Rockwool package size

[Zachary Hoyt]

I'm hoping someone on here has had experience with Rockwool and can advise me about transporting it. I'm planning to buy 21 bundles of R23 and 15 bundles of R30 on Monday morning, both in the 24" OC width. I have the impression that rockwool is not compressed like fiberglass when you buy it, but I don't know for sure, and have not been able to find out the package size online. I'll only be able to buy what I can fit in the bus, and it's 90 miles from the lumberyard to the workshop where it's going. I'm guessing each package will be almost 2 feet square and 4 feet long, but that's assuming that they're not compressed at all. If anyone can enlighten me about this I'd appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[Tom M King]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ROCKWOOL...1525/202090820

I found bag size in there somewhere, and tried to copy the link. Scroll down on that page, and bag size is under Details.

[Bill Dufour]

It is not much compressed in the bales.
Bill D

[Myk Rian]

The bag size link upthread is for 15".add 8"to the width.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Thank you all very much for the help. If the numbers in the HD link are accurate then it must be compressed somewhat, because 12 batts at the size they specify comes to 17.79 cubic feet, and the package size they give is 10.66 cubic feet. I'm not sure how the bag size translates since the batts in the link are both thinner and narrower, but there are 12 of them per package instead of 5 or 4 as with R23 and R30 in 23" widths. I guess I'll just have to squeeze in as many as I can when I get there, and hope for the best.

[Jim Becker]

I'm pretty sure that the rockwool can't be compressed nearly as much as fiberglass, but the packages I've seen have all be reasonable size physically. I'd love to find a way to use this stuff in my new shop building, but the sizing it comes in is somewhat restricted...and I'm not putting in stud walls just to accommodate the insulation.

[Paul F Franklin]

The bales are pretty big, and they're also pretty heavy. If you mean bus like a school bus, you have a chance. If you mean bus like a van....well I'd be looking at renting a truck or trailer to haul that much. It does compress, but not nearly as much as fiberglass. I bought a full pallet of the 3.5 x 14 stuff when I did my basement and it just barely fit in my 5x8 trailer, stacked 5 or 6 feet high.

Jim, look at comfortboard. It's rigid rock wool designed for continuous insulation applications. Might work for you. No idea of price though...

[Zachary Hoyt]

Thanks for the advice. It's a mini school bus, so the inside of the body is roughly 16 feet long, 7.5 feet wide and 6 feet high, but there's a chunk taken out where the driver's seat is, and a built in shelf behind that, and also a disassembled Unisaw, a spare tire, 3 sheets of plywood and two 2x8s. The payload capacity is about 3500# once my weight as the driver is factored in, and if the bales are about 50 pounds as shown online 36 of them should be about 1800, so the weight should be fine. It's the volume I'm more worried about.

I have seen references to larger sheets of Rockwool in one or two places but I don't know the details. The comfortboard looks like a nice thing too, though I won't need it for what I'm doing.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, look at comfortboard. It's rigid rock wool designed for continuous insulation applications. Might work for you. No idea of price though...

Yea, that's on my list to investigate. I'll be contacting the company when I'm closer to the need to discuss how I can use their product in my building. All the bays are 8' with the exception of two 4' bays and some variable ones on the front wall where the overhead door, man door and a window go. 4' wide material would be ideal. I can get fiberglass specifically for post frame buildings, however, so that may in the end be the most cost effective. I'll be getting the ceiling blown in at this point. Spray foam is out of the question due to current costs as it's derived from oil.

[Bill Dufour]

I would not take those numbers too closely. I think that is the size at the ends. The product swells up in the middle like a burrito. If they can load a wrapped bale of 4-5 bundles I think it will be even less room. I have seen the bales of fiberglass expand when the big bale wrap is cut. This is while the individual bundles are still intact.
Bill D

[Mel Fulks]

I used it once . It’s good where there is not a lot of space since it’s pretty dense and doesn’t burn . Fairly rigid and precisely flat with good
square edges. I was soundproofing a bathroom floor and didn’t want to take a chance with something that water would ruin, YES that means
that if some got wet I would dry and reuse !! Sealed the floor up well .

[Brian Gouldman]

My entire shop is lined in the R15 rockwool someone linked above. The bag size HD lists is pretty accurate. I was able to transport around 12-13 bags in my F150. Barely squeezed 4 in the back seat area of the cab and the rest vertically in the short bed. Like someone said above, it’s fairly heavy, the HD weight spec is also accurate.

The insulation is fairly compressed in the packaging, probably close to 50%, maybe not quite. I open it by cutting a slit on the short sides of of one face and then a through cut long ways down the middle. From there it will neatly expand itself upwards and be ready to go.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Thank you all, this is very helpful. I can't get it loaded on the pallet because the bus doors aren't wide enough, though it would be handy if I could. I hope to be able to keep it dry in the bus, and then take it straight inside the shop where it will be eventually installed. It's great to know that it is in fact compressed in the packaging. That will make it much more feasible to get all I need in one trip.

[Mitch schiffer]

It depends on if it is still on a pallet. At my local supplier they come on regular 48x42 pallets. Each row is individually wrapped with 4 bundles in each, so 4 bundleds take up about 48x42x20. If you get them in this form it is quite a bit more compact then when the rows are cut apart.