Why Use ROCKWOOL

 ( VIDEO – website: www.rockwoolasia.com/why+insulation/tone+wool+benefits/sustainable).
 
All ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation is made from rock, making it naturally durable and stable over the lifetime of a building. This means it never needs replacing.
The unique physical structure of ROCKWOOL stone wool keeps its shape and toughness, and it is not affected by changes in temperature or humidity. ROCKWOOL insulation is dimensionally stable: it just keeps performing, decade after decade.
ROCKWOOL products also deliver excellent thermal performance.  It derives its excellent thermal properties from tiny pockets of air trapped within the physical structure of the stone wool, allowing it to keep the heat out in hot climate and the warmth inside in cold regions.
This means you can create a pleasant and stable indoor temperature year after year, while saving energy and money for cooling/heating.
ROCKWOOL insulation can be used even under extreme conditions because it retains its insulation properties in both very low (e.g. oxygen installations) and very high (up to 1000°C) temperatures.

 
FIRE: ( VIDEO – website: www.rockwoolasia.com/why+insulation/tone+wool+benefits/fire+safety).
ROCKWOOL stone wool hampers a fire’s progress. ROCKWOOL fire-protecting insulation, thanks to its fibres’ resistance to high temperatures, will limit the effects of a fire:
FIRE PROTECTION
Non-combustible ROCKWOOL insulation acts like fire barrier and does not contribute to fire. The level of protection can further be enhanced with smoke detectors, fire alarms and sprinkler systems.
  • Protects flammable constructions or those susceptible to the effects of fire
  • Increases elements of building structures’ resistance to fire
  • Does not fuel or spread fire
As a result, ROCKWOOL products improve the safety of occupants and rescuers, as well as protecting property and belongings.
Using ROCKWOOL stone wool facilitates and increases the effectiveness of active fire protection.
 
NON-COMBUSTIBLE
ROCKWOOL products are rated non-combustible.
ROCKWOOL products has been classified as belonging to Euroclass A1 and A2 following EN 13501-1 reaction to fire tests. It has also been classified as such in nationalreaction to fire evaluations outside the EU system.
The Euroclass A1 rating confirms that it does not cause any sustained flaming in the non-combustibility test. In A1 products containing any organic component, the energy which is released will be very limited.
The A2 rating confirms that it does not show any sustained flaming for more than 20 seconds in the non-combustibility test. A2 products must also satisfy the strict requirements of fire contribution, smoke intensity and burning droplets tests.
So, whilst the obvioius reason for choosing a ROCKWOOL insulation product often is due to the thermal and acoustic properties, its behaviour in the presence of intense heat or fire are also important considerations for architects, builders and homeowners.

WHY TALK ABOUT FIRE SAFETY

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Fire safety is all about risk. The probability of a serious fire in any building may be low, but the potential consequences are enormous. ROCKWOOL insulation products are often used as a dedicated fire protection to parts of building structure and industrial equipment.
Unwanted fire is a destructive force that causes many thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of property loss each year. People around the world expect that their homes and workplaces will be safe from the ravages of an unwanted fire.
Unfortunately, fires can occur in almost any kind building, often when least expected. The safety of the occupants depends on many factors in the design and construction of buildings, including the expectation that certain buildings and parts of buildings will not collapse in a fire or allow the fire to spread.
ROCKWOOL products contribute to fire safety in a multitude of ways:
  • Generally as a non-combustible core material, the contribution to the spread of fire is negligible or none.
  • ROCKWOOL products only marginally – if ever – generate toxic smoke and particles.
  • ROCKWOOL insulation products are often used as a dedicated fire protection to parts of building structure and industrial equipment.

Fire safety is primarily a legal requirement, or rather a set of legal requirements, laid down for almost all types of buildings.
The basic principles about fire safety are defined worldwide in a similar manner and typically comprise the elements which may be found as the basis for the European definition of fire safety, as outlined in the Construction Product Regulation of the European Union. 
According to the European Construction Products Regulation, every building must be built so that: 
  • It will not collapse for a specified time period
  • It will limit the generation and spread of fire and smoke
  • It will not spread fire to other buildings
  • It will enable escape or rescue of occupants
  • It will not possess threat to rescue teams
This definition covers fire development at different stages, as well as different fire scenarios under which buildings may be involved in a fire.
Like many other legal documents worldwide, the regulation is focused on saving human lives. Safe evacuation of people from a burning building is one of the most important elements.  However it is possible only if the building itself is not a threat to evacuation or rescue operations, and it is definitely made easier if the other fire safety requirements listed above are taken into serious consideration.
Apart from universal legal approach demanding primarily human life safety, other approaches are possible, comprising protection of property, business operations, or vital industrial equipment. Safety from environmental damage during or after a fire is getting an ever increasing attention.
A non-combustible building structure is generally assumed not to contribute to the spread of fire and smoke.

