on a south facing wall here in the Marina Alta. There's a Catalan company that sells it. Also thinking of Paulownia decking 10cm off the roof terrace floors to shade the roofs in Summer. A company in Sueca has a saw mill that deals exclusively with paulownia wood, which is a hardwood.

Agreeable on any point

NOT

Did somebody say, SQUIRREL? 🐕

Maybe lay it proud to the surface for ventilation. Then additional insulation to break the thermal bridge in Summer.

so dont get cork?

@@randomrazr Not for a building product! Maybe to pull out of a bottle of Laphroiag . . .

Thanks for sharing your experience. I would assume that the wear profile of cork as an exterior vertical cladding would be very different than an interior horizontal flooring.

@@michiganengineer8621 a man of patrician tastes.

Yeah a lot of that 1/4 inch tile stuff they started pushing at lumber liquidators and places like that was to thin to get good performance.

This is a great point. I'm a firm believer in use what you got when it serves the purpose. Carbon footprint from Europe is significant.

@@gregkump3639 I don’t think it necessarily is an issue coming from Europe. Where it’s going to add up is from the port to your house. Not that I did the math, just based on a story I heard showing the counter intuitive results of the local food movement.

@@nunyabidness3075 OK , I'm thinking, any product that comes from ¼ of the way on the other side of the planet is not localy resourced. I like local when I can in products, people and friends. Local is my goal, can't always do it but I want to try. 😎

@@gregkump3639 If you are going local to be green, think again. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s not. Let’s look at food. Studies found that growing foods in their more ideal growth environment, and shipping them by sea was less carbon intense AND less polluting otherwise as well. Why? Because growing most every food outside it’s preferred latitude, weather, type of soil, etc. added more pollution than shipping by sea. You need more fertilizers, labor, plowing etc. which all involve pollution. And here’s the real catch, shipping by sea is just stupid efficient by a huge margin. It’s negligible. So, you want to try to beat a carbon NEGATIVE product, like cork, with a local one, it better be nearly as carbon negative. See?

Oh and the price of those blocks. Price on this type of stuff is high end.

I just did a quick search to see if there are insects that like to eat cork. Guess what, cockroaches love cork. It is an interesting idea, but not one I would want to pursue.

Termites and mice/rodents don't like it according to one large insulation supplier in the UK but I don't know about cockroaches as they aren't a big thing in the UK. Nothing on the Amorim (large Portuguese manufacturer) site but I wouldn't expect its use on the outside of a building to have much bearing on infestations. The material, while only having a B fire rating does not burn readily (it is self extinguishing) and produces little or no smoke when exposed to flames. It can also be used in damp conditions where other insulation would break down or sag. It would certainly be my insulation of choice were I in the market for a safe material that could be used pretty much anywhere in on old building.

@@NancyBryantIdeas. I humbly think your Googling might be confusing Cork, Ireland (the city) with cork (the material) I don't think a roach would waste too much time munching on basically raw cellulose if there was another organic material around to munch on

I mean they use cork for packing wine, I sorta doubt it's an issue

@@TylerDickey1 Cork oak is not a city.

@Robert Swaine That would be cool, but I think it’s against his financial interests.

I was told this myth throughout the 80s and 90s. Now that I'm older I realize it's not the product, it's the cork industry that's endangered. It's a centuries old industry that's suffering from low demand. Low demand due to better products made with petrochemicals.

The questions we should be asking include; can production and harvesting be sustainable at scale? This feels like an exclusive product.

@@travismiller5548... cheaper products due to subsidized petrochemicals.

Harvesting cork in Portugal ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YnnbuoeQFSI.html

@@travismiller5548 the industry has seen some revitalization more recently though, due to consumers looking more towards the natural materials again.

Was it expanded cork or just compacte cork? There is a difference. Expanded cork does not rot, that's why it is used to store wine both vertically and horizontally.

@@DanielDuedu Not sure- it was the "Verde Mar" Hotel in the Azores and only used on the balcony walls if you can find pictures in their gallery. Regarding wine- wine has alcohol in it, also the side of the cork touching the liquid (wine) is sealed from oxygen- both of which inhibit the ability of flora to grow, unlike an exterior cork wall which has neither.

It's a little stark because no landscaping. Might look better in a desert setting.

You can't put a rain screen behind it because that would largely defeat the insulation value.

This is a really good idea

@@elliottcrifasi3143 Thanks for the encouragement

Maybe even HardiTrim, or Architectural redwood, or cedar..

@@graybeard2113 certainly yes options.

:o Nothing breaks when dropped! Genius!

Did you coat the cork in any way?

Cork is a hydrophobic material with a closed cellular structure that will not absorb liquid water past an 8% MC (which is extremely low) and will not pull in water through capillary action, cork bark is a UV stable material primarily because it is designed for UV exposure in its role as the outer protective layer of the tree. The joints in this case are sealed with additional liquid flashing and the top piece is continuous as well so it will deflect the majority of rain water. Staining from wine bottles is caused by tannins in the wine over years and if you note with solid wine corks, the tannins actually penetrate minimally into the length of the cork given the length of the direct exposure to the wine (year plus).

@@gregesparza2557 Thanks!

It is indeed really expensive. It is used for the handle of fishing rods. It's a great material but it's crazy expensive and not really renewable cause the reasons you explained.

