Marmol Radziner Prefab

Jeans come in all styles - skinny jeans, boot cut jeans, “Mom” jeans, and now, one more cut can join the pantheon: home insulation. That’s right, we now use insulation that comes from none other than the good ol’ blue jean. The insulation is made from 85% post-industrial denim and cotton fibers that are sourced from factories that make jeans. The insulation contains no chemical irritants and requires no warning labels compared to traditional batt insulation. Our factory staff likes working with the cotton fiber because it is not itchy, unlike traditional fiberglass insulation.

We’re always looking for ways to dovetail environmental benefits with designs for efficient factory fabrication. Our new framing and denim insulation subassemblies are a great example of this.

Using subassemblies allows us to schedule simultaneous work on different aspects of fabrication at once and keep production flowing. In a special section of our factory, we make the framing subassemblies, essentially panels built of studs for entire walls, floors, and roofs, and then install these subassemblies into the home modules themselves. We use light gauge metal framing instead of standard wood framing because of the green and production benefits. Metal framing has consistently straight pieces for quality control, is lightweight for easier transport of the completed modules, and provides long-term durability against rot, insects and mold.

Within these subassemblies, we pre-install the recycled denim insulation before we put the framing pieces in the modules. In certain areas of walls, we install the denim insulation once the framing subassemblies are in the modules and we have already installed the necessary wiring and conduit in the walls.