 
HOW TO EVALUATE FIRE SAFETY

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Majority of ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation products are classified as Euroclass A1 – The highest class for non-combustible products that do not contribute to a fire.
The Euroclasses are linked directly to the perceived hazard in a reference fire scenario — a fire in a room —and the large scale test modelling of this scenario was chosen to be the ISO 9705 Room Corner test which is the type of test used also in some worldwide insurance approval schemes.
The reaction to fire class can be different for different products and materials.

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Although Euroclass ratings provide information about smoke intensity and production of burning droplets, these are measured using a relatively small fire source (31 kW) and the tested constructions are positioned vertically – both conditions limit the usefulness of such information; the rating depends on the way the product is installed during the tests.
Evaluation of smoke toxicity is not part of reaction to fire classification criteria. 

Because it is made of rock, ROCKWOOL stone wool naturally resists fire.
Fire resistance  provides information about how well a building element, such as a wall, ceiling, floor, door, etc, can withstand a fully developed fire. It deals only with what happens after flashover has occurred in the room of origin. In order to be able to evaluate the behavior of different constructions and to compare the fire resistance of similar constructions, different time/temperature curves has been defined, the most common of which is the so-called standard time-temperature curve defined in ISO 834 adopted in most standards relating to resistance to fire.
Performance of products and constructions measured against different fire curves may yield dramatically differing results.
Fire resistance is measured as the time to failure of one or more criteria, the most common of which are:
  • Load bearing capacity R —the ability of a construction element to withstand fire exposure under specified mechanical actions, on one or more faces, for a period of time, without any loss of structural stability;
  • Integrity E —the ability of an element of construction that has a separating function to withstand fire exposure on one side only, without the transmission of fire to the unexposed side as a result of the passage of flames or hot gases;
  • Insulation I —the ability of an element of construction to withstand fire exposure on one side only, without the transmission of fire as a result of significant transfer of heat from the exposed side to the unexposed side.
Other criteria which are not linked directly to the use of insulation materials are: radiation W, smoke tightness S, and resistance to mechanical impact M.
EN 13501-2, -3, -4 provide the classification criteria for Fire Resistance tests in Europe.
Generation of smoke from building elements is not part of fire resistance criteria.

Statistics for fire deaths tell a tragic story. Although the exact figures differ, it is obvious that most fire victims die from smoke inhalation*.
It is surprising, then, although some fire classification systems measure smoke intensity, they are almost solely concerned with how the smoke will influence visibility for occupants and fire fighters. The assumption, of course, is that the only concern is for the occupants to be able to see and follow an escape route, and for fire-fighters to be able to see where they are going as they enter a building that is on fire.
This, however, takes no account of the smoke’s toxicity or the fact that there is no direct correlation between the amount of smoke released and its toxicity. A material may give off only a small amount of smoke when it is burning, yet be highly toxic. Two major toxic substances originating from burning organic material – carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) can be completely invisible to the human eye.
SMOKE AND FIRECLASSES
A typical example of this approach is the European classification system for reaction to fire of construction products and materials, where smoke opacity is the only smoke-related parameter which is measured and evaluated. 
The SBI test —EN 13823 —on which the Euroclass system is based simulates pre-flashover and well ventilated conditions when smoke intensity is significantly lower compared to when a fire reaches or passes the flashover stage. 
The resulting three sub-classes – s1, -s2, -s3 are based on smoke optical density measurements and bear no information about toxic threats of smoke and gases released. Although it is the toxic smoke and gases which are most dangerous at fire, current fire classes do not cover that risk.
The other major area of fire testing – fire resistance  – provides no information whatsoever about smoke that can be generated by building structure and penetrate to safe parts of the building or contaminate the surrounding area.
source: Firesafeeurope.org or DFV.org
 
DESIGNING FOR FIRE SAFETY:

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Destruction of whole cities by fire may have been common in the past, but it is not the case nowadays – although our cities and buildings have grown considerably in size. Fire safety is a standard part of building design process. For some building types and occupancies it is a mandatory part with high importance.
Prescriptive approach
Setting requirements in terms of fire characteristics of building parts and materials is now the traditional way of securing a certain level of fire safety. The requirements may often originate from experience and have been implemented as a consequence of past disastrous fire cases.
Performance-based approach
Over the past few decades we can see a rapid development in a new way of building design – a valuable set of scientific tools called Fire Safety Engineering.
This method may be the only possible way to construct very large and special buildings. Elements of this approach are often used in conjunction with traditional prescriptive way – for example modelling of evacuation and smoke spread.
Although predictions of fire growth and smoke movement are made using the anticipated building content and building use, they do not usually take into account two facts:
  • The building structure may give out heat and contribute to fire,
  • The building structure may emit significant amount of toxic smoke and gases.
Hence it should be assumed that only building structures which do not release heat and smoke can be used if this approach has been applied during the building design.
Given the fact that fire – and human reaction to it – is a disaster and hard to predict phenomenon, it is beneficial to have certain level of robustness and reliability as part of the building design.
Safety margins are used in every aspect of building design and there is no reason why they should not exist in assumptions and procedures aimed at saving human lives.

Building parts are often expected to provide a certain level of resistance to fire in terms of load-bearing capacity, integrity, insulation, and other criteria. ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation provides a stable and reliable protection against heat due to its inherent properties.
  • Some elements of building construction may be self-sufficient in this respect, e.g. brick walls or concrete elements.
  • Other elements may require additional protection for insulation against heat, for the sealing against cracks and gaps and compensating for deformations – which all affect building parts during fire.
  • Lightweight structural elements containing combustible parts covered by thin surface layers may prove to comply with fire safety requirements for a period of time, but it is important to know the role of such subtle surface layers during installation and use of the building during its lifetime.
In general, two ways of fire protection are used in building practice:
1. Passive fire protection
These systems are considered a traditional and proven way to protect people, property and businesses from fire. Once installed, they are on guard against fire growth without a need for power or water supplies. They usually require minimum or no maintenance during the lifetime of a building. 
ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation is a long-time proven and reliable part of a wide range of passive fire protection systems in building elements, building and technological equipment, marine and other transport applications.
2. Active fire protection
To further enhance protection against fire, new technologies have been developed during past decades with a specific goal – to reduce the risk of fire spread in buildings. These include smoke detection and smoke control systems, automatic sprinkler systems, oxygen reduction systems, systems to facilitate evacuation, and others. Being effective tools to reduce risk of a big fire, these systems usually require energy or water supplies, and careful maintenance and operation during their lifetimes.
Both active and passive fire protection systems fulfil their specific roles in fire safety design and may together provide a high level of safety in all stages of fire growth – from small local fires to long-term disastrous fires in their fully developed stages.
Using ROCKWOOL products in fire protection results in negligible contribution to fire and smoke, effective insulation up to very high temperatures, and compensation against cracks, gaps, and deformations of the structural parts, as well as a high degree of immunity  against losing fire safety properties should damages to surface layers and coverings occur. 

The need for a wide-spread renovation of building stock is driven by the ever increasing energy prices and legislation being implemented in some parts of the world, especially in Europe and Asia.
At the same time, safety of building users and inhabitants in case of fire during a major renovation is treated very differently. Such places are not just building sites; inhabitants and users of buildings undergoing a major renovation are not often required to stay away from the building at these stages.
Dangerous situations may occur during renovation due to the following:
  • Regulations governing such situations may not be as highly regarded as building approval rules for normal use of a building – or may not even exist;
  • Large amounts of exposed combustible building products and auxiliary material may be stored near, or already applied to a building with top layers unfinished;
  • Buildings are often not complying with building regulations and conditions for their approval for use during these periods;
  • The dwellers and visitors may not be fully aware of risks which exist in buildings being renovated, and in their vicinity.
The growing amount of combustibles used during building renovation, and the sheer size and volume of renovations which is expected in coming years, are reasons to think seriously about conditions for inhabitants and building users in such situations.
A sad example – and hopefully the last one of this kind and size – is a fire in Shanghai which happened in 2010 during a thermal renovation of an apartment building. More than fifty people died in a big blaze fuelled by combustibles stored inside the building, or already applied to its surfaces without an adequate protection*.
Non-combustible ROCKWOOL products do not increase fire risks during building renovation.
*Source: Article in newspaper Globaltimes.
Often using combustible substances and high temperatures or even open fires, industrial processes may pose a multitude of fire risks. ROCKWOOL insulation is often used for insulating pipes, vessels, and industrial equipment against heat loss and fire. Its use ranges from outdoor applications through buildings to marine and other transport equipment
Due to stone wool's resistance to high service temperatures and providing good thermal resistance at elevated temperatures, stone wool is one of few insulating materials for thermal protection of industrial equipment where high temperatures occur.
At the same time, it protects combustible liquids and gases from fire which may happen outside of the process.
When used to decrease heat losses from metal pipes and vessels, ROCKWOOL insulation prevents ignition of, and fire spread over, external surfaces due to high temperatures of the metal surfaces or even from fire inside the process.
Examples of industrial fire protection solutions from ROCKWOOL Group:
  • Fire protection of ventilation and smoke exhaust ductwork;
  • Fire-stopping penetrations of cables and pipes through walls and ceilings;
  • Non-combustible infill of ship partitions and bulkheads, containers, safety deposits.
Learn more about the solutions and offerings for industrial processes.