An alternative I'm experimenting with is wood fibre insulation covered by a thin (1-2mm / 1/16th inch) layer of loam. I stumbled about this combination while building my garden shed/man cave. Originally I intended to go the traditional route, reed pads covered with loam, so basically a finer version of waddle and daub. But when I came to the details between windows and roof, and between the windows, I found that this proved to be awefully time consuming. So instead I bought thin sheets of wood fibre insulation, which are easily cut to size and can be screwed or nailed in place. Just make sure to get a version that can serve as ground for plaster. This combo did work surprisingly well, as the loam helps with handling humidity. I assumed I'd have to cover/white it with lime to keep it from washing off, but nope, not even that was necessary for the most part. The only place where the loam was starting to wash off during the winter, was the exposed "weather side" of the shed (in most parts of Germany that's the north-west side). And that wash off was quickly fixed by painting / plastering it again. The three other sides are just fine now during the second winter. Basically I'll have to "repaint" the small weather side every year until the kiwis I planted there are large enough to break the rain. And maybe the other sides every few years (can't really say how often yet, as they stay strong for now). Which would be the same for wooden cladings, though there I'd have to use rather questionable "wood preserving paints" instead of a slurry of loam and water. Would this work on a larger building? Nope, surely not. I've got 50cm/20" overhangs all around shielding the top third or half of the wall from the rain. Pergolas surround the west and south sides, soon to be covered with kiwi and wine, which break the rain, thus reducing the wash off on lower parts of the walls. As well as some elderberry trees shielding the north-east corner. And I have the whole building sitting on earth screws, a good 12-18 inches off the ground, thereby avoiding splash damage It's surprising how well even rather "flimsy" materials can stand the test of time, if you make sure to use constructive meassures. And of course, account for regular maintenance.

It really does well. It's first with use was in hospitals in the 1800's. Most of it wasn't taken out until vinyl in the 50's if I remember right. The reason cork has been showing up again is wines have been going to caps or plastic corks. It's just peeled off the trees and it regrows. Surprising how much data they have on performance.

O.G. SIPs 😅that is awesome. (Original gangster Structural Insulated Panel)

Well said.

That would work really nicely.

Most cork comes from Portugal and south west Spain.

it has been used in Ice coolers for years. Ice coolers are cold. It was used in iceboxes and refrigeration for years.

I would be happy to use cork with an external rainscreen. Cork is not a non-combustible material; it will burn, albeit slowly. The downside is that there are materials with a better R value that are also cheaper. These materials use a lot more energy to produce them, but they allow a thinner wall buildup, which can be vital on the small sites we tend to have in the UK.

What is the comparable installed number for insulation and siding? (I don’t know.)

@Matt Risinger sorry my previous comment was sent before I finished typing. In order to prevent dirt clogging up the pores of the cork, does it degrade at all under the exposure of constant UVF light. Do you have any information on the cost of A supply and B the labour charges of installing it

@@fjspicer1 There is an edit function available. Click on the three dots at the right of your comment and it will appear. The program guest mentioned the two inch material is about seven USD per square foot, which is quite high. They didn't mention installation costs, but it handles like soft wood which is good, and it eliminates the need for other things like a rain screen system. That is an excellent question about how long it will endure outside!

It's expensive but I bet it's half of the cost of ICF per board foot. ICF is the most over hyped product of the last 20 years

@@sparksmcgee6641 I was thinking of the price difference between using this or the regular foam for the sides of the forms. So technically it would still BE ICF, just using cork instead of EPS or XPS foam

Personally, ICF was on the top of my list, but after discovering expanded cork I've changed my mind. The cost of protecting the ICF from the elements, the technical know-how involved and the high humidity for the first 2 years of moving into a newly finished ICF building made me reconsider. One thing I will do to my house is using a sturdy metal guard for all the corners, they will be attached such that they do not create a thermal bridge.

@@DanielDuedu Increased humidity is the least of my concerns here, I have a drip humidifier on my furnace to raise the humidity, especially during the winter. No matter what building material you use you have to protect it from the elements to some extent. Even if you're building a self-cut log cabin in the North Woods, although that may be the example that requires the least (after debarking the logs).

@@DanielDuedu look at a product named thermomass. Concrete your walls with it. Plaster or stucco walls you want finished. Sorry I'm in a rush. Think about it

Crumbled cork insulation is a European thing.

A local office had it done here, sprayed over metal siding. Looks really good, owner said it was pretty costly though.

@@InceptionJiuJitsu …yeah, I was kinda leery when I was seeing no base material costs, and all individual quotes. Sure like the benefits though.

@@JoelKreider Yeah, I was fascinated with Cork Spray recently. Ultimately, you can make your own. Take cork, grind it up into sawdust, put it in paint and spray it on. Recipes are online. Cork spray has some interesting thermal properties, particularly the low emissivity. It is hard to know exactly what to believe about corks thermal properties, but it is catching on in England and Canada. Cork spray could even have a pretty awesome sound deadening effect if sprayed on wall studs.

Cork has more mass than most insulation materials. This helps with lower frequency isolation, which is notoriously difficult. Nice varied surface softens reverberations as well.

Cork is exceptionally dimensionally stable at very high and very low temperature and it’s closed cellular structure and hydrophobic properties protect it from any water related damage from freeze thaw cycles.

The panels are fastened with headless trim screws through the face at a slight angle on the “loose” side of the lap.

Works as long as it's not a firewall and there is good fire locking