How and what to cut mineral wool

When working with such a popular insulation as mineral wool, you inevitably have to resort to cutting pieces of the desired size. Our tips site will tell you in detail how to cut mineral wool and what tools you need to do this..

Recall that the portal wrote about the rules for cutting glass and ceramic tiles. Now let’s talk about cutting insulation.

Before working with mineral wool, you first need to take care of your own safety. During the cutting of the insulation, small particles, prickly dust always rise up, and it is harmful to health – it gets into the respiratory tract and can cause skin irritation. Therefore, for work you need:

• Respirator.
• Work suit made of thick fabric, completely covering the arms.
• Special safety glasses.
• Gloves with rubber or silicone coating.

Thin mineral wool – no more than 50 millimeters thick, can be cut:

• An ordinary kitchen knife for slicing bread. It has a scalloped edge so the bread crumbles less. For mineral wool, this is also relevant.
• Stationery knife.
• Mounting construction knife.

For insulation with a greater thickness, such simple tools are no longer suitable. We’ll have to use:

• Special knives. Their length is about 30 centimeters. Such knives are most often offered by manufacturers of the insulation itself; they have teeth that can be of different sizes. A knife with teeth should be selected depending on the density and thickness of the mineral wool.
• An ordinary hacksaw, but not for wood, but for metal.
• Saw with undivided teeth.

At home, special machines for cutting mineral wool, of course, are rarely used, since they cost a lot, but they will only be needed in the process of warming the house.

Important! Additionally, you will need a level or just an even stick, along which you will need to cut the mineral wool so that the cut is accurate, it does not get skewed. This will avoid damage to the material..

When cutting mineral wool, you need to adhere to the following rules:

• Sharpen the slicing tool to minimize dust and avoid the risk of tearing the material into individual fibers.
• Plates need to be cut one at a time, taking them out of the package, but insulation in rolls should be cut without unrolling.
• It is necessary to leave allowances of the order of 2 centimeters to ensure a snug fit of the material inside the crate.
• You should not cut the mineral wool for future use, this will increase the risk that the piece will lose its shape. We cut off the insulation of the required size, laid it down, you can proceed to the next.

Actually, there is nothing complicated in the process of cutting mineral wool. You just need to take care of a comfortable tool, protection for the face and body, and follow simple safety rules. In particular, take regular breaks from work and ventilate the room if cutting is going on inside the house. Also, you can not throw the cut pieces of insulation, so as not to raise dust once again. Carry and stack them neatly.