ACOUSTIC:
 ( VIDEO – website: www.rockwoolasia.com/why+insulation/tone+wool+benefits/acoustic+comfort ).
ROCKWOOL stone wool products are among the most used and most effective acoustic insulators used in construction.
It’s not just heat that finds it tough to get through rock. ROCKWOOL stone wool products are amongst the most effective acoustic insulators used in construction.
Installing ROCKWOOL insulation provides a real reduction in external noise from traffic or neighbours, or internal noise between floors and rooms. Our specialist products allow you to design the right acoustic environment for each space, whether it’s a school hall, a concert hall or the rooms of a new home.
Thanks to the air pockets between the fibres, ROCKWOOL stone wool provides good sound absorption and reduces noise vibrations. It is used in ceilings, noise screens, around noisy machines, in outer walls, between rooms, roofs and floors to protect against noise and vibrations and to improve the  indoor acoustic comfort. 

WHY ACOUSTICS MATTER

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Noise is a pollutant and a hazard to human health and hearing. In fact, it has been described as the most pervasive environmental pollutant.
Noise in the environment or community seriously affects people, interfering with the daily activities at school or work and at home and during leisure time.  Many homeowners suffer from noisy neighbours as their properties are insufficiently sound proofed. For office buildings or workplaces, distractions caused by nearby conversations or other intruding noise impact on concentration and efficiency. 
WHO guidelines identify the main health risks of noise:
  • Pain and hearing fatigue;
  • Hearing impairment including tinnitus;
  • Annoyance;
  • Interference with social behavior (aggressiveness, protest and helplessness);
  • Interference with speech communication;
  • Sleep disturbance and all its consequences on a long and short term basis;
  • Cardiovascular effects;
  • Hormonal responses (stress hormones) and their possible consequences on human metabolism (nutrition) and immune system;
  • Performance at work and/or school decrements.
It is possible to optimise the acoustical environments via design and materials that reduce sound reverberation inside the room, limit transmission of noise from outside the room, and minimise background noise from heating, cooling, and ventilation systems.
To achieve positive acoustic quality in a room it is important to consider requirements, purpose, regulations and more - read more about how to build and renovate in. 

 
A SOUND WAY TO BUILD OR RENOVATE

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Sound has a big impact on our level of comfort, and getting the right balance requires careful thought about how rooms will be used.
The physical characteristics of a building influence sound. Solid surfaces reflect sound, and elements such as flooring, pipes and radiators can transfer it from room to room. While the acoustics of a space can be altered, there are many factors to consider and when planning a construction or renovation project, it is essential to consider acoustics form the outset.
Good to keep in mind:
  • Consider how sound travels - identify and address all potential sources of room-to-room sound transmissions
  • Evaluate the requirements of each room according to its purpose, and bear in mind the needs of surrounding spaces
  • Check local regulation for different building types
Solutions for life
There are ROCKWOOL products to solve most acoustic challenges, including insulation for walls, floors, ceiling and technical installations. In addition ROCKWOOL insulation and ROCKFON®ceiling enhance thermal comfort, fire safety and property value.
 
 
SUSTAINABILITY

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ROCKWOOL insulation is a major energy and CO2 saver. Despite the fact that the stone melting process is energy consuming, the use of ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation ensures a positive energy balance through its lifetime. But more than that, ROCKWOOL insulation helps protect nature from the impact of buildings, by reducing the amount of energy a building consumes for heating and cooling.  Studies have shown that by using existing, well-proven energy efficiency technologies like insulation, 70 to 90 % of a building’s energy needed for heating or cooling can be cut. 
In many Asian countries, the legislation does not determine the minimum level of thermal insulation to be used in buildings. However, it is always better to use insulation in order to improve the energy performance of the building and save energy. With constantly rising energy prices, all building investors and house owners who are far-sighted and cost-conscious would ensure their buildings are effectively insulated.
SUSTAINABLE CHOICE
  • The right insulation, installed correctly, is an investment that quickly pays for itself with lower utility bills.
  • Insulation is an extremely cost effective means of improving energy efficiency; it works continuously and requires no maintenance or replacement.
  • ROCKWOOL insulation continues to perform to the same high standards for decades.
  • In addition to excellent thermal properties, ROCKWOOL products also boast unmatched acoustic and fire protection. 
NATURAL & SAFE
ROCKWOOL insulation is created from a natural and sustainable resource. Our stone wool is made from basalt rock, which is plentiful and continually replenished naturally from within the earth. The earth’s volcanoes and plate tectonics produce 38,000 times more rock material every year, than is used to make stone wool from ROCKWOOL Group. Distributor in Việt Nam ( VietNam Insulation Technical Co.,ltd ).
ROCKWOOL products are easy and safe to use. The World Health Organisation has left stone wool off its list of potential carcinogens following long-term studies showing no evidence of an increased risk of lung cancer from occupational exposure to stone wool fibres. After more than 60 years in use, ROCKWOOL insulation has proven to be the safe choice.
 
