Has your home fallen prey to rodents? Have your attic space and other walls suffered at their expense? Is your insulation now falling, ripped, or covered in droppings? If any of these situations sound familiar, we’d highly recommend calling for some help. But rest assured, we’re here to make things right! An infestation of rodents can cause severe damage to your home and the effectiveness of the attic insulation you installed. It is most often best for an insulation removal service to take place, to ensure that all of the torn, damaged, or soiled insulation has been taken out and brand-new insulation has been installed. Insulation serves as a barrier against heat and cold. If not properly installed and working, the efficiency of your home will drop substantially. Not only is energy efficiency at risk if insulation removal doesn’t take place, but unfortunately, it might also pose a health risk, as these creatures have left remains that can make you and your family sick. Our team of experts is here to help and ensure that your home’s infestation of rodents is merely a memory.
Must I Remove My Insulation After an Infestation of Rodents?
Fair question! After having your home ransacked, the last thing you want to do is spend additional money and time having parts of your home torn out and replaced. But actually, it might just be the thing your home needs most. Insulation is carefully installed to cover attic floors and walls to ensure proper ventilation and protection from the outside elements. After an infestation of rodents, these materials can be disturbed and even torn, ripped, or moved, causing their effectiveness to diminish. Our attic and wall spaces are not often visited, however, they serve as a significant part of your home’s safety, energy efficiency, and structure. It is essential that it is in top condition to minimize your energy bills and secure the longevity of your home. We would highly recommend at the minimum to have an expert come and inspect your attic and any other spaces that fell prey to the infestation of rodents. We would want to ensure that the attic insulation is still in proper working condition and that no insulation removal is necessary.
In addition to an infestation of rodents, there are many other instances for why you might want to consider insulation removal and replacement. We’d recommend you check out your attic and other insulated spaces occasionally to ensure that they are in good condition.
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Improved Air Quality
Old, mildew-filled, and torn insulation is not an effective product in your home. However, even more than that, disintegrating insulation can contain many contaminants that could be extremely detrimental to your family’s health and home’s overall air quality. Especially if your home has suffered an infestation of rodents, your insulation could be covered in urine and feces. The insulation would no longer function but also be a home to those fumes for you and your family to breathe in.
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Improved Energy Efficiency
Insulation serves as a barrier from the outside world. In the winter it keeps out cold air and in the summer, deflects the hot and humid heat from entering your home. Attic insulation has a lifespan of about 10-20 years depending on the type of insulation installed and the condition of your home. After such time, however, the insulation begins to deteriorate and is no longer functioning. The efficiency of your home begins to diminish as the cold and hot air are no longer blocked and your A/C and heaters are required to work much harder to keep your home at a decent temperature. To ensure this doesn’t occur and your energy bills remain low, we would recommend attic insulation removal and replacement.
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Protect Against a Future Infestation of Rodents
Insulation is a wonderful, warm, and cozy place for rodents to nest. After you have had your attic insulation properly removed from an infestation, it is imperative to properly protect against any future infestations. However, you must first have the insulation removed to be able to properly equip your attic space for full functionality and protection again.
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Falling, Hanging, or Moldy Attic Insulation
Any time you see falling or hanging attic insulation, know that it is not doing its job. This means your energy bills are higher than they should be. If you have insulation that appears wet or moldy, the same is occurring. It is essential that insulation removal takes place and new, clean, fully functioning insulation is installed. This will allow your attic to resume working at its peak condition and efficiency.
Rodent Infestation Health Risks
While we recognize the inconvenience of not only a rodent infestation but also the need to remove attic insulation and replace it, we cannot emphasize the importance of this for your health. One of the most common reasons for attic insulation removal is an infestation of rodents. Most often these rodents are rats and mice, who bury themselves in your dry attic in soft, warm insulation. While we do not mean to cause alarm, it is important for you to know the risks associated with an infestation of rodents.
The following items in the list can be contracted not only from coming into contact with the feces or urine of infected rodents but also through the air. These infections and diseases can be carried through the dust and enter the air during the removal process. The CDC recommends waiting up to five days before beginning to clean up a rodent infestation. It also recommends using a disinfectant when cleaning to ensure peak protection.
- Rat-bite fever
- Omsk hemorrhagic fever
- Parasites
- Leptospirosis
- Salmonellosis
- Eosinophilic Meningitis
- Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
- Tularemia
- Murine Typhus
- Plague
- Lymphocytic Chorio-Meningitis
- Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
- Lassa Fever
There is a significant risk of leaving attic insulation that has been disturbed by rodents. The urine and feces in the attic insulation pose a concern even after the rodents themselves have been removed. It is recommended that professionals like ourselves come out to ensure it is properly cleaned and disinfected. This manner will ensure minimal exposure for you and your family, protecting against these viruses.
Insulation Removal Proceedings
So how does the insulation removal process go? Now that you understand the circumstances in which we’d recommend having insulation removed, let’s discuss the process that we will undergo to do it before replacing it with new attic insulation.
The most important part of the insulation removal process is preparation for the process itself. If done correctly, this will minimize exposure to any viral contaminants and reduce the chance of spreading. When an infestation of rodents occurs, the floors leading up to your attic will be covered in a thick layer of plastic sheeting. Any surrounding furniture will either be moved or removed entirely from the space to ensure protection.
Our team will then get busy removing all of the attic insulation. They will then vacuum the entire attic space to remove any remaining debris. The attic will then be disinfected and decontaminated, returning it back to its original condition and ready for new attic insulation to be installed.
Next Steps
Has your home suffered from the infestation of rodents? As you have learned, it is essential to ensure that your attic insulation is still clean, properly installed, and doing its job correctly. If an infestation of rodents, unfortunately, destroys your current attic installation, it will be necessary to have an insulation removal process to ensure all bacteria and virus-containing attic insulation is properly out of your home. Our specialists are more than happy to come and ensure that your home is properly taken care of. Give us a call today!