I am still trying to insulate my attic before the winter comes. I am sure it will be a tough one with the prices of energy literally going through the roof. So, I want to be sure that at least it doesn't go through my one.
When my father built this house in the 50s early 60s he didn't consider insulation. Only as an afterthought and much later did he try doing something about it. He found some styrofoam cylinders from somewhere and decided to cut them into 1-inch/ 2.2cm slices and pack them in between the ceiling joists. Better than nothing, I suppose, but not really good enough. Our house, when I was growing up was freezing in the winters with ice forming on the inside of the windows.
We had an open fire to burn coal, wood and turf and this was to heat the whole gaff. Although it was cosy with twelve of us under its roof it is time to help it enter the 21st century and make it cosier still. I will be putting in 270mm/ 10.6 inches of mineral wool. I hope only to have to do this once so I don't mind spending time and money on it to get it right.
Out with the old
But, what becomes of all the styrofoam I removed. I want it out of the house because it is pretty useless and very flammable. I have 12 big sacks of it so far and it was taking up my whole shed.
Having checked the different disposal options it seemed that the only real one was to send it to the landfill. Styrofoam, made from polystyrene is really a great material but some of the things that make it so great are its Achilles heel. It is bulky and light and really bad for the environment but now that it exists I want it to continue on in the family tradition and use it somewhere.
In with the new
Luckily I am working for a plant company at the moment which provides a rental service to all the major corporations which have their offices in Ireland. We rent plants then. maintain them so they look their best. It is actually quite big business.
The work I mainly do is create bespoke planters, artificial displays and creative elements which can't be bought. I am also usually the one who has to sort out technical problems when they arise. I have given myself the title of CTO of the company even though I am a subcontractor (Happily so) I must say, It has been a good little sideline since Covid and now family illness has reduced my sculpture work.
There was a rush job with one client to get some plants into their place and unfortunately, there is only so much stock you can store. We had the large pots they wanted but not the plant pot inserts to suit them. The only ones we had were much shorter but perfect for the plants they wanted.
I saw a great opportunity to rid myself of my Styrofoam.
I could use it as packing to fill the empty space underneath. Tee Hee hee! Solving their problem as well as mine.
It was a bit tedious to do but I layered the foam into each base and brought it up just shy of where it needed to be on the 16 pots. Amazingly it used every bit of rubbish I had.
On top of this, I poured a layer of Leca (lightweight Expanded clay). This is normally used on the top of pots to make them more decorative and hide the compost and stores a bit of water. Funnily enough, it is made a bit like styrofoam but using clay. But I digress.
It is a good space filler and helped me level out the raised base to suit the insert.
Note to self: you need a new left work shoes.
Out of sight, out of mind
I know this probably wasn't the most interesting of revelations but for me to be able to dump all this foam was a very special part of my week. It's the little things which make me happy. Knowing that it is not going to the dump or incinerator for a little while longer helped me feel a little bit more environmentally friendly and it also saved me a bit of money while earning me a bit too.
That's brilliant! What a great way to reuse waste that would be taking up space in the landfill. Another cool thing about styrofoam is that mealworms can eat it and turn it back into (apparently) usable soil amendments. I have tried it and can confirm that they can live off of it but can't confirm the toxicity of their waste.
I didn't know that about the worms. I still have more to go, so must look into getting myself a herd of mealworms. It is a great material but I can imagine it will long outlive civilisation if we don't find more ways to reprocess it. I think this community you set up will have a lot of value going forward and hope to post some more.
If you're getting mealworms, you might as well get chickens as well. Mealworms are also a good way to earn a little cash on the side as people with reptiles, etc. buy them to feed. I just went to the pet store and bought 100 for about $8 and within a few months I had lots. In 6 months I was feeding the hens and selling a bunch of extras to people with turtles, iguanas, etc. Just put the word out on Facebook or whatever ads you have there and they will start calling. Get the kids started in business young.
I have a goldfish and already that is a lot of work to care for. The idea of having chickens and mealworms is nice but I hate the early risers. My son wants more pets but until he is old enough to really help out with them I have to say No. It is now 10:30pm and I am only, finally sitting down to do something for myself. I am very interested in the idea that they can eat polystyrene.
https://modernfarmer.com/2020/01/mealworms-can-eat-toxic-styrofoam-safely/
That's a more recent article than what I was going by in 2016 and apparently they really are safe to feed to other animals after consuming polystyrene. I might have to get chickens again.
Excellent post and thanks for using the scrap and salvage community. Because @ecency voted your post already, we will send you the 300 Ecency points that we were going to boost your post with. Thanks for doing your part to reduce, reuse and recycle!
Wow, thanks very much. I am sure I will have more to post soon.
That sounds like a much better use of foam than landfill. And if you got rid of your entire supply in that one hit I guess it was "meant to be"? XD
It was amazing that I have nearly the exact right amount to sort out the planters. As I said for me it is the little things in life that make me happy.
And you have your shed space back! I'm glad the fire hazard is gone from your roof
I do feel better not having it in the house. Although I still have to sort out my shed to make it a workspace. Hopefully, come winter the place should be an awful lot warmer.
I replaced the tiles on my upstairs roof with corrugated sheeting because the pitch was wrong for tiles and the damn thing always leaked. Closing all the draughts and adding the insulation has made a huge difference
Good idea.
Thank you. It is all about problem --> solution and hitting two birds with one stone (although I would never normally condone that) makes for a good win.
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more