CREATE AND PROTECT

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CREATE THE BUILDINGS OF YOUR DREAMS - PROTECT THE THINGS YOU LOVE
People spend the majority of their time indoors, at home, in school, at work and in other public buildings. That makes the quality and performance of the world’s buildings vital to our safety, comfort, health and well-being.
“CREATE AND PROTECT” is our way of explaining how we in the ROCKWOOL Group help the world improve the buildings we inhabit. We create products and share insights that protect buildings, building occupants and the environment, while also giving people freedom to create buildings that delight the senses and perform at their best.
PROTECTING PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS FROM THE FORCES OF NATURE
“CREATE AND PROTECT” means creating solutions that protect people from the cold, the heat, the risk of fire and ambient noise –  whether from outdoors or adjacent rooms. But it also means helping to create beautiful buildings and protecting them with durable solutions that last for generations.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE IMPACT OF BUILDINGS
ROCKWOOL insulation products minimizes the energy a building has to consume for heating and cooling – reducing the building’s carbon footprint and helping to lower CO2 and other emissions. And all our products are made from natural, recyclable stone wool.
 
HOW STONE WOOL IS MADE
The idea of producing stone wool was fostered on Hawaii. After volcanic eruption on the islands the natives found woolen strings of stone lying on the ground. They thought it was hair from their goddess, Madame Pele.
Today we know that stone wool is much more than that. We have discovered the unique qualities of the material that makes it perfectly suited for a wide range of purposes. That is why the ROCKWOOL Group has spent more than 70 years constantly improving its production process.
In the beginning everything was done manually, from the trusted employee who shoveled the approximately right amounts of raw material into the furnace and to the people wrapping up the final product.
Today highly sophisticated machinery ensures the quick and steady production of a superior stone wool quality at an ever lower cost.
 
HEALTH

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SAFE FOR USE
ROCKWOOL stone wool is a material with brittle fibres. If the material is cut with the use of a sharp cutting tool such as a sharp knife or a guillotine saw, it will usually not create any dust.
MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET
ROCKWOOL stone wool is a safe material to work with. When tested, this type of stone wool is found to be non-carcinogenic. This fact is supported by the decision of the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to exempt stone wool from its list of “possibly cancer causing agents”. This conclusion was based on the fact that epidemiological studies provided no evidence of an increased risk of lung cancer from occupational exposure to stone wool fibres, and that there has been no excess of tumours in long-term inhalation studies in animal experiments. Similar there was no increased risk of lung fibrosis.
CLASS M1 (THE BEST QUALITY) 'LOW-EMITTING BUILDING MATERIALS'
Comprehensive full-scale investigations of emissions from stone wool products at the Fraunhofer Institute in Braunschweig show that they are a negligible source of formaldehyde in the indoor environment and therefore of no concern for the inhabitants of houses insulated with stone wool products. In addition, Finnish Emission Classification of Building Materials tests on ROCKWOOL insulation products for formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds emissions categorize them as Class M1 (the best quality) ‘low-emitting building materials’.
 
 
WHY TALK ABOUT ENERGY DESIGN?

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MINIMISING COST
Many of today’s building projects prove that minimising running costs is a smart thing to do already in the planning process
The energy design of a building is the basis for its expected future dependency on fuel resources and consequently a considerable part of the expected future running costs. When building costs are discussed the argumentation is commonly limited to construction costs. With an increasing relevance of energy prices and more and more investors asking for certified buildings, operation costs and even costs for deconstruction become more and more relevant. Depending on the specific building parameters such as usage type and location, future costs can make up to 80% of the total lifetime costs of a building.
A smart energy design does not only consider minimised heat loss via the building envelope so that very little energy supply is needed in operation, it also seeks to make best use of the building geometry, its thermal mass and how solar energy is efficiently made available for the building users.

Source: Group Rockwool Thailand
 
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