3 Ways To Use Sheep Wool In Your Home - Build With Rise

Advice / Tips3 Ways to Use Sheep Wool in Your HomeBy Tobias Roberts, Rise WriterLast Updated: Mar 20, 2025

Over five million sheep grazing on different farms around the United States, with Texas and California being the main producers. While most American families associate sheep with lamb chops and gyros, wool is another major product of sheep farming. Each sheep can produce upwards of 30 pounds of wool each year without killing or injuring the animal.

The building and housing industry could benefit from this abundant, renewable, and sustainable material. Why?

Environmental and Health Benefits of Sheep Wool

Unlike synthetic fibers, sheep wool is obtained from a renewable resource—the sheep themselves—raised by small farmers and ranchers around the world. Many synthetic products found in the home, such as foam (for bedding or insulation) and nylon (for carpeting), are made from byproducts of petroleum.

Whereas the cattle industry has come under fire in recent years because almost 70% of all grain produced in the United States is fed to cattle and other livestock, sheep can survive perfectly well on pasture alone. While there certainly are issues related to overgrazing, correct pasture management of sheep on divided paddocks can actually actively sequester carbon from the atmosphere, restore ecosystems, and improve overall soil fertility. 

From a health perspective, sheep wool is a completely natural fiber that produces absolutely no harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that negatively affect indoor air quality. Sheep wool produces no known irritation to the eyes, skin, or lungs. The lanolin in sheep wool is a natural fire retardant, thus helping homeowners to keep their homes safe without relying on PBDEs and other potentially carcinogenic chemical fire retardants. 

Sheep wool products utilized in homes can also help lower the carbon footprint of the home. Buildings account for 39% of all CO2 emissions in the United States. One way to reduce that footprint is by sourcing natural materials with a much lower embodied energy rating that can also improve the energy efficiency performance of the house itself.

As a natural, renewable, sustainable, and healthy material, Wool should be utilized as much as possible inside the homes we live in. Three products, in particular, have been gaining traction in the marketplace by using wool as replacements for synthetic materials that could be detrimental to your health: insulation, carpeting, and mattresses.

Table of Contents

1. Wool insulation
2. Havelock Wool
3. Black Mountain Insulation
4. Wool carpeting
5. Wool mattresses
6. Final words